Young Farmers: Provide Input to the Federal Government....

Young Farmers - Lend Your Voice to the Future of Agriculture!

CFBMC News Release

Earlier this week, the Minister's office announced the honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn is seeking input from across Canada on the key challenges and issues facing young and future farmers.

CFBMC would like to give you, its partners, an opportunity to contribute your ideas.
- What should be done to assist new and upcoming producers?
- How can the federal government (Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada) help new and young farmers start their business and capture more opportunities to grow and diversify their businesses?

Your suggestions, recommendations and comments will be compiled and incorporated into a briefing note, which we will present to Minister Blackburn on behalf of ourselves (CFBMC) and our partners.

Your responses can be emailed to info@cfbmc.com. Please include 'Blackburn' in the subject line.

We also encourage you to share your demographic information - Are you a...young/beginning farmer, established producer, consultant? What region of the country do you reside in?

The official Press Release regarding Blackburn's initiative is below.

MINISTER BLACKBURN TO DISCUSS ISSUES FACING YOUNG FARMERS

OTTAWA, Ontario, November 9, 2009 - Farmers, agriculture students and academics from across the country will get an opportunity to discuss the key challenges facing young farmers and the future of agriculture through roundtable discussions with Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Agriculture) Jean-Pierre Blackburn over the next few weeks.

"I believe Canada's young and future farmers have a unique perspective on the issues facing the agriculture industry," said Minister Blackburn. "These dialogues will be valuable in helping to bring their voices to the forefront and ensure their ideas are put into action."

The roundtables will focus on identifying key issues for young people who want to farm and on charting solutions that will help new and young farmers start their business, capture more opportunities to grow and diversify their businesses.

"We want to be sure that the programs we deliver hit the target for Canada's young farmers," said Minister Blackburn. "These roundtables will allow us to exchange with the experts themselves and ensure their ideas are given due importance in the elaboration of future policies."

This week and next, Minister Blackburn is holding roundtable meetings with farmers, agriculture students and academics in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Saskatchewan and British Columbia as part of an ongoing commitment to get input directly from farmers when developing agricultural policies.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Roadrunner on December 5, 2009 at 11:20am

Here are the needs I think most young farmers have that if a program could help address them, we would see more young farmers...

1. Access to capital - hard to get started in such a capital intensive industry.
2. Training and support - access to others to help solve problems.
3. Revenue - Market price stability - it is difficult to build equity when profitability is so difficult...

Is there anything else that would help?

RSS

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

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

FAA Seeks $289,215 Penalty Against Washington Drone Operator Over Fertilizer Flights

A Washington drone company faces a proposed $289,215 FAA penalty after regulators alleged it conducted unauthorized fertilizer application flights without the required agricultural aircraft certification.

This is Agriculture: CEO and Co-Founder

Dr. Kinneret Shefer is the CEO and co-founder of GeneNeer, a Canadian-Israeli agtech company developing next-generation gene editing technologies for crop improvement. The headquarters launched in Manitoba in early 2026. Shefer has a background in molecular biotechnology and non-coding RNA biology, and earned a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem before being awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct postdoctoral research at the RNA Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Motivated by the opportunity to transform scientific discoveries into solutions that create real-world impact, Shefer has led the development of several patented technologies, and has secured millions of dollars through investments, grants and strategic partnerships. In this month’s This is Agriculture feature, Shefer shares how she came to agriculture through her background in science, why GeneNeer decided to headquarter its company in Manitoba, and where she believes the future of agriculture i

AIVA Network Demo Day connects agtech innovators at EMILI’s Innovation Farms

EMILI welcomed close to 70 attendees to Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert for the first in a series of AIVA Network Demo Days that will take place across Canada in 2026. The event provided farmers, investors, and others in the ecosystem an opportunity to connect with agtech innovators while learning how the Agriculture, Innovation, Validation, and Adoption (AIVA) Network tests and validates new agtech at validation hubs such as EMILI’s Innovation Farms. EMILI is proud to be a founder of AIVA, alongside Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network (WHIN). The event was hosted by the AIVA Network, which connects farmers, innovators, and validation hubs to bring proven agtech solutions to market and derisk technology adoption. EMILI was thrilled to welcome Manitoba’s Minister of Innovation and New Technology, Mike Moroz, to share remarks on the impact of work taking place to drive agriculture innovation in Manitoba. Attendees also heard from John Cassidy, Mana

Keep an eye out for ticks this grazing season

External parasites, also known as ectoparasites, live on and feed off their host animal and can cause an animal stress, production losses, irritation and injury. Common external parasites that affect beef cattle in Canada include lice, ticks and flies. Different species of parasites can cause livestock problems during different seasons. Understanding external parasites and monitoring their activity will help producers implement effective management and control strategies that mitigate the impact of external parasites on animal health, welfare, productivity and profitability. Parasites, both internal and external, can cause production losses and discomfort to livestock, and are an economic and welfare concern. External parasites can lead to stress, reduced weight gain, decreased milk production and other production losses, irritation and injury in their host animal. Parasites can also alter grazing and feeding behaviour in beef cattle. Some parasites transmit cattle diseases, such as

Lygus bugs management in canola

Lygus bugs management in canola begins with sweep netting at late flowering and pod stages. Count adults and late instars. The standard threshold is 20-30 per 10 sweeps. The most vulnerable crop stage for lygus feeding is after flowering and when seeds are enlarging on lower pods. Scouting Scout lygus at late flowering and podding stages using a standard insect sweep net of 38 cm (15?) diameter. Take ten 180° sweeps, and aim to sweep the flowers and pods while moving forward. In thick crops, take a couple of steps and stand while sweeping vigorously. If you are not seeing a few pods in the net, sweep harder. Count the number of big lygus in the net. Sweep net technique. Count adults and late-instar nymphs Nymphs are young lygus, and only the larger nymphs do enough damage to be included in sweep net counts. (See the images below.) A key feature is the black dots on the back. Count nymphs with developing wingpads or dark shoulder blades. Don’t count those nymphs without developing

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service