Feb. 1, 2010 – PickOntario is looking for photos to include in a product calendar. This calendar will be sent to retail locations wherever Ontario grown flowers are sold. Growers with photos they would like considered for the calendar can submit them to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

PickOntario, along with Ontario farmers, hope to make locally grown products more recognizable to the general public by creating a more substantial “Made in Ontario” campaign, focusing on promoting local products and their benefits.

Pick Ontario campaign board members Andrew Kuyvenhoven and Ted Oorsprong, along with marketing director Dean Shoemaker, presented newly appointed provincial agriculture minister Carol Mitchell with a locally grown bouquet.

“We hope, with Mitchell’s leadership, the floriculture industry will continue to be recognized by the McGuinty government as a vital source of employment and economic growth in Ontario,” said FCO in a website news brief. “This industry employs a workforce comparable to the auto industry.”

Mitchell comes from a strong agricultural community in Huron County, and has served two terms as Huron-Bruce MPP beginning in 2003.

“As a former business owner herself, having opened her own stores in Clinton and Bayfield, and running them for 10 years, Mitchell understands the frustrations that face entrepreneurs. This background will undoubtedly help her in achieving the goals that she has set for both the agricultural industry and herself.”