Food and Farming Canada » agricultural policy

Long awaited support for local food and farming

Lilian — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:58:07 +0000

There was good news in the provincial budget for farmers this week. The Ontario government announced new, permanent risk-management programs that farmers have long been asking for to help bring some much needed stability to notoriously fluctuating farm incomes.

Farm leaders have been making their case both federally and provincially about the need for this kind of [...]

Measuring agriculture’s economic footprint in Ontario

Lilian — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:34:47 +0000

Farming affects the daily lives of all Ontarians – what we eat, where we live and what we do to earn a living.

Now, a newly released report spells out in stark detail the economic impact of the agricultural sector as well as the punishing effects of long term farm income losses on the Ontario economy.

The results [...]

Plea from farmers: Save our farms

Lilian — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:54:50 +0000

Ontario’s farmers are using a town hall meeting in Stratford today to reach out to the public. The Save our Farms forum will focus on the beleaguered state of Ontario’s farming sector and on what the future of an Ontario without farming could look like down the road if nothing is done.

The past several years [...]

Food policy could end farming crisis

Lilian — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:53:04 +0000

There’s a crisis in agriculture. It’s an oft-repeated statement, one that at times comes from beef and pork farmers, and other times from the grain or the fruit and vegetable growers.

In fact, it seems as though there’s always a crisis in agriculture – perhaps in different sectors at different times, but it always seems as [...]

Feeding the world without destroying it?

Lilian — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:29:43 +0000

By 2025, farmers need to double their food output to feed an estimated global population of eight billion. That’s a startling statistic and what it means is something we all need to start thinking about.

I came across it in a report on the Colorado Ag Classic, a convention of Colorado wheat, seed, corn, sunflower and [...]

UK water rules sign of future for Canada’s farmers?

Lilian — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:45:51 +0000

A new strategy on water usage in agriculture unveiled by Britain’s Environment Agency paints a potentially grim picture for farmers.

This according to a report in Farmers Weekly, a leading British agricultural publication. The strategy includes tighter restrictions on agricultural irrigation as well as increased costs for water recycling and construction of on-farm reservoirs.

It is in response [...]

Farming – solution to economic woes?

Lilian — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:25:19 +0000

The following column I wrote was printed in the Guelph Mercury yesterday.

Agriculture proving its worth in today’s economy

There’s a lot of worrying and hand-wringing going on in Ontario these days about the economic mess we now find ourselves in – and just as much hand-wringing and worrying about how we’re going to pull ourselves back out. [...]

WWF: organics not the answer to our food problems

Lilian — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:57:26 +0000

If we want to feed the world – and do it in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner – organics won’t cut it.

That’s the message the World Wildlife Fund’s Director of Livestock will be bringing to the AGCare/Ontario Farm Animal Council annual meeting in Guelph on March 12.

Bryan Weech says we have to do more [...]

Fed dollars for ethanol research

Lilian — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:21:32 +0000

One of the criticisms often lobbed at the ethanol industry is that using corn for fuel means there is less available for food. But a new research investment by the government of Canada aims to change that.Agriculture and AGri-Food Canada announced almost $20 million of funding for the Cellulosic Biofuels Network (CBN) to conduct research into [...]

New president at Ontario Federation of Agriculture

Lilian — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 12:24:16 +0000

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) elected Trenton ON-area farmer Bette Jean Crews as its new president at their annual meeting in Toronto last week.

Crews, previously a Vice President of the OFA, takes the helm of Ontario’s largest farm organization during a time of turmoil in agriculture. Farmers have been hit hard with higher prices for [...]