Board Highlights

2026-27 Budget
The Board of Directors approved Ontario Pork’s 2026–27 budget, reinforcing the organization’s commitment to addressing industry challenges and advancing priorities identified in its strategic plan.

The budget includes investments in several key initiatives, including continued efforts to strengthen emergency preparedness and animal health, the development of a web-based producer portal to improve access to information and services, and expanded consumer marketing activities to increase demand for Ontario pork. These investments reflect Ontario Pork’s focus on delivering value to producers while responding to the evolving needs of the sector.

Associations’ Grants Policy
The Board approved the Grants to Local Pork Producer Associations policy to simplify the funding process for local associations. The revised policy replaces the existing annual and supplementary grants with three funding streams: a base grant, an annual activity top-up and special project funding. This approach provides associations with more predictable funding to plan and deliver local activities, reduces administrative requirements and offers flexibility to pursue projects that benefit local pork producers and their communities.

Consumer Marketing Initiatives
The Board received an update on Ontario Pork’s 2026 consumer marketing activities, including key initiatives, campaign results and potential opportunities for 2027. The presentation highlighted Ontario Pork’s integrated approach to consumer marketing, combining retail engagement, food events, digital advertising and influencer partnerships to increase awareness and encourage purchases of Ontario pork, including:

• 28 sampling events across 5 retail partners
• Participation in culinary events, competitions and chef demonstrations to showcase Ontario pork.
• A new Instacart advertising campaign, launched in June 2026, generated over $170,000 in attributed sales, with more than 20% of purchases coming from consumers new to purchasing pork through the platform.
• Influencer cooking videos focusing on younger consumers and showcasing pork’s versatility and ease of preparation.
• Over 1 million visits to Ontario Pork’s recipe website with online advertisements displayed 7.8 million times.

The Board also reviewed proposed opportunities to expand consumer marketing efforts in 2027, including additional influencer content and retail sampling.

Producer Engagement Plan
The Board reviewed the proposed 2027 Producer Engagement Framework, aimed at strengthening producer participation and ensuring diverse perspectives are considered in Board decisions.

The Board supported a more flexible approach to engagement, including a combination of larger information sessions and smaller, topic-focused discussions. The Board confirmed that meetings will continue to be held in all zones but will be spread throughout the year, beginning with zone 2 in February 2027. Meetings will be open to producers from all zones, regardless of location.