Food and Farming Canada » soybeans

Long awaited support for local food and farming

Lilian — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:58:07 +0000

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 [...]

Fabulous farming fotos

Lilian — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:05:17 +0000

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 [...]

An Ontario farmer’s direct marketing success story

Lilian — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 13:47:55 +0000

Consumers, local food advocates and others ask me why more farmers don’t market their products – grains, meats, fruits and vegetables – directly to the end user.

Building that one-on-one relationship would help boost the availability of local food products, they argue, as well as protect farmers from fluctuating global commodity prices.

It’s not quite that simple and [...]

Your chance to tour real Ontario farms

Lilian — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:05:34 +0000

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 [...]

Unlocking the potential of soy proteins

Lilian — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 12:49:46 +0000

Soybean varieties developed for specific food and health applications represent a key future growth opportunity for the Canadian soybean industry. Different types of soybean protein can be ideally suited to specific food applications, which can lead to new food products and processes, says a University of Guelph scientist who is involved in research in this field.“Canada [...]

Soybeans could help extend life of asphalt roads

Lilian — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:15:17 +0000

This is an update to a blog post I put up almost a year ago, where I wrote about a soy-based asphalt sealant that can help keep potholes at bay. I was intrigued by the potential of the product at the time – both for municipalities trying to keep their roads budgets under control in the [...]

Car, furniture production cheaper, greener with soy

Lilian — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:59:34 +0000

Soybeans are helping to make industrial epoxy resins used in construction, automotive and furniture production hardier, greener and less expensive.

Researchers at the University of Guelph are working on a new soy-oil based bio-resin that, when mixed with soy stalks and soybean meal, can create new biodegradable “green composites”. Traditional epoxy resins used in composite products are [...]

Solving the peanut-free school lunch problem

Lilian — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:34:19 +0000

Over the last week or so of everyone’s back to school preparations, I’ve been noticing a lot of coverage about school lunches and the dilemna of what to send with your kids. I didn’t realize this was such a problem – I’ve been out of school myself for quite some time and don’t have any kids [...]

Ontario edamame ready for harvest!

Lilian — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:06:59 +0000

Back in the spring, I wrote a post about an Ontario farmer who is experimenting with growing edamame this year.

Edamame is a succulent soybean that is popular in Asian cuisine. Currently virtually all edamame consumed in Canada is grown in Asia, which means there could be a market opportunity for Ontario farmers to begin growing [...]

Finding markets for the whole soybean – even hulls

Lilian — Sat, 15 May 2010 00:22:11 +0000

One of the things I enjoy a lot about my job as a freelance food and farm journalist and corporate writer is the chance to learn about really cool new things.

The story below about soybeans, which I originally wrote for Ontario Grain Farmer and is published in the May/June 2010 issue, is one of these [...]