All Blog Posts (764)

RealAgriculture Video: Who are the Innovative Farmers of Ontario? Interview with Ken Nixon.

Continue

Added by OntAG Admin on February 19, 2010 at 5:57am — 1 Comment

Dr. Roberta Bondar to Challenge Dairy Producers at Precision Dairy Management Conference, March 3, 2010.

The organizing Committee is delighted to announce that Dr. Roberta Bondar will deliver the conference’s keynote address at the banquet on March 3, 2010. Dr. Bondar has had many careers from scientist, physician, astronaut, photographer and author to entrepreneur. She is ideally suited to deliver the keynote address at the First North…

Continue

Added by Joe Dales on February 17, 2010 at 7:30am — No Comments

Building global trade partnerships

Building global trade partnerships

The backbone of many Canadian agriculture commodities is trade. It's what has allowed several sectors to expand and has given us our reputation as a global… Continue

Added by Synthesis Agri-Food on February 12, 2010 at 2:36am — No Comments

Mitchell, Acres and Daynard Selected for Induction into the Ontario Ag Hall of Fame. Click below to add your best wishes.

THREE OUTSTANDING LEADERS SELECTED FOR INDUCTION INTO THE ONTARIO AGRICULTURAL HALL OF FAME

From the Ontario Agriculture Hall of Fame.

Milton. In its thirty-first year, the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame Association will induct three leaders into the Hall of Fame Gallery at Country Heritage Park in Milton on Sunday June 13, 2010. To qualify for this prestigious recognition, Inductees must have demonstrated visionary leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship in the… Continue

Added by Joe Dales on February 2, 2010 at 3:53am — No Comments

Pulling the Plug...

Part II—You Can’t Eat Energy!!

Monday, January 18, 2010, was a night for small victories for the Farmers of the Holland Marsh, the citizens of King Township, and the people of Ontario!

This was the night our Township Council voted, unanimously, in favour of an interim control by-law. Basically, if upheld by the OMB, it halts the building of the power plant slated to be imposed in the Greenbelt, on agricultural land in the Holland Marsh. This will allow Township staff the… Continue

Added by Avia Eek on January 31, 2010 at 4:24am — 2 Comments

Haney Video: John Gillespie, Beef Information Centre at NCBA in San Antonio, TX.

Shaun Haney spoke to John Gillespie, Chairman of the Beef Information Center about what he thinks the he and the Beef Information Center accomplished at the NCBA. John is a farmer from Ontario who has committed an immense amount of time to serving the beef industry in… Continue

Added by Joe Dales on January 30, 2010 at 7:52am — No Comments

Alumbaugh: Oh the Irony! PETA...

Alumbaugh: Oh the Irony!

By JoAnn Alumbaugh, Farms.com

Last week, Gilbert Arenas, the pro Washington Wizards basketball player, was suspended indefinitely for bringing guns into the Wizards’ locker room and for inappropriate behavior preceding a game, when he mockingly “shot” at teammates. It happened last Wednesday, January 6, which coincidentally, was the player’s 28th birthday.

But, now here’s one for the record books: The very next day after his suspension, Arenas… Continue

Added by OntAG Admin on January 19, 2010 at 3:33am — No Comments

Ontario Tree Planting Workshops Announced. Click to Learn More.

TORONTO, Jan. 14 /CNW/ - The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Trees Ontario, along with its partners, the Ontario Forestry Association (OFA) and local planting agencies will host seven free workshops to educate local area landowners on the resources and incentives available to plant trees on their properties.

Everyone can take part in supporting tree planting in Ontario. The workshops give landowners the opportunity to learn about tree planting techniques, financial… Continue

Added by OntAG Admin on January 14, 2010 at 11:39am — No Comments

Democracy lives in King Township

Last night was a tremendous night for the Farmers of the Holland Marsh, and the citizens of King Township. We are fortunate to have so many astute individuals willing to take up this cause, and do battle with the Ontario government! As one Councillor put it "I never would have thought we would ever have to deal with the building of a power plant in the Holland Marsh"--yah, no kidding! A hydrological study has been done, independently, which does not favour the peaker plant builder's position,… Continue

Added by Avia Eek on January 12, 2010 at 6:00am — 2 Comments

Farming Manure for Megawatts

By Heather Travis

Westerr News

Thursday, January 7, 2010

In a few years, a herd of Holstein cows might be powering the village of Ilderton. This is not so far-fetched, as a locally owned farm has begun turning manure into an energy resource with the help of university researchers.

In 2006, the urban sprawl of London, Ont. forced the Stanton… Continue

Added by AgOntario on January 8, 2010 at 6:00am — No Comments

You Can't Eat Energy--Peaker Plant in the Holland Marsh

PEAKER PLANT IN THE HOLLAND MARSH

My name is Avia Eek. My husband, Bill, and I farm in the Holland Marsh. My husband, and many of the farmers in the Holland Marsh are descendants of the first pioneers who broke this land in 1934. Although, it should be noted the first industry here was the harvesting of the marsh grass for mattresses. This business took place from 1880 to approx. 1915, when it peaked.

