Farm Crawl Hamilton shows consumers where their food begins

Do you know where your food comes from? Farm Crawl Hamilton hopes after today, the answer is yes. Residents and visitors got to visit 12 farms in our city with guided tours and activities at each.

Fifteen years ago, a few local farmers in Hamilton got together and thought, how do we get the public to understand what we do and to consider local farms as an option to buy groceries? Then Farm Crawl Hamilton was born.

Chris Krucker has been a farmer for over 30 years. He says small farms like his rely on selling retail directly to the consumer. As a way to grow awareness and a customer base, Farm Crawl was created at no cost to the farmer to participate. In fact, they get a stipend to help offset the cost of hosting visitors.

“People come to the farm, they get to have interaction with livestock, they get to hear directly from the farmer,” Krucker said.

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Co-founder of Farm Crawl Hamilton, Kevin Beagle, says there is a growing need to connect consumers to rural Hamilton. There is nothing wrong with shopping in a grocery store, says Beagle. But tours like these give a chance to showcase farms and create another source of revenue.

“Farmers especially are really starting to realize that agri-tourism is not only desirable but actually necessary,” Beagle said. “Only by getting people out to visit the farms and to see how the food is grown, how the food is packaged, et cetra. Do they realize that there are alternatives to going to the grocery store?”

At Lotsa Hostas and Jerry’s Berries, you can pick flowers and raspberries, seeing up close how bees pollinate and learn the process of how honey is made. Glenda Bargeman is the owner of the farm here and believes in the health benefits of buying food directly from the source.

“In a store you are provided with everything 24-7, 365 days a year,” Bargeman said. “But growing real food on a farm takes time and it will come when it’s in season.”

If you missed Farm Crawl today, there will be two more this year in July and September. For more information, visit their website at farmcrawl.ca.

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