JORDAN – Tim Hudak, MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook, toured the farm of Doug Backus Friday to receive input from Doug and his family – who have been in the tender fruit growing business for eight generations – for a tender fruit strategy Hudak plans to present to the Premier later this month.

The Backus family has had to pull out several acres of trees on their Jordan farm following the closure of the CanGro plant in St. DavidsFollowing the McGuinty government’s failure to save the CanGro Foods plant in St. Davids, about 150 Niagara tender fruit growers are now trying to figure out what to do with the 2,000 acres of clingstone peach and pear farmland affected by the plant closure.

As an MPP for West Niagara, Hudak has been a long time champion of support for the tender fruit industry.

"In 2005, under the Greenbelt Act, the McGuinty government locked these farmers’ lands into agricultural production, but failed to make the proper investments to help greenbelt farmers compete against subsidized competition from abroad," Hudak said. "Sadly, the closure of CanGro, which left 2,000 acres of tender fruit land without a market, should be the loudest of alarm bells to the McGuinty government to finally act."

Based on the advice of experienced growers like the Backus family, the leadership at the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers Marketing Board, and examining what has worked in other jurisdictions, Hudak plans to present Premier Dalton McGuinty with a plan to help affected farmers adjust to the CanGro closure by the end of May.