Site selection nears for Ontario agri-food discovery centre

Fields to Forks: Connecting with our food source With just two per cent of Canadians living in a rural setting, it means the vast majority have no connection to where their food comes from.

With just two per cent of Canadians living in a rural setting, it means the vast majority have no connection to where their food comes from.

“It used to be they had a grandpa or grandma that had a connection. That's not the case anymore. And that's not just in Toronto. Even in our own community throughout southwestern Ontario, lots of individuals don't have a connection to be able to go to a farm and take their kids and learn about modern agriculture,” says Perth County farmer, Steve Dolson.

As a long-time farmer, Dolson wants to change that. In 2020, he helped come up with the idea to build the Huron-Perth Ag Science Centre, but four years later, a name change is in order.

“We plan to call it the Ontario Agri-Food Discovery Centre. To be all encompassing, to be Canada's first Ag Science Centre, Agriculture and Food,” said Dolson.

The proposed centre would have exhibits and displays about agriculture, and the intersection between science, technology, and the often-misunderstood world of food production.

According to Dolson, it will be similar to the Dynamic Earth at Science North in Sudbury, which focuses on the mining industry.

“The tractors today are so precise with the equipment attached to them, that there's no wastage of anything, as far as fertilizer and seed. In the livestock end of things, genetics — we are doing DNA analysis on all of our young stock, to see their potential as far as replacements going forward,” said Dolson.

The centre will be located in the Municipality of North Perth but the size hasn’t been decided.

A smaller 20,000 square foot, $20-million facility, with the potential to attract 42,000 visitors a year, or a larger, 38,000 square foot, $38-million facility, with the potential to attract 70,000 visitors a year, are both up for discussion.

How much, and how quickly they find funding, will determine the Agri-Food Discovery Centre’s future.

“We feel that the agricultural industry will share with us the need for such a facility, and we will be going to organizations outside of the local community for support going forward, as well as all levels of government,” said Dolson.

If all goes well, Ontario’s Agri-Food Discovery Centre, could be welcoming visitors by 2028.

“We want to help individuals across Ontario know more about where their food comes from,” said Dolson.