Ontario Grain Farmer - September 2021

Good in Every Grain 38 www.GoodinEveryGrain.ca SURVEY RESULTS In early March 2021, Good in Every Grain worked closely with Leger, the largest Canadian-owned polling, market research, and analytics firm to analyze the grain eating habits of Ontarians. There were over 1,000 respondents to this online survey. The study found that overall, Ontarians consume grains at least once per day, sustainable farming is important to them, and they have a positive view of Ontario’s and Canada’s grain farmers and grains in general. The survey found that 69 per cent of Ontarians eat grains in at least one meal per day with eight per cent eating grains at every meal and 31 per cent consuming them twice per day. At Good in Every Grain, we have taken this knowledge and since March we have expanded our whole grain recipe database to encourage consumers to continue eating Ontario grains and encourage them to incorporate more Ontario grains in their daily meals. These new recipes provide Ontario consumers with grain-based recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in order to help them identify and recognize that Ontario grains are extremely versatile and can be included in every meal. Another interesting fact that this study found was that Ontario’s favourite pizza crust is a thin crust. And our favourite cracker is a whole-wheat cracker. Knowing this, we came up with recipes for a thin crust pizza and a whole wheat cracker, hoping that these recipes would be used often. The study also found that 72 per cent of people disagree with the statement “ grains are bad for you ,” and of those people, 46 per cent strongly disagreed with that statement. Over the past few months, Good in Every Grain has released quite a few new articles debunking common grain myths and reiterating the health benefits of whole grains to help keep grains positive position in the minds of consumers. Additionally, the goal of these articles is to help educate consumers on the health benefits of whole grains to help them understand that whole grains are part of a healthy, balanced diet. According to this study, the majority of Ontario residents say that sustainable farming is important to them (90 per cent), with more than half (55 per cent) saying it is very important . At Good in Every Grain, we know that Ontario grain farmers incorporate many sustainable farming practices into all aspects of their business. We have been emphasizing and highlighting some of the practices that farmers have been doing to be better stewards of the land through various blog posts and social media posts. The goal of this is to ensure that Ontario consumers know that our grains are farmed sustainably to help foster trust between consumers who want sustainably grown food, and those who produce our food. At Good in Every Grain, we listen to the ever-changing demands and trends of consumers and adapt our strategy and efforts to ensure that we are positioning Ontario grains and farms in a positive manner in the minds of Ontario consumers. 69% eat grainsonceaday 90% OF RESPONDENTS SAY THAT SUSTAINABLE FARMING IS IMPORTANT TO ME