Food and Farming Canada » Canada

Apple grower featured in Faces of Farming calendar

Lilian — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:03:43 +0000

She was the winner of the Golden Apple Award for industry service and leadership at the 2011 OFVGA annual meeting. Now, in 2012, Cathy McKay will also be a calendar model.

She is the first-ever apple grower to be featured in the popular Faces of Farming calendar, produced annually to promote awareness of food and farming in [...]

World’s farm journalists come to Canada

Lilian — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 13:00:38 +0000

It’s finally here.

The International Federation of Agriculture Journalists (IFAJ) 2011 congress is now underway with several pre-congress events taking place in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

Together with my colleague Owen Roberts (@theurbancowboy), I’m co-chairing this gathering of about 260 farm journalists from 30 countries around the world, which is taking place in Ontario this week.

The last [...]

Keeping tabs on where the cows are

Lilian — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:12:45 +0000

RFID tags are placed in an animal's ear

Many modern-day pet owners microchip their four-legged companions.

This is to help identify them should they become lost, injured or otherwise harmed in some way.

Farmers are doing a similar thing with their beef cattle.

They’re using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to keep track of their animals as they move [...]

The farm labour side of local food

Lilian — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:46:30 +0000

Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak announced this spring that, if elected, he’d make convicted provincial prisoners work to clean up Ontario’s highways.

According to a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a variation on this theme was recently launched in Georgia, where teams of probationers are working on fruit and vegetable farms.

Many farm workers there don’t have legal [...]

Apples – organic or conventional?

Lilian — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:55:22 +0000

The debate over organic versus conventional agriculture is an ongoing one in the world of food production.

For one Ontario apple grower, though, that debate ended a decade ago after some firsthand research into the issue.

But first, a little bit of background.

If you’ve eaten apples from any of Ontario’s major supermarkets, chances are you’ve eaten a Martin’s [...]

As cows live and eat

Lilian — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:59:02 +0000

Here’s the third in a series of guest posts I’ve been writing for the Canadian Beef Blog.

Last month, I described some of the different cattle breeds and how to tell the difference between a dairy cow (one that gives milk) and a beef cow (one that is raised for meat).

Now we’re going to take a quick [...]

New cluster promotes Ontario food and farming

Lilian — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:53:51 +0000

Southwestern Ontario’s burgeoning agri-food sector received a boost earlier this month with the launch of the Ontario Food Cluster.

My alma mater, University of Guelph, along with the City of Guelph and others are partners in this new initiative designed to attract more foreign investment and creating more businesses in our agri-food sector.

In addition to being home [...]

People could use a little reconnecting to the farm

Lilian — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:57:37 +0000

The case of watermelons spontaneously exploding in Chinese fields made headlines recently. This coming weekend marks the annual Rural Romp in Wellington County – a county-wide food and farming open house of sorts. These two events are worlds apart, yet to me, they’re both part of the complex network our global food system has become.

Most Canadian [...]

Cows of many colours

Lilian — Tue, 17 May 2011 02:11:43 +0000

Here’s another guest blog I wrote for Canadian Beef Blog recently:

A cow is a cow is a cow, right? Not exactly.

Yes, they’re all the same type of animal but there are many different breeds. For example, even though they’re both dogs, there aren’t a lot of similarities between a small white Bichon Frise and a large [...]

Testing key to knowing what’s in your water – and protecting your farm

Lilian — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:14:24 +0000

Water testing has long been part and parcel of buying and selling agricultural properties. But knowing exactly what’s in your soil and well water is becoming increasingly important to safeguard both human health and property values.

E.coli O157:H7 is one pathogen that can have serious human health implications but that many people don’t realize may be [...]