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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   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
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
The tips – listed on a website called Take Action for the Environment – cover a variety of areas, but some of them, in my opinion, come directly from agriculture and represent things that farmers have been doing for years. For example: Continue reading Take action for the environment – by learning from farmers
The new Vineland Research and Commercialization Centre is what is evolving out of the old horticulture research station once run by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) at Vineland, bringing with it a new focus on industry-driven research, business development and commercialization. Continue reading Making a green industry greener
There are more ways to buy local than just food. This Valentine’s Day, why not try fresh Ontario flowers? The perfect example, say Ontario flower growers, are potted miniature roses – ideal for the upcoming Valentine’s occasion. Continue reading Buying local for Valentine’s Day |   | ||||
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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.
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.
The federal government has developed a series of suggestions for Canadians to be more environmentally conscious.
I’ve never given much thought to the origins of much of our fruit. Now by this I don’t mean what country they’re grown in, although that’s important too. No, I mean how they’re actually grown. 
It has a long and proud history – and now, seemingly, also an exciting future that may help make a green industry even greener by solving some major issues facing Canada’s horticultural sector.