Litchfield, March 24, 2021 – The MRC Pontiac launches an online marketplace website to promote sales for local farmers and producers – FlavoursofthePontiac.ca
Thanks to a financial contribution of $68,000 through the Regions Support Fund (FARR) of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MAMH), the MRC Pontiac, in partnership with the SADC Pontiac, are proud to officially launch the first online regional farmers market on their territory: ‘‘FlavoursofthePontiac.ca’’.
This virtual market was created as part of Phase 1 of the ‘’Pontiac regional agricultural market’’ project. Visitors of the website can browse through products and can purchase goods directly from local producers through the ‘‘Local Line’’ platform.
The next phase of the project is to evaluate the viability of a public market in the MRC Pontiac, through the use of our online marketplace, and to eventually open a physical market in a central location on the territory. This initiative reaffirms the MRC’s commitment to support the agricultural sector and responds to the orientations of the Agricultural Zone Development Plan.
‘’While an online market was not part of this funded project initially, the Covid-19 pandemic had an immediate and lasting impact on our agricultural community. We recognized the need to pivot and develop a solution to help our producers reach their customers. FlavoursofthePontiac.ca allows for the purchase of local goods in a secure, online setting, ‘’ expressed Cyndy Phillips, Director of Economic Development of the MRC.
Pontiac producers are encouraged to get in contact with Chakib Ahmimed (c.ahmimed@mrcpontiac.qc.ca), the Economic Development Officer at the MRC who is spearheading this project, in order to sign up for the service. Users will be given the opportunity to create an online store for their products on the ‘’Local Line’’ platform, and to promote their products through the ‘‘Flavours of the Pontiac’’ network. The MRC, alongside the SADC Pontiac, will accompany producers in the creation of their sites and will fund the registration to ‘’Local Line’’ for their first year active on the site.
“There is a very deep historical relationship between the land and the farmers of our territory, this project will give us the basis to expand on this relationship even further,” says Chakib Ahmimed of the MRC.
We also encourage you to follow Flavours of the Pontiac on Facebook and Instagram, where you can stay informed on news and product promotions.
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