Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

AALP Class 13 North American Study Tour Day 3

July 7, 2010 – Today was a step back in time as we continued our tour through north-central Ohio. Our first stop was the Mansfield water treatment plant. Not specifically a historical site, but the plant manages to treat and pump 9 million gallons of water per day to supply a local population of 50,000 people with few technological upgrades since the 1980s. We definitely saw evidence of the recession where plant closures such as the GM plant to the North causing a 33% drop in the Mansfield population. We were lucky because they never give tours but made a special exception for us giving access to their testing labs, settlement ponds and sand filtration tanks.

Next our bus took us back to the 1940’s/50s on some winding roads to the Malabar Farm State Park. Malabar Farm is a 900-acre farm that was the home of Louis Bromfield, a Pulitzer-prize winning author. Our tour guides Denise and David gave us a wagon-ride to Bromfield’s 32-room farmhouse which has been preserved by the state into a heritage museum. The house tour gave us a glimpse into the Bromfield’s glamorous lifestyle where we saw photos of movie stars who visited Bromfield including Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (who were married right at the house). Bromfield was also an innovator in conservation farming practices such as terracing, no-till and conservation tillage and rotational grazing. With rotational grazing the cow does her own harvesting and manure spreading. We saw many of Bromfield’s practices being used as we drove through the Amish community.

After our afternoon in the sun we hopped back on our air-conditioned bus for a sleepy ride out to the heart of Amish country, Berlin, Ohio. We were joined by our tour guide La Vonne DeBois and our evening’s host David Miller, an Amish farmer and ordained minister who shared information about the Amish culture. It was a real treat to hear the stories David shared about his family and way of life. We were surprised to see that some Amish use electronic milking equipment and tractors. The trick, we heard, is to know where to draw the line. For example, the Millers are new order Amish and they can use a tractor for transporting the bales - but not in the field for cultivating or harvesting. David really emphasized the importance of family, faith and community to their culture. We ended our day with a delicious home-cooked meal prepared and served to us at the Miller’s farm by the family. This was by-far the best meal of the trip (chicken, roast beef, mashed potatoes, a delicious peanut butter spread and three kinds of pies!), and we were honoured at the end to hear two songs from David and his family, one in English and one in German. We climbed back in to the bus, full and happy, and made our way to Akron for the night.

John Borland, Matt Langford and Katija Morley - AALP Class 13

Views: 48

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

Hursh: My canola acreage prediction

Statistics Canada will release a seeded area estimate on June 30. This will be based on data collected in late May and early June. I'm predicting a larger than expected increase in canola acreage. In its preliminary seeding intentions report back in March, Statistics Canada predicted a 1.0 per cent increase in Canadian canola area to 21.8 million acres. A lot has happened since then and canola prices have seen more strength than other commodities. Canola also looks good from a crop insurance coverage point of view even in non-traditional canola growing regions. Canola is already a large percentage of the cropland in central and northern areas of the grain belt limiting how much more it can increase. However, I believe acreage may have increased dramatically in many southern regions. In southwest Saskatchewan where I farm, I can’t remember seeing so many canola fields. Canola here still isn’t nearly as common as lentils or durum, but there’s a surprising amount of canola and mos

Seeding virtually done in Saskatchewan, though some acres unseeded

The latest provincial crop report indicates seeding is basically done in Saskatchewan as progress is marked at 99 per cent complete. A map of seeding progress province-wide shows an area from Hudson Bay down to Yorkton is between 85 and 95 per cent complete, with pockets at less than 80 per cent complete. The east-central region as a whole is at 96 per cent complete while other regions are at 99 or 100 per cent. However, three per cent of acres of the province went unseeded due to excessive moisture. "Similarly, three per cent of forage crops have excess moisture and are unlikely to produce a crop while two per cent of pastureland is not accessible or is unusable," states the report. "In areas experiencing reduced moisture, two per cent of the seeded acreage this spring in the province is affected. Five per cent of the forage crops may have yields significantly impacted, while five per cent of pastures may have reduced carrying capacity." Rainfall this past week delayed fieldwork,

Cereals Canada Releases its 2025 Annual Report

Cereals Canada has released its 2025 Annual Report, highlighting a year of strong market development, technical leadership, and advocacy efforts that reinforced Canada’s position as a leading global supplier of high-quality wheat, durum, oats, and barley. Throughout 2025, Cereals Canada continued to support international customers and strengthen demand for Canadian cereals through targeted market development programming, technical expertise, and proactive market access engagement. Canada exported cereals to more than 80 countries, with cereal exports valued at approximately $12.8 billion annually, demonstrating continued global confidence in Canadian quality and reliability. A key priority throughout the year remained helping global customers understand and optimize the value of Canadian cereals. Through technical support, customer outreach, and crop quality programming, Cereals Canada worked closely with global buyers to ensure Canadian quality translated into measurable value throu

Cereals Canada Announces New Board Leadership

Adam Dyck, industry representative from Warburtons, has been elected Chair of the Cereals Canada Board of Directors. As Chair, Dyck will help lead the organization’s work to strengthen Canada’s position as a trusted supplier of high-quality wheat, durum, barley, and oats. Rounding out the executive committee is Josh Boersen, producer representative from Grain Farmers of Ontario, as Vice-Chair; Rob Stone, producer representative from Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, as Secretary; and Jean-Marc Ruest, industry representative from Richardson International, as Treasurer. The Board also welcomed four newly elected directors, whose insight and leadership will guide the organization’s efforts to support market development, customer engagement, and innovation across the cereals sector. “The Board of Directors plays a critical role in guiding our work on behalf of Canada’s cereals value chain,” said Dean Dias, chief executive officer of Cereals Canada. “We are pleased to welcome Ad

Knowledge Centre receives $2.6 million from Weston Family Prairie Grasslands Initiative

Stretching across Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba, Canada’s prairie grasslands support hundreds of species, including migratory birds, pollinators and people, while also sustaining soil health, water systems, livestock production, and Indigenous stewardship. Yet of the roughly 141 million acres of historical grasslands in Canada, only 26 million acres remain intact today. What remains of prairie grasslands represents a rare and urgent opportunity to protect biodiversity at scale. “Indigenous lifeways, languages, and food systems evolved with the environment, and these reciprocal relationships shaped the ecological processes that can restore the health of grasslands,” said Candice Pete-Cardoso, director of the kihci-okawimaw askiy Knowledge Centre at USask. The new Indigenous Grasslands Stewardship and Knowledge Exchange Network has been launched by the kihci-okawimaw askiy Knowledge Centre together with the Indigenous Kinship Circle (IKC). The IKC is a cross-boundary community of

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service