|  Brothers Kevin (squatting), Terry and Shawn Stemmler of Stemmler Meats and Cheese in Heidelberg, ON. They built their business on the power of local long before it was popular and their allergen-free meat products are a life-line to many food allergy sufferers. These efforts have won Waterloo Region’s Stemmler Meats and Cheese a Premier’s Award for Innovation and they’ve also just been named a finalist for a prestigious innovation award from the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce. Continue reading Local processor wins award for allergen-free meat products  A group of young farmers has taken to social media to share with Canadians how they produce food and two fruit and vegetable growers are right in the thick of it.
Erin McLean, whose family runs a pick-your-own berry operation near Peterborough and serves farmers’ markets and local grocers with fresh fruits and vegetables, and potato grower Stephanie Kowalski from the Alliston area are part of a recently launched initiative called Dinner Starts Here. Central to the project is a website called dinnerstartshere.ca, which features blog posts by ten young farmers as well as recipes, answers to frequently-asked farming questions and information about buying local. Social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest will be used to share information and bring visitors to the site. Continue reading Young farmers reach out to consumers  Picton – A desire to give back to a community that supported them in their time of need led to a fundraising campaign by local beef farmers that has raised $70,000 for a cardiac rehabilitation program in Picton, Ontario.
The donation by the Prince Edward County Cattlemen’s Association was instrumental in helping to establish an outpatient rehabilitation program with the Prince Edward Family Health Team – only the fourth such program in eastern Ontario – for people recovering from heart disease or cardiac surgery. Previously, patients had to travel as far as Kingston or Ottawa to access treatment. Continue reading Beef farmers raise 70K for local cardiac rehab centre  The Tyler farm family includes (from left) Sam, Jean, Joanie and Godfrey Tyler (Haliburton Highlands) – If you take care of the land, the land will take care of you. That’s the philosophy of Godfrey and Jean Tyler who farm their family’s fifth generation century farm in the rocky Haliburton Highlands. With no off-farm income, the Tylers use all four seasons to grow and sustain their small farming business. “Our goal is to live simply and beautifully off the land and we are always looking for new ways we can create a livelihood for ourselves and our children,” says Godfrey. “For us, part of the equation is not to be in the commodity business; all of our markets are niche.” The Tylers use bio-dynamic agricultural methods, which is a system of organic farming that seeks to create a diversified, balanced farm ecosystem. Continue reading Sustainability, stewardship at heart of fifth generation family farm  Using ultrasound on cattle to identify carcass characteristics is helping beef farmers maximize their profitability.
A project led by Beef Improvement Opportunities (BIO) has shown that ultrasound technology can accurately predict specific carcass characteristics, such as weight, back fat and marbling, which directly affect how much a producer is paid for an animal. Continue reading Ultrasound helps beef farmers make better marketing decisions  Automating the acoustical devices that keep birds away from grape crops in Ontario’s vineyards could improve the effectiveness and efficiency of these tools.
Better management options for the devices – also known as bird bangers – can reduce crop losses and improve relations with non-farm neighbours put off by the noise, according to a recently completed Ontario study. Continue reading Keeping birds away from wine grapes  Winemaking and farming aren’t two things most people associate with Muskoka.
Yet fruit wines and an iconic fall holiday berry are helping farmer Murray Johnston and his wife Wendy Hogarth put their family business on the map. The couple, with help from their four sons, run Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh and Muskoka Lakes Winery near Bala, where they grow 27 acres of cranberries and produce a range of wines using locally grown fruit. Most people think they know how cranberries are grown and harvested, says Wendy, but what they’ve seen in television advertising doesn’t paint an accurate picture. Continue reading Producing wine and cranberries in cottage country | |
