| In Western Canada, student enrolment at various agricultural colleges is on the rise. And an increasing percentage of students flocking to programs in animal, food, life and environmental sciences are coming from urban areas, which spokespeople at these institutions attribute at least partly to the growing public interest in agriculture and food. Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College hasn’t yet released its enrolment numbers for this year so I don’t know if this is purely a western phenomenon. I’m intrigued by it, however, especially in the face of a commonly used agricultural statistic — the average age of Canadian farmers. Statistics Canada tells us it’s approximately 52 years of age, which elicits hand-wringing and worry from some corners about agriculture’s future. Yes, it’s a high number, but at the end of the day, it’s just that — a number. On its own, it does little to tell the real story of what’s going on in food and farming. So who is the farmer of the future? Continue reading Dispelling dispair about the future of food and farming  Soybeans are helping to make industrial epoxy resins used in construction, automotive and furniture production hardier, greener and less expensive.
Researchers at the University of Guelph are working on a new soy-oil based bio-resin that, when mixed with soy stalks and soybean meal, can create new biodegradable “green composites”. Continue reading Car, furniture production cheaper, greener with soy  We’re in the middle of prime fruit and vegetable season. The heat and sun of the summer bring with them roadside stands, farmers markets and local food stores brimming with fresh, Ontario-grown produce. I, for one, as someone who supports local food production and values Ontario’s farmers, am in my element as I’m revelling in the seasonal bounty of our fields.
But this season also annually gives new life to the ongoing debate about whether or not we should be using crop protection materials in our food production. Earlier this summer, a U.S. activist group released its yearly list of fruits and vegetables they say consumers should avoid because they contain the highest levels of pesticide residues. Continue reading Reports on pesticide residue may be misleading  Farmers are looking at many different solutions for dealing with rising energy costs. For one greenhouse grower, the answer lies with a new technology, a thermal blanket installation, which is expected to lower his energy costs by about one-third.
Gerard Schouwenaar of Orchard Park Growers, a St. Catharines-area flower producer, retrofitted a 30,000 sq ft greenhouse in the fall of 2009 with the technology—also called a thermal curtain—as a
way of combating rising energy costs and he’s very satisfied with the results.
Continue reading Thermal blanket helps lower greenhouse energy costs Sometimes I wonder whether we’re actually hard-wired to be instantly attracted to bad news and shocking revelations. I see negativity often dominating our 24-hour news cycle, leaving the less sensational but equally important good news to fall by the wayside. More and more people are now writing and reporting about food, farming, science and the environment. These are current, interesting topics that affect all of us on daily basis, whether we consciously realize it or not. And yet fewer people than ever have much of an in-depth understanding of them, affecting both the way we cover and the way we interpret news. Continue reading Farmers take safe pesticide application seriously The following editorial was published in the Guelph Mercury on May 27, 2010 These days, factory farming is a term used liberally when people talk about agriculture. Its definition seems to vary depending on who is asked, and I’ve often wondered what it actually brings to mind when people hear it. I talk to people in the farming community all the time, and to them it’s an overused misnomer that activists use to demean and wrongly portray farming and food production. To find out what non-farmers think I asked the question on Twitter last week, and the answers were quite a bit different. Continue reading The days of Old McDonald are gone for good Wind farming is blowing up controversy in many parts of Ontario these days. On the one hand, it is being promoted as a green alternative to traditional energy sources that we desperately need to lessen our dependence on less environmentally-friendly supplies we have been relying on to date. It is also credited with bringing good jobs to rural areas struggling with employment issues, keeping people in small communities and maintaining infrastructure. Continue reading Weighing in on wind energy | |
