TORONTO - Affordable locally grown produce could disappear from grocery stores if the government doesn't help farmers deal with mounting challenges and pay their basic costs when profits are unattainable, New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton said Wednesday during a campaign-style visit to farming country in southwestern Ontario.

A day after hosting a news conference in Toronto where he wooed low-income workers with promises of free dental care, Hampton visited the tiny village of McGregor, just south of Windsor, to campaign for farmers' votes.

The region has been hit hard by massive job losses in the manufacturing sector, and local farmers are also dealing with risks that are impossible to manage, Hampton said, citing a rising Canadian dollar, skyrocketing fuel prices and the effects of climate change and drought.

"We force farmers to carry too many risks that are beyond their control,'' Hampton said.

"We don't ask major corporations to do that. Major corporations are experts at pushing risks off on to somebody else. And it's just unfair to ask -- to tell -- our farm families, `You have to carry all this risk.'''

Speaking at the Stratychuck family farm -- which is run on about $300,000 a year and has grown corn, beans and winter wheat since 1949 -- Hampton called for a $300-million risk-management strategy.

Under that plan, the provincial government would pay a farmer's operating costs in a year when crops don't grow or sell well enough.

"It doesn't guarantee they're going to make a profit but it ensures their costs of production are going to be covered,'' Hampton said.

Almost all of Ontario's 57,000 farms are family-owned, and most farmers need second jobs to make ends meet, he said.

"As it is right now, most farm families in Ontario are being forced to work off the farm in order to keep the farm,'' he said. "That is the common experience.''

Tim Stratychuck, who runs his farm with his father, said he works a full-time job plus another 50 hours a week in the fields. His younger brother decided to follow a different career path and became a truck driver because he didn't think he had a future on the farm.

There's a certain pride in growing food for Ontario's residents, but there's also a need to make a living of it, especially since it means sacrificing so much family time, Stratychuck said.

His wife Samantha said a risk-management strategy would allay the family's fears since a bad year wouldn't bankrupt the business.

"It's a huge financial burden on a family, but over and beyond that, you have to look at the dynamics of a family,'' she said, adding that with two kids and a third on the way, she rarely has time to help her workaholic husband.

"We just want to see the stress relieved.''

Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky said she could only be flattered by the New Democrats' call for a risk-management strategy, since the government is already working on a similar plan.

"I find it interesting that the NDP copied many of the programs that our government has already taken action on,'' Dombrowsky said.

"We are working with producers on a risk-management program that will commit the government to be there for them when they need it.''

The details are still being worked out with stakeholders, she said, but it's estimated the strategy would cost about $250 million a year.

Stratychuck expressed skepticism about the government following through with the plan, but said he's happy the issue is being discussed heading into the Oct. 10 election.

The NDP's Grow Ontario plan also calls for more retail space for local produce, and a special label on wine bottles to indicate they were made from locally grown grapes.

Hampton also wants Ontario to follow the lead of Manitoba and ensure that provincial farmers are first in line to provide corn to ethanol plants.

"If we're going to supply tax subsidies to ethanol producers, then as a term of the licence they should have to (buy) a certain percentage of their feed stock from Ontario producers.''