After heading to Northern Ontario last year the board of directors of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture are in Chatham-Kent for the next few days touring farms and processing facilities.
The idea is to give directors from across the province a chance to learn about the wide range of agriculture Ontario has.
They have already toured vegetable and pickle processors as well as a multi-million dollar drainage system.
Ron Faubert the president of the host group, the Kent Federation of Agriculture is hoping wider knowledge of the hundreds of crops grown in the province will result in economic development.
"People come here and say 'we never knew this was here, we never knew you could grow these crops here,' so we are trying to get that word out to attraact processors and other individuals to come and invest," he says. Faubert also says it is important that the OFA board which is made up of farmers from across the province be as familiar as possible with all areas of the province.
"They work on a lot of specific projects in Ontario so we need them to know what Chatham-Kent is all about so they can take that back as a message when we are looking for assistance moving issues forward for our community."
The tour wraps up Tuesday with a meeting with municipal officials.
Story by Simon Crouch, BlackburnNews.com contributor.