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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. Continue reading Plea from farmers: Save our farms  
Yet, as a population, we seem to be getting fatter and unhealthier – a trend that is most alarming in young people as we see childhood obesity rates march steadily upwards.
They will all be presenting at this year’s AGCare/Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC) speakers’ program, which will focus on advocacy, outreach and the social license to farm. Continue reading Advocacy, outreach and the social license to farm 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 if someone is teetering on the brink of disaster and asking for help. Continue reading Food policy could end farming crisis 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 sorghum producers that was held this past week. Ag experts from the United States Department of Agriculture and Colorado State University talked about the challenges farmers will face in trying to meet future food demands. Continue reading Feeding the world without destroying it? It’s been about a year since we were plunged into financial crisis and economic uncertainty. In response, governments in many countries, including Canada, went to unprecedented lengths to protect jobs, stimulate growth and reassure nervous citizens. Here at home, signs of recovery are emerging. We see the economic action plan at work in our communities and every one of us is now a proud part owner of an automaker. But there’s one sector that still desperately needs support – one that is just as important and just as significant as cars, roads or bridges. And that’s agriculture. Continue reading Supporting food, farming and culture The Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) has long been a popular program but when the annual cost-share funding for 2009 was fully allocated in just over two months, program representatives were both surprised and pleased at the demand. One of the things driving the uptake of cost-share is the awareness that is developed through the EFP process. Since the launch of the third edition of the EFP in 2005, more than 11,000 farm businesses have attended workshops, developed EFP action plans and had them deemed appropriate through peer review. The results are a more environmentally informed sector, eligible to apply for cost-share funding to support environmental improvements on farms. Continue reading Farmers’ environmental commitment evident in program funding demand |   | |||||
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