Flowers Canada (Ontario) Inc. Hosts Successful Winter Event and AGM

November 28, 2024

Guelph, Ontario

Flowers Canada (Ontario) Inc. (FCO) held its 58th Annual General Meeting and Winter Event at the Holiday Inn & Suites St. Catharines Conference Centre on November 27, 2024. The event was a resounding success with 34 greenhouse flower farms in attendance in addition to representatives from industry partners from throughout the floriculture value chain.

“We’re happy to report that our strategy of delivering a strong speaker lineup has been successful, resulting in 95 attendees at this event,” confirmed Andrew Morse, FCO’s Executive Director. “With announcements on new programming from Enbridge, and a view into the crystal ball from Dr. Charles Hall as well as OMAFA’s John Anania, attendees hopefully gained a lot of value out of attending.”

Dr. Hall gave an entertaining and thought-provoking talk on the state of the floriculture sector in Canada and the United States, and how Canadian growers must articulate a value proposition to increase market share in Canada. Other presentations included an announcement by Enbridge representative, Syed Hassan, P. Eng. about a 3X incentive program available for agricultural retrofit projects submitted before July 1, 2025, a timely announcement that he travelled all the way from Windsor, Ontario to make. This was followed by a presentation from John Anania of OMAFA who gave a thorough perspective on inflation and interest rates pre and post COVID-19, followed by discussion on sources of demand, revenues and margins as well as opportunities and challenges for the floriculture sector specifically. Finally, Executive Director Andrew Morse provided a thorough overview of FCO’s activities and efforts to support members and the greenhouse flower-growing sector since the last AGM.

In addition, a number of grower representatives from the Niagara region were present to attend a meeting prior to the AGM that would select the Niagara Greenhouse Growers Committee, a pilot initiative that is intended to advocate for and support greenhouse businesses in the Niagara Region and its twelve municipalities. As a new committee of FCO, the NGG has been empowered to address issues specific to the Niagara region on behalf of local greenhouse growers.

In advance of the Winter Event, growers were treated to lunch and participated in the business part of the afternoon’s proceedings with FCO’s Annual General Meeting. The members accepted By-Law 18 that was approved by the board in October 2024 to bring the association into compliance with the Ontario Not-For-Profit Corporations Act. Joining the FCO Board in 2024 are Director Jason Wierenga of Wierenga Greenhouses. Joining the FCO Executive Committee is the newly appointed President, Rodney Bierhuizen of Sunrise Greenhouses, with Arielle DeBoer of Rosa Flora continuing her role as Vice-President, Gina Marchionda of Jeffery’s Greenhouses continuing in her role as Treasurer and Brian Gatcke from Foliera continuing in his position as Secretary. Other Board members include John Oosterveld of Jarja International, Zach Redpath of Linwell Gardens and Jan VanZanten of VanZanten Greenhouses.

With great respect for a job well done, FCO members showed their appreciation for Ed Vermolen of Aldershot Greenhouses as he stepped down from the board of directors. Ed served as FCO director in 2020-21 and as FCO President from 2021-2024. Ed provided outstanding leadership to the FCO team and board through numerous challenges, priorities and opportunities. Throughout his tenure, he leaned on his extensive connections throughout the sector to support FCO’s mission and success. He has certainly left Rodney Bierhuizen, FCO’s new President, with some big shoes to fill both literally and figuratively!

FCO would like to sincerely thank all the presenters and attendees for making the 2024 Winter Event and AGM such a success. For more information or to receive a copy of the slide decks from FCO’s 2024 Winter Event presentations, please contact admin@fco.ca.

Flowers Canada (Ontario) Inc. is the provincial trade and professional association of the Ontario floral industry serving the floriculture sector and its members, greenhouse floriculture producers, for over 50 years. FCO’s mission is to promote the growth and influence of Ontario Growers by advocating the sale of flowers at home and abroad, protecting member sustainability at all levels, and promoting excellence in all areas, including through research. Please visit flowerscanadagrowers.com for more information.

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