Section III: Reading

Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test

Read the selection below and answer the questions that follow it.

Farmer Sugar-Coats Crop

and Sweetens Family Business
In his barn-turned-assembly line, Paul Moyer 1

spots one caramel-and-chocolate-coated

Mutsu apple on a tray. Lines of dark chocolate
are artfully swirled around the fruit. To a
chocolate lover, it looks beautiful, but the
Vineland, Ontario, farmer sees it differently.
The way his employee applied the chocolate
is more time-consuming than the preferred
technique of drizzling it overtop of the apple.
That extra time cuts into profits. Paul may
need to curtail this employees artistry.
For the ninth-generation Niagara-region 2

farmer, every penny counts. Farmings been

tough the last 20 to 25 years, Paul said. Were getting the same amount for apples we
did 20 years ago. We thought, Is there any way we could do value-added things?
Value-added has become a familiar term for those trying to make a living on the family 3

farm. It means something extra is added to a product so you can increase its price and,
therefore, its profitability.
Paul wanted to turn apples from a crop he could barely break even on to something that 4

could sustain him and his family. In the mid-1990s, he began selling traditional sugar-
syrup candy-coated apples at Ontario Place, a major tourist site in Toronto. Realizing the
potential of the tried-and-true treat, he began selling them wholesale to other customers:
Darien Lake Theme Park, the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre), Howells Pumpkin Farm in
Fonthill and Chudleighs Entertainment Farm in Milton.
But the apples shelf life, before they spoiled, was only three days. So, in 2005, Paul 5

revamped the operation by dipping apples in caramel and milk chocolate and finishing
them with enough white and dark chocolate drizzle to make chocoholics swoon. When
two western New York grocery-store giants and Canadas Loblaw Companies became
interested in his product, this entrepreneur seemed to have overcome the risks of farming.

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Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test Section III: Reading

However, Paul faced a new set of challenges. The demand for the caramel-chocolate 6
apples had grown larger than his ability to produce them. This is our facility, Paul said,
gesturing to his tiny 100-year-old barn, filled with the rather un-barnlike smell of caramel.
Pauls business needed to expand, but that would take more money.
Pauls 11-year-old daughter, Sabrina, suggested an answera reality television show on 7
which a panel of millionaires listens to entrepreneurs business plans and decides whether
to offer investment money for expansion. In the spring of 2008, the Moyers took a chance.
After three makeup touch-ups during eight-and-a-half hours waiting in a TV studio, Paul,
Sabrina and Pauls mother, Liivi, were finally able to make their pitch to five of Canadas
most successful names in business.
As youre walking across the top [of the set] and going down the stairs, you think, Wow, 8
this is it. . . . Youre excited to present to them, but they know their numbers and their
business. At the same time, I know my numbers and my business. They grilled us pretty
hard, but because I not only grow the apples and melt the chocolate and caramel and know
the [sales] . . . I believe I answered all their questions exactly the way I hoped, said Paul.
Pauls professionalism and his product samples had a positive impact. It was quite 9
inspiring to see that these people had come up with a spin-off business, said Dianne
Buckner, the shows host. The candy-apple business was really an original thing to do,
and they were basically taking their expertise and fashioning a new type of venture. It was
great to see that people are being adventurous and creative in a way that makes that
agricultural lifestyle work for them.
Thanks to the panels response, the 209-year-old Moyer family farm remains a successful 10
example of sustainable local agriculture.

Adapted from the article How sweet it is by Tiffany Mayer, published in the St. Catharines Standard, November 15, 2008.
Text and photo Sun Media. Reprinted with permission.

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Section III: Reading Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test

Multiple-Choice (Record the best or most correct answer on the Student Answer Sheet.)

1 What does paragraph 1 suggest is most 5 What is linked by the colon in paragraph 4?
important to Paul?
a cause and effect
a the creativity of the employee
b term and examples
b the speed of the decorating process
c opinion and support
c the uniform appearance of the apples
d problem and solution
d the amount of chocolate on each apple
6 Which word is closest in meaning to
2 For how long has Paul Moyers family been revamped as used in paragraph 5?
farming?
a sped up
a 100 years
b modified
b 20 to 25 years
c simplified
c nine generations
d mechanized
d since the mid-1990s
7 Who is thinking Wow, this is it
3 Which product matches the definition of (paragraph 8)?
value-added in paragraph 3?
a the host
a whole fish
b the reader
b leaf lettuce
c the farmer
c tomato soup
d the daughter
d green grapes
8 What does Paul Moyer think was the most
4 What happened first after Paul realized his influential factor for the panel?
apple crop made insufficient profit?
a He brought his family to the show.
a Sabrina suggested the TV show to Paul.
b He knew all aspects of his business.
b Paul hired employees to decorate apples.
c He distributed free samples of his
c Paul sold candy-coated apples at Ontario product.
Place.
d He had been an apple farmer for over
d Paul expanded apple sales to large 20 years.
grocery stores.

8
Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test Section III: Reading

Multiple-Choice (Record the best or most correct answer on the Student Answer Sheet.)

9 How is paragraph 9 organized?

a problems and solutions
b opinion and supporting reasons
c series of events according to time
d from most to least important details

End of Section III. Continue to Section IV.