By Cecilia Nasmith/Northumberland 89.7 FM/Today’s Northumberland
Owners of five businesses successfully launched through Colborne’s Ontario Agri-Food Venture Centre made Zoom presentations to Thursday’s special meeting of Northumberland County council not to make the Ontario Agri-Food Venture Centre part of their cost-cutting efforts.
Located in Colborne, the OAFVC provides counselling, expertise, services and access to equipment to help budding food entrepreneurs go into business. It is funded under the Economic Development, Tourism, Land Use Planning department, which accounts for only 4% of the $79.8-million 2025 tax levy.
Delegation requests came in from the Oat & Mill vegan ice-cream company, Tigernut health-food company, Verano Food Holdings condiment company, Electric Juice Factory and Mi Cocina Foods Mexican chips-and-salsa company – uniformly singing the praises of what they term a one-of-a-kind facility that benefits entrepreneurs and community alike.
Candace Cherney of Oat & Mill is proud of giving jobs to local people – six for now, 10 by the end of this year and 20 by the end of 2026. She mentioned her focus on hiring those who need the jobs most, such as those who face barriers or who have been out of work for some time.
All stressed local sourcing for materials, with specific mentions made of such local agricultural establishments as Kelly’s Strawberries in Colborne and Burnham Family Farm in Hamilton Township.
Cherney said her business is responsible for 175 overnight stays in the region, from a variety of industry experts to the rabbi who conferred her “kosher” certification. She also listed expenditures she will be making, such as $70,000 in staff training and $65,000 in local consultants.
“The OAFVC gives you the stability to grow to the point where we can support a full workforce and stand on our own. That’s what the OAFVC is designed to do,” she said.
“The OAFVC supports over $2-million in food-product sales annually. It connects local farms to businesses, it fuels workforce development and generates economic impact across the region.”
Verano owner Beverley Shepherd said the centre has supported more than 160 small businesses since it’s inception
“It’s a “comprehensive suite of services,” she said.
You access their commercial kitchen, and they help you figure out how to use it. You create your product, they help you get it bottled, labeled, coded and compliant with applicable regulations.
“I produce my product and I’m ready to go to market. My product is going to be properly labeled, it’s going to have a date code, it’s going to be tested and, if for some reason I have anything left over, it can be stored right there at the OAFVC,” Shepherd listed.
While most of the speakers were local, it was learned that Oat & Mill is a business based in Lanark, while Tigernut is based in Toronto. Councillor Scott Jibb hinted that perhaps the applicable fee schedule for the various services might be increased to some extent – in general or perhaps only for non-Northumberland companies.
“At some point, I think we need to have the conversation on subsidizing the OAFVC for Northumberland-based businesses – that’s absolutely okay but, for businesses coming from outside of Northumberland County perhaps we should be looking at additional charges,” Warden Brian Ostrander
agreed.
As a retailer who carries some of these products at Market & Smor, Councillor Lucas Cleveland warned that, though some of these businesses might be able to absorb added costs, they feel every increase. And
at some point, increases threaten their companies’ sustainability.
“I personally think it’s a great asset, and not just for Northumberland. But in this age of ‘tariffs,’ I see the OAFVC as a future ace up the sleeve in terms of how we produce food here in Northumberland,” Councillor Mandy Martin said.
Director of Economic Development and Planning Dwayne Campbell expressed hope for expanding its revenues with two irons in the fire – which, he admitted, may or may not pan out.
One is the possibility of using the facility as a sort of training ground in partnership with some post-secondary institutions.
“We see that as a unique opportunity to perhaps enhance some of those services,” he said, though the provincial election might slow up the province’s ability to respond.
Another is to find ways to use the new additional space (called “the annex”) in a way to generate more revenue.
