Archives

Categories


IFAJ 2011

Saving Ontario’s fruit farms

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

Share

Farmers get some PR pointers

This is a longer version of a post I put up last week – and this article is also printed in the Ontario Farmer this week.
***
An episode of Oprah. A film called Food Inc. A hard-hitting Time magazine cover story. A series in the Toronto Star.

The last year was not a good one for agriculture on the public relations front, but a Guelph agri-food consultant still believes the industry is on the right track. And he offered some tips to help address the growing public perception issue as he spoke to a meeting of the Guelph Partnership for Innovation last week. Continue reading Farmers get some PR pointers

Share

Is farming on the right track?

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?

Share

Food policy could end farming crisis

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

Share

Back for another year…

happynewyear…it’s been rather quiet – ok, totally quiet – on this blog for the last week or so. I took a few long-awaited days off from blogging and working over the Christmas holidays. Mostly it was to pack and get organized for our big move this week, but also just to take a step back, recharge, rejuvenate and start to think about the year ahead. Continue reading Back for another year…

Share

Speaking champs crowned in Toronto

CYSA_JOCA_25_year_logo_smallThey’re young, they’re smart and they’re passionate. And this past Saturday afternoon, they were strutting their stuff as finalists in the Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture competition at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.
Continue reading Speaking champs crowned in Toronto

Share

Presenting modern agriculture

Here’s a great blog post about modern agriculture and bridging the gap between farmers and consumers.

It’s written by Australian journalist Pip Courtney of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the Aussie equivalent of the CBC here in Canada), whom I had the opportunity to meet while attending the International Federation of Agriculture Journalists (IFAJ) congress in Texas earlier this year.
Continue reading Presenting modern agriculture

Share