The soil in the Holland Marsh is organic based, the result of… Continue

Added by Avia Eek on December 19, 2009 at 6:03am — 1 Comment

Lessons In Farming

I'm a young farmer. I can say that now - especially since just a couple of weeks ago we moved out to one of our family farms. This is a house my great-grandfather built in the early 1900's, and is the farm where the dry cows and heifers are kept. My mom and dad are a few kilometres away at the farm I grew up in - where the milking cows are.

As I get settled on the farm, I thought I'd share some of my experiences. Along the way I'd invite any and all pieces of advice I can get - as I… Continue

Added by Andrew Campbell on December 17, 2009 at 7:24am — 6 Comments

The Future of Pork

We all know about the struggles facing the pork industry -- the big question though is how do we fix it.

Here are a couple of videos with some involved in the sector discussing how to move forward. Take a look a add your thoughts below.…

Continue

Added by Andrew Campbell on December 16, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

Ontario food processors: access SODP before Dec 22, 2009

Strong Ontario food and beverage processors – particularly those located in communities that have been hardhit by the recent economic downturn – are encouraged to apply to the Southern Ontario Development Program (SODP). SODP’s food and beverage initiative includes a $20 million fund of federal interest-free loans for upgrades, expansions, or modernization of commercial food and beverage production facilities, or fund a strategy to access new markets.

Ontario Food and Beverage… Continue

Added by Lisa McLean on December 15, 2009 at 4:18am — No Comments

Synthesis Agri Food Consulting: The War for Talent.

The War for Talent.

By: Synthesis Agri-Food Insights

November 24, 2009 Volume 1, Issue 7

Helping you understand agriculture's challenges and opportunities by analyzing the issues and sharing their insights -the Synthesis consulting team Rob Hannam, Mary Lou McCutcheon, Julien DenTandt, Peter Hannam and Heidi Dancho. www.synthesis-network.com

The war for talent.

Recruiting and retaining talent has always… Continue

Added by OntAG Admin on November 25, 2009 at 8:00am — 1 Comment

The Most Important Decision of The Year. How do you approach it?

The most important decision of the year.

Despite the fact that many corn producers have yet to finish corn harvest, the corn seed sales season for 2010 has officially begun.

If you are like me, there is something a bit disconcerting about sales calls hunting seed orders for next year when I am so far behind on this year’s harvest. My thought process is, let me get the crop off, consider the performance of this year’s seed choices, and then we’ll talk about next… Continue

Added by Peter Gredig on November 21, 2009 at 6:04am — 1 Comment

Break through in soybean yields?

Soybean yields in North America have been stalled over the past 20 years as pests like aphids and Soybean Cyst Nematodes take hold. When farmers plant certified seed it allows seed companies to put profits back into research and development. Companies like Syngenta, Monsanto and Dupont are spending millions of dollars a day in research and development. With these investments by the seed industry we may finally see the soybean yield trends going in the same positive direction as the corn yield… Continue

Added by John Beardsley on November 10, 2009 at 12:47pm — No Comments

$20 million fund good news for Ontario food processors

Minister Goodyear announces investment to support Ontario’s food and beverage processors

The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) announced a $20 million investment today in Guelph that will allow food and beverage processors operating in Southern Ontario access to funds to expand, modernize, innovate and/or improve their competitiveness.

AOFP President, Craig Richardson thanked… Continue

Added by Lisa McLean on November 10, 2009 at 7:30am — 3 Comments

A Lesson From Best Buy

This was written by Matt Hardecke from the Young Producers' Council, which is part of the US based National Cattlemen's Beef Association. It's an interesting perspective...

As the future leaders of American agriculture and the beef industry, we need to not only know the facts but understand the thought process of our consumers. I am looking to buy a new flat screen TV. Over the weekend I went to Best Buy to gaze at the selections of options for my view pleasure. For an hour I stood… Continue

Added by Andrew Campbell on November 3, 2009 at 3:48am — 1 Comment

Pure profit: $830,000 in two weeks selling seed potatoes

Warning: Real potato farmers should stop reading here. This might ruin your week. A San Francisco-based company just cleared $830,000 US in two weeks by selling seed potatoes. The potatoes are virtual but the money is very, very real. Zynga is a developer of apps for Facebook and the iPhone. One of their biggest hits is... get this... a game about farming. Farmville lets users own and manage a virtual farm. Apparently it's very addictive. At least, the 20 million users who are currently playing… Continue

Added by Andrew Douglas on October 30, 2009 at 10:34am — 2 Comments