Ontario Agriculture

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AALP's Blog (118)

Learning the RULEs of Leadership at State College, Pennsylvania

Today marks our ninth stop on this “Amazing Race across North America.” We’ve parked our bus at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, for a joint day of leadership learning with the RULE participants and alumni of Pennsylvania. RULE stands for “Rural Urban Leadership” and they’re currently in their 16th class of participants, just like us…

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Added by AALP on July 12, 2016 at 3:00am — No Comments

Day 8: Out with a bang! Battles, beers and baseball

The day started off early with a 6:30 departure from Alexandria, Virginia, with a two-hour drive to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Our in-flight service was compliments of Tom and Robin and consisted of snacks, moist towelettes and…

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Added by AALP on July 11, 2016 at 4:30am — 1 Comment

Day 7: Talking about the rural/urban divide

We started the day bright eyed, bushy tailed, and ready to learn!! First stop was at the Chestertown Town Hall where Nancy Nunn, Educator, Outreach, and Advancement Coordinator at the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology, and Kees de Mooy, Zoning Administrator for the Town of Chestertown, spoke to us about the history, troubles and opportunities of Chestertown.…

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Added by AALP on July 10, 2016 at 3:00am — No Comments

Day 6: A day at the Canadian Embassy

Our day began with a fabulous breakfast at the Crown Plaza hotel. We boarded the bus and were reminded a few times by our daily coordinators, Ann Vermeersch and Dylan Wiens, not to forget our passports for the Embassy. We arrived safely at the Canadian Embassy, driven, of course, by our spectacular bus driver Nancy, where we were reminded once again – do not forget your passports!…

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Added by AALP on July 9, 2016 at 2:30am — No Comments

Day 5: The rich history of Washington, DC

Thursday morning started with an early breakfast so Nancy could get us on the road and headed towards Washington to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.



Once on the bus, we all enjoyed some quiet time to catch a few zzzz’s for the first hour or so to help prepare us for the busy schedule we have over the next few days. Throughout the morning we had the opportunity to meet with our Issues Analysis Project teams to…

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Added by AALP on July 8, 2016 at 5:30am — No Comments

Day 4: From melons to margaritas

AALP Class 16 started Day 4 of our North American Study Tour in the New York State capital of Albany with a breakfast speaker. Jackie Lendrum from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation shared her experiences with water quality regulations and issues primarily with dairy farms in the state. Dairy is the…

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Added by AALP on July 7, 2016 at 7:30am — No Comments

Day 3: More farms and fun in Quebec

After participating in the famous local tradition that is Montreal International Jazz Festival, the class packed up and headed for the border, making stops along the way before crossing.

The first stop was La Ferme Quinn, a 150-acre…

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Added by AALP on July 6, 2016 at 5:00am — No Comments

Day 2: A day at the Farm

As the chariot pulled away from the Crown Plaza in Montreal this group of AALP participants knew they were in for an info-packed day starting off with McGill MacDonald Campus.

We all have our favourite post-secondary campus, but many participants on the…

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Added by AALP on July 5, 2016 at 4:03am — No Comments

Day 1: The journey begins

With blue skies and sun, we couldn’t have asked for a better day to start our North American Study Tour. The majority of the class gathered at the Rural Ontario Institute parking lot and we are thrilled to reunite with our classmates, and to see that our chariot is NOT a yellow school bus but in fact a coach bus. After Andy McTaggart confirms that all are present -- although it takes a couple of counts -- we start off on the first…

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Added by AALP on July 4, 2016 at 3:30am — No Comments

Day 14: Our final tour and journey home

It seems like only a day ago that we were all greeting each other in Toronto Pearson, excited to embark on this two week adventure of learning, growing, gaining new experiences and deepening of understanding of agriculture in the world that we live in - this global village. It is with equal anticipation that we get up this morning, pile our belongings on the bottom of our carriage and find our seats. But this anticipation is different. Armed with new information, perspectives and deepened…

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Added by AALP on March 2, 2015 at 5:03am — No Comments

Day 12: Centro Cultural El Obrador

Today we started the day by packing our bags after our one night stay in Rosario.

Centro Cultural El Obrador was our next stop. This cultural centre provides social programs for Indigenous people mainly from northeast Argentina. The programming includes activities to preserve their culture by sharing their crafts, native languages, stories and woodworking.  All…

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Added by AALP on March 1, 2015 at 12:36pm — No Comments

Day 11: Aceitera General Deheza and Bunge Corp

We had an early start today but were excited to be visiting a large grain terminal in Rosario, the third largest city in Argentina with a population of about 1.2 million. When we arrived at the terminal it was raining outside so we rushed to the control room and the laboratory. We were shocked by the size of the terminal and some of the stats we learned! …

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Added by AALP on March 1, 2015 at 12:36pm — No Comments

Day 10: Back to school

Day 10 started with boarding the bus for an hour trip to an Ag School in Venado Tuerto (One Eyed Deer).  The name of the school was Escuela Agricola and it was a private school with students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 established in 1968. The school sits on…

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Added by AALP on February 28, 2015 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Day 9: Farm tours and good eats!

Today we headed northwest out of Buenos Aires to the Area of Pergamino... and it wasn’t long before the land opened up into soybean, corn, cattle and horses. It’s safe to say this was a welcome sight for all of us!

Our first stop was at a machinery shed in Cabana El Desafio. This mid-sized farm consists of 1000 ha of soybean, corn, wheat and specialty green peas and…

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Added by AALP on February 26, 2015 at 3:08am — No Comments

Day 8: Arriving in Argentina

On Sunday we ended our time in Chile and Argentina welcomed us. It was also the time to say goodbye to our new Atlantic friends and our wonderful guide Andres and driver Horatio. 

