|  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 support for a long time. A pilot program specifically for farmers who grow grains and oilseeds, like soybeans and canola, was announced four years ago and its success made it a model for other agricultural sectors also in need of long-term stability, like pork, beef, veal and fruits and vegetables. What makes farming so special that they need government-supported risk-management programs? Continue reading Long awaited support for local food and farming  For anyone writing or blogging about farming, here’s a great resource for you.
One of my biggest struggles is always trying to find current, accurate and available photos to go along with articles or blog posts. The Ontario agriculture photo library has a wide array of available photos depicting many of the different aspects of farming in our province. Continue reading Fabulous farming fotos We’re almost a month into the new year and some of us have already lost sight of the lofty exercise and weight loss goals we set for ourselves on Jan.1. We all start the year with good intentions — overflowing parking lots at most gyms during the first few weeks of January will attest to that — but as the weeks wear on, many of us fall off the proverbial wagon and end up straying from those resolutions. Overall, most of us think we’re in pretty decent shape. The numbers say otherwise, though. Continue reading Let’s take those new year’s resolutions seriously  If you’re interested in touring real Ontario farms and meeting real Ontario farmers – but have no way of knowing how to go about that – here’s a new option for you.
Yes, this week you can head down to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto and learn all sorts about food and farming in Canada but for the rest of the year, these new virtual farm tours provide a neat alternative. Continue reading Your chance to tour real Ontario farms  Ontario’s farmers and food processors suffered another setback recently when the J.M. Smucker Company announced it was moving its Bick’s pickling operations from the Ontario towns of Dunnville and Delhi to south of the border.
This is just the latest in a seemingly ongoing string of food processing plant closures in recent years. Not only do these cost our economy manufacturing jobs – more than 200 full-time and part-time jobs in this case — but they also mean a Continue reading Local food movement needs local processing  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 are staggering. Continue reading Measuring agriculture’s economic footprint in Ontario 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 | |
