Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Talking Tough Topics - Farm & Food Care Annual General Meeting & Conference

Event Details

Talking Tough Topics - Farm & Food Care Annual General Meeting & Conference

Time: April 15, 2014 at 1pm to April 16, 2014 at 4pm
Location: Teatro Conference & Event Centre
Street: 121 Chisholm Drive
City/Town: Milton
Website or Map: http://www.farmfoodcare.org
Phone: 519-837-1326
Event Type: conference, workshop, annual, meeting
Organized By: Farm & Food Care
Latest Activity: Mar 28, 2014

Export to Outlook or iCal (.ics)

Event Description

Conference: Sustainable food and farming. What does it really mean in Canada? (April 15: 1 to 5 p.m.)

Sustainability has different meanings to different people. Come and hear insights on what it means to the Canadian public and Ontario farmers and join the discussion to share your thoughts.

Workshop: Talking Tough Topics (April 15: 7 to 9:30 p.m.)

Biotechnology, pesticides, antibiotics and hormones are all issues that farmers deal with on a day to day basis - but they can be difficult to explain to a non-farming public.  In a workshop setting, participants will be given tips and techniques related to answering questions and having confident conversations about topics like these.  

Annual Meeting (April 16: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.)

The morning keynote speaker will be Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director of McGill's Office for Science & Society on the topic "Science, Sense and Nonsense". 

The second feature speaker will be Ruth Salmon of the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance on the topic "Farmed Seafood Sustainability Movement: A case study". 

Kim McConnell, strategic advisor & former CEO of AdFarm and director on Farm & Food Care Foundation will present on the topic of "What are we going to do about turning up the volume?"  McConnell will give an update on the creation of a strategy designed to help grow public trust and confidence in Canadian food and farming.  

The meeting will also include highlights of Farm & Food Care’s 2013 activities, presentation of the Farm & Food Care Champion Award, election of the 2014-2015 Board of Directors and more. 

Registration:

Registration for both the April 15 conference and workshop are free to all Ontario farmers. The cost to other participants is $60 for the conference and $100 for the communications workshop. Registration for the annual meeting is $80 in advance of March 31 and $100 after that date for all registrants. To register, visit www.farmfoodcare.org.

Comment Wall

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

Failing Grade for an Out of Touch Federal Budget

The 2024 federal budget is woefully bloated with a deficit of $40 billion dollars and yet falls short in addressing Canadian farmers’ real concerns. “Once again, the federal government has missed the opportunity to support agriculture and those that work in the industry. The real issues impacting us are the cumulative effect of the carbon tax on everything that we do, the growing need to have coordinated grain research, increased funding for the PMRA, and industry efficiency through an improved Canada Grains Act,” stated Daryl Fransoo, Chair of the Wheat Growers Association. The federal government has worked to defeat C-234, a bill that would provide immediate relief to grain farmers from the negative impact of the carbon tax on grain drying. The government fails to understand that these costs impact grain farmers and their ability to grow grain for domestic and export consumption. The government was forced to change their policy on the Advanced Payments Program and increase the int

A Message from Our Executive Director: Spring 2024

Throughout the winter, we took the opportunity to engage with many growers at various meetings and events around the province. Growers are facing many challenges heading into the 2024 growing season including significant dryness in some areas, high costs of production, and weaker prices for some major crops. We know that these factors are placing pressure on growers’ expected margins for 2024. While prices of some major crops are significantly lower since last growing season, most pulse prices have held up fairly well. Prices for green lentils, green peas, and chickpeas have been particularly strong. In addition, India has come back to the market for pea imports after a hiatus since 2017, which has given some support to yellow pea prices since December 2023. Current estimates are that India could import 800,000 to 1 million tonnes of peas from December 2023 to June 2024, while import restrictions there are temporarily lifted. At the same time, Canada’s largest market for yellow peas –

Mobile skills lab to promote ag manufacturing

A mobile skills lab will travel around Saskatchewan to promote careers in agriculture manufacturing. Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada (AMC) will create a virtual reality experience with the lab visiting school campuses and community events to promote industry careers to students, parents, and teachers. In addition to growing the workforce, the mobile skills lab will showcase professional development opportunities to those already working in the agricultural manufacturing industry. AMC President Donna Boyd said the industry has seen huge growth and this in turn has increased the demand for talent “A career in agriculture offers the opportunity to be one of the most successful industries in Canada—one which protects the environment, ensures global food security and fuels the future of food through innovation,” Boyd said. “AMC is directly addressing the needs of our members and our industry through the Careers in Ag initiative. The Saskatchewan Government is providing $300,000 to

Ag content lacking in the Federal Budget

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) was disappointed to see insufficient investment in Canadian agriculture in the 2024 budget. CFA President Keith Currie said farmers continue to struggle under the weight of high-interest rates, a price on carbon for essential farming activities, for which farmers have no viable alternatives, and an increased risk of extreme weather events. He said these challenges are testing the limits and effectiveness of risk management programs. “While we understand there are competing priorities for government funds, with erratic weather and high prices tremendously increasing the risk profile of Canadian agriculture, the government can ill-afford to ignore food production and Canadian farmers,” Currie said. Some positives in the budget included a re-commitment to launch of consultations on interoperability more commonly known as right to repair, carbon rebates for small businesses and previously announced funding for temporary improvements to the A

Keep it Clean launches 2024 Product Advisory

Canadian agriculture must pay attention to export market regulations, an industry rep said

© 2024   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service