Introducing the Organic Resource Hub: Knowledge Sharing for the Organic Sector
Producers, processors, advocates, and eaters alike know the Organic Council of Ontario as a trusted, unified voice for Ontario’s certified organic sector. While we continue to advocate for broad support, stable funding, and organic regulation, OCO fulfills an important function in connecting organic operators to knowledge and resources that can improve their businesses and practices. Over the years, we’ve accumulated a wealth of knowledge on everything from Canadian Organic Standards navigation to aquaponics to premium meat marketing. Many other organizations and institutions have also collected decades of practical, economic, and scientific information about organic production systems. We are eternally grateful to the members, organic practitioners, researchers, staff, consultants, sector partners, and Board of Directors who have contributed their own experiences to this bank of knowledge – and we are very excited to announce the launch of a new platform to share that knowledge.
How will the Hub impact Ontario’s organic sector?
The Organic Resource Hub will be an online platform that improves access for operators, service providers, and the interested public to reliable and comprehensive information about Ontario’s organic sector and organic production broadly. Through the Hub, users will be able to access existing (and improved) services like Member Accounts and the Organic Directory, as well as new services like the Data Portal and Knowledge Base. Some features like Member Accounts and select reports in the Data Portal will be exclusive to OCO’s members, while others like the Knowledge Base and Organic Directory will be publicly available. With a sleek user interface and diligent organization of content, users will be able to easily find answers to questions about organic.
The Organic Resource Hub will make existing organic operations more profitable and efficient by providing access to information about industry trends and best practices for evidence-based decision making. For example, the soon-to-be-launched Data Portal will have cost of production resources, as well as comprehensive reports on various segments of organic production like grains, fruits and vegetables. Additionally, the Knowledge Base component of the Hub will contribute to the success of Ontario’s organic sector at large by supporting the organic transition and certification processes with reliable and concise information on the Canadian Organic Regime.
Finally, the Organic Resource Hub will facilitate connection between organic operations so that industry knowledge may be shared and strengthened. The Organic Directory already fulfills this function by making it easier to find complementary members of the value chain. We also intend to build out an “Ask an Expert” function so organic operations can benefit from the experience of peers and leaders in the sector.
How can you get involved?
If this sounds ambitious, it is. This is a big project, meant to consolidate expertise that already exist in Ontario and Canada. We’ve been working on this project behind-the-scenes for months, and we’ll wrap it up by March, 2021. Between now and then, there are plenty of ways you can stay connected to the project:
- Ask us questions. If there are topics related to organic that you think require some attention, we can work to fill those knowledge gaps. Email your organic-related questions to rebecca@organiccouncil.ca
- Test out the platform and share your feedback after we do an initial launch in late 2020.
- Become a project sponsor. If you’d like your company or organization name to appear as a cash or in-kind sponsor of the Organic Resource Hub, get in touch with rebecca@organiccouncil.ca
- Become a supporting or leading member of OCO. Not only will your membership help cash-flow this project, it will also give you access to exclusive content in the Organic Resource Hub.
- Sign up for our e-news for timely updates on relevant info like this project, COVID-19 resources, the Canadian Organic standards, and more.
With your continued support, the Organic Resource Hub is poised to be an invaluable service to Ontario’s organic sector for years to come.