Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Heading home

As we pack up the bus for the last time open, we begin to prepare for the long ride home. Many are excited to see their family and friends, to share their experiences during our NAST and to get back to normal life.

We start off our journey with off the cuff (impromptu) speaking, responding to questions about our thoughts regarding specific speakers and stops along our travels. We hear members reflect on the importance of the relationship between Canada and the USA, our differences and members’ greatest takeaways. We continue our reflections with a whole group discussion on our key takeaways from our time spent with RULE class 16. Thank you again RULE 16 for welcoming us to Pennsylvania and for making us feel right at home.

After a morning of reflection, we stop at our last tour of the trip, Niagara Landing Wine Cellars. They are a third-generation farm producing premium grapes. They offer a variety of award-winning wines, one of their top sellers is their unique HOT (pepper) wine that is habanero infused, starts sweet and finishes off with some heat. It was also great to hear about their marketing – they use unique labels that convince the consumer to pick up the bottle and the high-quality wine product keeps consumers loyal. We get to sample 12 different wines, ranging from dry to sweet, from red to white, all very flavourful and good. We say our thank yous and goodbyes, and head to the border and closer to home.

As we get closer to home, we hear a moving speech from one of our daily coordinators, Nikki, who shares memories from our time on NAST and leaves us with lots to reflect upon. She summed up our trip best, when she said “Most of all, we’ve grown together. Both as individuals and as a family – the family that is AALP class 16.”

With many hugs, tears and tired bodies we say goodbye to our classmates, knowing memories made on our journey will last forever.

Thank you to our readers for following our journey, to our bus driver, Nancy, who made our trip, and to all our speakers, tour guides and tour locations. This truly was the trip of a lifetime.

-Class 16

Views: 186

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

SaskOilseeds October Newsletter

Closing out the 2026 growing season With harvest nearing completion across Saskatchewan, canola and flax acres are among those still coming off the field. As of October 19, canola harvest was 96 per cent complete provincially, while flax was 88 per cent complete. Provincial yield estimates currently sit at 40 bu./ac. for canola and 26 bu./ac. for flax. Rain and snow slowed harvest and fall field work in many areas earlier this month, but the added moisture was beneficial for harvested acres heading into winter. Post-Harvest Storage & Agronomy Protect Your Harvest: Oilseed Storage A lot of work goes into getting a crop from the field to the bin, and every season looks a little different. These resources can help maintain quality in storage: Conditioning Tips for Stored Canola Factors that Increase Canola Storage Risk Tips for Drying Damp and Tough Canola Flax Harvest Preparing for Next Season Canola Disease Testing: Submit canola stem samples by October 30. Blackleg and verticilliu

Canadian Centre for Rural and Agricultural Health celebrates milestone 40th anniversary

The Canadian Centre for Rural and Agricultural Health (CCRAH) began more than four decades ago for a simple reason: to support the health and safety of rural and agricultural people in Saskatchewan. “Saskatchewan is the breadbasket of Canada. Agriculture and rural are what make Saskatchewan,” said Dr. Shelley Kirychuk (PhD), the current director of CCRAH. “We are rural, we represent agriculture, and we support the people that bring food to the world.” Where it started In the 1970s and ’80s, a phenomenon was noticed by Dr. James Dosman (MD), the eventual founding director of CCRAH. People who worked in grain elevators were reporting lung health issues due to grain dust exposure. These findings led to an International Symposium on Grain Dust and Health in the late ’70s, which eventually led to the development of a national grain dust medical surveillance program for Canada. From there, USask and the Saskatchewan Lung Association established the Centre for Agricultural Medicine in Ja

USask soil science class partners with Wanuskewin on restoration project

That was Jessica Gunn’s mantra when she put on waders and climbed chest-deep into the cool water of the opimihaw Creek at Wanuskewin Heritage Park in mid-September. Gunn was there with a group of University of Saskatchewan (USask) students who were engaging in a unique learning experience: constructing a beaver dam analog (BDA) in the creek. “A big part of why I wanted to do this course is because it’s so hands-on,” said Gunn, a third-year renewable resource management student who enrolled in SLSC 450.3: Practical and Applied Restoration, a soil science course taught by Dr. Katherine Stewart (PhD), an associate professor in USask’s College of Agriculture and Bioresources. For Gunn, the day at Wanuskewin was unlike any other school day she had experienced. “We had a great time as a class,” she said. “I feel like we learned so much.” The students were invited to Wanuskewin to help the park build a BDA — essentially a “starter” dam that beavers can take over and use to construct their

U.S. Canola Use Forecast to Jump 16% in 2026-27

U.S. canola use is forecast to climb sharply in the 2026-27 marketing year, supported by record domestic production, expanding crush capacity and rising demand for canola oil in biofuel manufacturing. According to the USDA's latest Oil Crops Outlook, total U.S. canola usage is projected to increase 16% from 2025-26, while domestic crushing is expected to rise 11% to 2.4 million tonnes. The stronger crush outlook reflects growing domestic demand for canola oil and meal, which has supported processing margins. A new crushing facility is also expected to be completed during 2026-27, adding to U.S. processing capacity. Meanwhile, U.S. canola oil use in biofuel production is forecast to surge to 2.54 million tonnes, up from 1.68 million tonnes last year, an increase of more than 50%. The USDA attributed the growth partly to stronger renewable fuel mandates for 2026 and 2027, along with new eligibility for the 45Z clean fuel production tax credit for biomass-based diesel made from No

Protect Grain Quality During Wet Harvests

Wet harvest conditions can increase the risk of OTA development in stored grains. Proper drying, cooling, cleaning, and monitoring help protect crop quality and value.

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service