On our way to the airport Kenny Graham, one of our new Atlantic friends, gave a wonderful farewell by commenting about what he learned about each AALPer. It was an extremely thoughtful send…

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Added by AALP on February 24, 2015 at 8:42am — No Comments

Day 7: Making memories (and wine!) at Montgras Estate

We started the day with the anticipation of our last stop of the day - wine tasting at Montgras Estates! Alas we had a few stops before getting to the winery. 

Our first stop was with a visit with a small vegetable and fruit producer. Luis Carrasco Saldana is a forward-thinking farmer who took the initiative three years ago to…

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Added by AALP on February 22, 2015 at 7:06am — No Comments

Day 6: Agricultural tours and a rare rain

Our class started the day with a goal - to make it through six stops and return at the end of the day with all the windows on the bus!

After a short drive…

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Added by AALP on February 21, 2015 at 10:50am — No Comments

Day 5: Getting a taste of the Chilean fruit & vegetable basket

Today's International Study Tour got off to an early start with a visit to Lo Valledor Wholesale Market in Santiago.  Similar to the Ontario Food Terminal, Lo Valledor trades about 90% of the fruits and vegetables in Chile, with daily transactions totalling over $5 million US dollars. The most unique product that is sold is dried seaweed.

We then travelled to the…

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Added by AALP on February 21, 2015 at 10:22am — No Comments

Day 4: A Chilean Education

We started off day four of our International Study Tour learning about the Chilean economy at Scotiabank.  Chile has the fifth largest economy in Latin America and has seen significant growth in their economy over the last 30 years.  The Canadian Dollar and the Chilean Peso react to the world economy in a similar fashion; when one appreciates the other tends to appreciate as…

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Added by AALP on February 18, 2015 at 11:35am — No Comments

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

Alberta Announces Major Water Sharing Agreements

The Alberta government on Friday announced that municipalities, industry, and irrigation districts in the province have voluntarily agreed to reduce water usage in case of drought this spring or summer. A provincial release said 38 of the largest and oldest water licensees in southern Alberta have voluntarily agreed to the reductions. The groups represent up to 90% of the water allocated in the Bow and Oldman basins and 70% in the Red Deer River basin. The largest water-sharing agreements in the province’s 118-year history, the deals will let “more Albertans access water in a drought and reduce the negative impacts on communities, the economy and the environment,” the release said. The agreements are at the centre of Alberta’s drought response efforts. In 2001, agreements between southern irrigators and others played a key role in helping share water during that drought. This year’s agreements, facilitated by the Alberta government, are even bigger in scale and scope. There ar

Farmland Rental Rates Keeping Pace with Value Appreciation

Canadian farmland rental rates and values are climbing at generally the same rate, but renting still offers benefits – especially for new producers. A Farm Credit Canada analysis pegged the rent-to-price ratio for cultivated farmland at 2.52% in 2023, little changed from a year earlier. Notably, the three provinces that recorded the highest farmland value increases in 2023 - Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Quebec - also saw increases in rental rates, maintaining stability in rent-to-price ratios. A ratio trending lower suggests cash rental rates are appreciating at a slower pace than land values. Conversely, an increase in the ratio indicates that rental rates are increasing faster than land values. The FCC analysis provides a detailed breakdown of rent-to-price ratios by province, highlighting variations in rental rates and farmland appreciation across different regions (see table below). Notably, provinces like Ontario and select Atlantic provinces have witnessed divergent trends,

Wheat and barley producers can claim SR&ED credit on their 2023 taxes

Wheat and barley producers who pay check-off through Alberta Grains (formerly Alberta Barley and the Alberta Wheat Commission) and do not request a refund are eligible for a 34 per cent and eight per cent tax credit respectively through the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Fund (SR&ED) program for their investment in research and development (R&D) projects. For example, producers who paid $100 in check-off on their wheat in 2023 would earn $34 in tax credit, whereas producers who paid $100 in check-off on their barley in 2023 would earn $8 in tax credit. The federal SR&ED program encourages R&D investment through tax-based incentives, giving claimants tax credits for their expenditures on eligible R&D work. The tax credit percentage is based on the amount invested in R&D that meets the criteria laid out by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). “The SR&ED program is incredibly beneficial, and I would encourage all eligible growers to utilize it,” says Alberta Grains chair,

Canadian innovation taking plant-protein nutrition to new heights

Today, Protein Industries Canada held a tasting and networking event to celebrate the launch of its latest project announcement: A collaborative effort to de-risk, scale and expand Wamame Foods’ new high protein product line. Working with project partners Apex Food Source, Crush Dynamics and AGT Food and Ingredients, Wamame Foods is using Canadian ingredients to develop, commercialize and scale a new functional athlete-focused high-protein line of food products, such as high-protein burritos, that exceeds the protein-to-calorie ratio of the average American protein bar. Soon to be available in a variety of North American and overseas retail grab-and-go locations, these high-protein products will add diversity of choice for athletes and health-conscious individuals everywhere and enable consumers to enjoy their food while maintaining an elite lifestyle. “With support from Protein Industries Canada, Wamame and its project partners are helping to get premium plant-based meat alternative

Back to Basics: Improving Soil and Creating Opportunities for a Healthy Food System

Dr. Lord Abbey, Associate Professor in the Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences at Dalhousie University and Bioenterprise SIAC Advisor, speaks about soil health, compost, and creating pathways for Canadian immigrants interested in agriculture.

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