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 | The word crisis is heard often at the moment. Unfortunately, it seems to be heard most often in conjunction with two other words: agriculture and farmers. In a country as wealthy and as entrenched in farming as ours, to me, there’s something fundamentally wrong with this picture.  Canada’s six prison farms are at the centre of a national controversy. But not for reasons one might assume. Last winter, Corrections Canada, which has responsibility for the institutions, suddenly announced it would be closing the facilities by 2010, citing high costs. Continue reading Campaign launched to save Canada’s prison farms
The tips – listed on a website called Take Action for the Environment – cover a variety of areas, but some of them, in my opinion, come directly from agriculture and represent things that farmers have been doing for years. For example: Continue reading Take action for the environment – by learning from farmers
The new Vineland Research and Commercialization Centre is what is evolving out of the old horticulture research station once run by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) at Vineland, bringing with it a new focus on industry-driven research, business development and commercialization. Continue reading Making a green industry greener
With the new year, the new Canadian food labelling rules officially kick in, making it easier for consumers to know exactly what they’re buying and where it came from. Until now, food could be labelled as Canadian without actually having Canadian ingredients – as long as it was processed or “transformed” here. The following editorial, from the Ontario Corn Producers Association, is one of several that have been appearing in the media recently asking the Ontario government to focus on science rather than emotion when it comes to making policies that impact farmers. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture has been vocal on the issue, as has AGCare and Guelph Mercury columnist Owen Roberts. But these words from the Corn Producers – although they echo the other voices – are my favourite. |   | ||||
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The federal government has developed a series of suggestions for Canadians to be more environmentally conscious.
It has a long and proud history – and now, seemingly, also an exciting future that may help make a green industry even greener by solving some major issues facing Canada’s horticultural sector.
Money and co-ordinated leadership. Those are two things that are needed to bring culinary tourism to the next level in Ontario, say a group of participants who discussed this topic at TVO’s AgendaCamp in Kingston today.