|  It’s become almost like an unofficial kick off to summer, sort of like our Victoria Day long weekend – an early anticipated milestone that marks the start of warm, sunny days. For me, that’s asparagus season.
Asparagus is one of the first crops of the new growing year that hits the market for consumption. Here in Ontario, that’s usually sometime in May. This year, I managed to score my first couple of bunches early last week – the store that had them sold out pretty quickly as demand was high and supply still rather limited as the crop was only just starting to be ready for market. Continue reading Wait for local Ontario asparagus is over!  Here’s another guest blog I wrote for Canadian Beef Blog recently:
A cow is a cow is a cow, right? Not exactly. Yes, they’re all the same type of animal but there are many different breeds. For example, even though they’re both dogs, there aren’t a lot of similarities between a small white Bichon Frise and a large German Sheppard! The same principles apply to cattle. To complicate things further, did you know that different breeds are used for different things on the farm? Continue reading Cows of many colours  Here’s a piece I wrote as a guest post for the Canadian Beef Blog.
Every day is Earth Day on the farm. This slogan has long been used by folks in agriculture to highlight how farming benefits the environment. The good news stories don’t get told is a common complaint I hear from the farmers and farm groups I work with. And that’s usually true. It’s the bad actors that make the headlines and get the column space – manure spills, pesticide overuse and water contamination feed the sensationalism machine much more voraciously than a wetland preserved, an erosion control implemented or a strip of trees planted. I’m not going to pretend that the bad things don’t happen. They unfortunately do, but luckily, they are the exception rather than the norm. Continue reading What you probably didn’t know is happening on our farms Farmers – are you frustrated by people who don’t understand what you do on your farm? Do you wish more consumers knew how food was produced or more politicians had a sense of the realities of farming? Many of us in agriculture have had these sentiments at some time and often feel helpless to do anything about them. There is an answer though – social media. It’s easy to use, reaches a wide base of people you wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to interact with and it’s free. Continue reading A difference in 10 minutes a day  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 support for a long time. A pilot program specifically for farmers who grow grains and oilseeds, like soybeans and canola, was announced four years ago and its success made it a model for other agricultural sectors also in need of long-term stability, like pork, beef, veal and fruits and vegetables. What makes farming so special that they need government-supported risk-management programs? Continue reading Long awaited support for local food and farming  Few relationships are more personal than the one we have with our food. We trust that what we eat will sustain us, nourish us and help keep us healthy.
In Canada, public trust in our food supply is high, a fact that’s been proven repeatedly in studies carried out by Ipsos Reid for AGCare and the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC). But as increasingly fewer Canadians know how food is produced and where it comes from, those numbers won’t stay high forever. This means farmers need to become involved in the discussion about the future of farming and food production that is good for people, animals and the planet. Two food industry experts will discuss the whys and hows of building trust in Canada’s food system at the upcoming AGCare and OFAC annual meeting and speakers’ program. Continue reading The whys and hows of building trust in our food  Royal wedding fever is ramping up as we inch closer to the long-awaited nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
I remember watching the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer back in 1981…the sheer pomp and circumstance of it all was like a magical fairy tale to my six year old eyes! In Canada, of course, we have a special attachment to all things royal, given that the Queen is our head of state and her image graces our coins, bank notes and stamps. One local farm in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is getting in on the excitement too. Continue reading A royal jam | |
