|  Ontario’s farmers and food processors suffered another setback recently when the J.M. Smucker Company announced it was moving its Bick’s pickling operations from the Ontario towns of Dunnville and Delhi to south of the border.
This is just the latest in a seemingly ongoing string of food processing plant closures in recent years. Not only do these cost our economy manufacturing jobs – more than 200 full-time and part-time jobs in this case — but they also mean a Continue reading Local food movement needs local processing  Farming affects the daily lives of all Ontarians – what we eat, where we live and what we do to earn a living.
Now, a newly released report spells out in stark detail the economic impact of the agricultural sector as well as the punishing effects of long term farm income losses on the Ontario economy. The results are staggering. Continue reading Measuring agriculture’s economic footprint in Ontario  Cows grazing on hillside pastures are a stereotypical – if often true – image of Switzerland. The Swiss are proud of their mountains and their pristine Alpine countryside. They’re also pretty serious about promoting homegrown food products.
One of the country’s leading supermarket chains, Co-op, sells a line of branded Swiss food products – milk, yogurts, meats, cheeses and more – that promotes sustainable mountain farming. Continue reading Retailer supports sustainable farming  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  The Moselle region of Luxembourg produces some fantastic wines – which we’ve been lucky enough to sample abundantly during our three day visit to the country this week. The tour was part of the International Federation of Agriculture Journalists (IFAJ) congress that is being hosted this week in Ostende, Belgium.
The wines of Luxembourg take many forms, but no matter what the colour of the drink, they’re all green as a result of a major shift in focus by wine growers, as we heard from our host and tour guide Stefaan, a senior member of Les Vins Moselles, a wine growing co-operative.
Continue reading Luxembourg’s green wines Farmers must stand together and start leading the discussion on sustainable food and farming. That’s the message Montana logger and environmental advocate Bruce Vincent told a record audience at the Speakers’ Forum hosted by AGCare and the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC) in Guelph yesterday. Continue reading Farmers urged to lead food and farming debate An episode of Oprah, a hard-hitting Time magazine cover story, a film called Food Inc. – farming is under increased, often one-sided scrutiny leaving many people to wonder whether modern agriculture is on the right track. Rob Hannam, President of Synthesis Agri-Food Consulting, believes it encourages everyone to do more to address public perceptions of farming, he told a meeting of the Guelph Partnership for Innovation I attended last week. Continue reading Is farming on the right track? | |
