Mr. Speaker, Northumberland County Economic Development and Tourism is currently designing and constructing a niche food processing food facility in Colborne, Ontario, to support second-source revenues from farming operations and to build on the concept of field to fork as an integral part of our community and business development.
The Ontario agri-food venture centre is supported by our government through the eastern Ontario development program with a $200,000 combined contribution from the Northumberland CFDC and five surrounding regional CFDCs. The projected 15,000-square-foot facility will serve the eastern Ontario agricultural community as a means to help grow local food enterprises, to extend the seasonality of locally grown fruits and vegetables through packaging and freezing processes, and to carry out marketing and product development for emerging enterprises.
This project is yet another example of how our Conservative government is supporting farmers and local businesses in eastern Ontario.