AALP Class 13 North American Study Tour Day 5

Individual responsibility leading to accidental leadership

July 9, 2010 - State College, PA - The hospitality and generosity of our counterpart leadership program in Pennsylvania led by JD Dunbar, CEO of RULE continues…

Our session opened with a touching interpretation of the American and Canadian national anthems led by Commissioner Erick Coolidge, a dairy farmer in Tioga County PA and Andrew Chisholm from AALP Class 13. The morning began with a panel discussion on the Marcellus Shale, a formation that encompasses parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Estimated to contain 489 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, over 100 years supply, the shale in exploitation is affecting the economic, social and environmental sustainability of rural areas of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

John Nikoloff from Pennsylvania Energy Resources Group provided a comparative perspective with Ontario about renewable energy. Their 25-’25 initiative will see 25 % of total energy production by 2025 from renewable energy. From the discussion, we can say that leaders in rural Pennsylvania have decided to take this challenge as an opportunity to raise the awareness of their citizens. Significant differences between regulations in Canada and USA lead the class to worry about environmental issues related to shale expansion. Education through communication, research and training is essential for the community to harness the potential of the resource and reduce the negative impact.

Following was a presentation on the national American rural healthcare perspectives, in particular in Pennsylvania. In the United States, twenty percent of US citizens do not have insurance coverage in a healthcare system ranked 37^th among the World Health Organization (WHO) member countries, and over 100,000 people die each year because of a lack of medical care. On hearing these stats the class realised that despite all the issues we might have in Canada, we are privileged to have access to a universal health care system. Nevertheless, after the presentation, we all agreed that there is a need to take our own responsibility to maintain affordable healthcare in the future through educating good healthy habits.

The day ended with a visit to The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in the attractive and vibrant downtown core of State College. Rick Bryant, Executive Director, provided an introduction to the festival showcasing over 300 artists selected for the occasion. During five days 125,000 visitors will be enjoying the largest festival of its kind. Enrichment and education of the audience is the mission of the festival, which is directed by a local leader who has been involved since he was a teenager working as part of the trash crew for the event. Rick is a good example of accidental leadership, through his involvement in his community.

Finally, a subgroup of the class went to visit a creamery and met Joe Meyer, a third generation farmer who opened a dairy in 1970 called Meyer Dairy. They are now milking 160 cows and processing 800 gallons of milk per day. It was an impressive production system and collection of antique machinery. It was an accidental meeting with another local leader…

Gunther Csoff, Michel-Antoine Renaud and Amadou Thiam – AALP Class 13

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

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

Climate change worries Canadian farmers: poll

A poll released Dec. 11 suggests that Canadian farmers worry more about the impacts of climate change than they do about input costs and market prices for canola, corn, wheat and cattle. The poll of 858 producers from coast to coast determined that farmers rank climate change as their No. 1 concern. “When farmers and ranchers were asked an open-ended question—at the very beginning of the poll—about the top challenge for the agricultural sector for the next decade, climate change was the number one answer,” says Farmers for Climate Solutions, a group, that as its name suggests, is focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation within Canadian agriculture. The organization hired Leger, a market research firm, to conduct the survey. It was done by phone from Aug. 8 to Sept. 8. The headline question from the poll asked farmers to identify the top challenge for the agriculture sector over the next 10 years. The results? 17.9 per cent said climate change. Input costs were 17.2 pe

Livestock producers are warned to watch for a larval disease

A disease that lives off the flesh of living mammals has been confirmed in Chiapas, Mexico. New World screwworm (NWS) is a parasitic larval disease of warm-blooded animals where the female fly will lay eggs near an open wound and the larvae can infest the wound and cause significant infections. NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds, and in rare cases, people. Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton said the confirmation comes on the heels of a report in October from Guatemala where the first case was identified. “This larva and the fly were identified at the Mexican border in cattle that were coming through in Guatemala and so this is a very significant concern of especially grazing animals but really of any warm-blooded animal,” she said. “It does cause destruction when a wound gets infected.” Animals can exhibit very painful draining wounds that don’t heal. It has a negative impact on production and can include mortality o

Durum Ending Stocks Tighter from November

Agriculture Canada has whittled down its 2024-25 durum ending stocks estimate from last month, although it remains up from a year earlier. Monthly government supply-demand estimates released Thursday showed durum ending stocks at 650,000 tonnes, down 150,000 from the November forecast but still well up from the previous year’s 407,000. The reduction reflects Statistics Canada’s Dec. 5 crop production report which put this year’s Canadian durum crop to 5.87 million tonnes, down from the federal agency’s previous estimate in September of just over 6 million. However, this year’s durum crop is still 44% larger than the 2023 harvest, 20% above average and the sixth largest on record. Ag Canada trimmed its domestic use estimate slightly to reflect this month’s downward revision in the durum crop, but left its export forecast unchanged from last month at 4.9 million tonnes, up from 3.558 million in 2023-24 but still below over 5 million in 2022-23. At $325/tonne, the average expecte

Alberta Canola Seeks Grower Support for First Service Charge Increase in 20 Years

Alberta Canola is urging canola growers to approve its first service charge increase in over two decades. The proposed change—from $1 per tonne to $1.75 per tonne—will be put to a vote at the organization’s Annual General Meeting on Jan. 22, 2025. The increase is critical to addressing financial challenges and ensuring Alberta Canola can continue supporting farmers amid rising operating costs, declining production, and evolving industry pressures. A Challenging Landscape “Alberta Canola was built by farmers, for farmers, and that hasn’t changed in our 35 years,” says Karla Bergstrom, Executive Director of Alberta Canola. “What?has?changed is the world we operate within.” Bergstrom highlights the dual challenges of reduced public research funding and increased regulatory demands. Meanwhile, consumers, increasingly removed from farming, are demanding greater transparency in food production. With over 90% of its operating revenue coming from its service charge, Alberta Canola has face

BMO underscores trends affecting Canadian agriculture

The Bank of Montreal has published an in-depth analysis of nine key trends. Here’s a topline of several economic indicators and what to expect in 2025. ???????

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service