FINCH, Ontario – It’s been months of planning, preparing and sweating the details, but the 2015 International Plowing Match and Rural Expo is underway.
The Super Bowl of rural expositions, which is expected to draw as many as 70,000 people to Finch, northwest of Cornwall, began promptly Tuesday morning.
Premier Kathleen Wynne helped open the expo. Provincial opposition party leaders are expected to attend as well, not to mention the leaders of the federal political parties running in the Oct. 19 election.
“The excitement here is unbelievable. My team of volunteers is beaming,” said IPM chair Jim Brownell. “Well over 1,000 volunteers have rallied together for this ‘once-in-a-generation’ event.”
Wynne, alongside Jeff Leal, Peterborough MPP and minister of agriculture and rural affairs, addressed a crowd of more than 600 people at the opening ceremonies.
“We’re very grateful to everyone who works in the agri-food business. We know how important agri-food is to the province of Ontario, it’s a $34-billion business, we know it’s critical,” said Wynne. “We’ve watched the agri-food industry grow from what it was 150 years ago to this sophisticated high-tech industry, and it is a wonderful part of who we are as Ontarians. And today the sector employs hundreds of thousands of people. You’re job-creators, community-builders, the backbone of the province.”
In an exclusive interview with Seaway News, the premier shared advice for local farmers on cutting through red tape.
“We actually have a table, a forum where we have the farm representatives sitting with some of our officials. We’ve made decisions around cutting (red) tape,” said Wynne. “I remember when I was minister of agriculture there was a regulation around waste water and the cleaning of vegetables. They were having to treat it in a certain way and it was a pain. It’s been changed. So what I would say to anyone who is concerned is: that they talk to their farm organization and make sure their concerns make it to that table, because that is the open for business table.”
Click here for information on the plowing match.
