| 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 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  My husband and I went to the movies on Friday night – and during the ever longer pre-movie showcase of commercials and ads, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see one featuring the Holland Marsh and Ontario farmer Jason Verkaik.
Verkaik owns Carron Farms near Bradford, where he grows a wide variety of vegetables, although specializes in carrots and onions. It was Carron Farms that hosted the Eastern Canada Farm Writers Association for their annual meeting last month, and where we had the chance to learn a bit more about the Marsh, a wonderfully fertile area only 40 minutes north from down town Toronto.
Continue reading Ontario’s Salad Bowl – at a Cineplex near you! For many of us, the Internet is a vital part of our daily lives – business and pleasure. Personally, I have a hard time imagining my life without the Internet in it in some way shape or form. From a work perspective, I’m a freelance writer and communications project manager and my husband and I also have a web-based retail business. Socially, the Internet helps me stay in touch with friends and family far away and makes plans with those who are close by. Where am I going with this, you may ask? Continue reading Connecting rural Canadians to the Internet  This post is courtesy of fellow blogger and farm and food aficionado Tiffany Mayer. She writes in the Niagara Region – check out her blog, Eating Niagara or follow her on Twitter.
Len Troup has been doing something unusual this past week. The Jordan Station tender fruit grower has been farming. It’s a drastic change of pace from the previous weeks, when Troup, chair of the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers Marketing Board was spending more time in the political arena than his orchard. Continue reading Saving Ontario’s fruit farms Two long-time Ontario agricultural journalists were honoured for their contributions to farm writing by the Eastern Canada Farm Writers’ Association (ECFWA) at its annual meeting last week. Glenn Powell and Jim Romahn became Life Members, a designation awarded by the ECFWA to agricultural journalists who have made outstanding contributions to agriculture, to the ECFWA, to the journalism profession and to their communities. Continue reading Ontario farm journalists honoured  An innovative residue extraction process for Ontario ginseng is poised to open up new market opportunities for the high value crop.
The new method allows for the removal of crop protection residues without affecting the structure and quality of the ginseng, a pilot project has shown.
Continue reading New markets for Ontario ginseng | |
