Category: Ontario Grain Farmer

Some American food producers claim the U.S. Farm Bill has been dying for years. They say that the country needs a modernized Farm Bill that recognizes realities such as climate change and new global trade developments that didn’t exist in the 1930s when the original bill was drafted, or even six years ago when the last bill was written.

Photo credit: ontariograinfarmer.ca

CANADA’S CONNECTION WITH ONE OF ITS FAVOURITE TOURIST DESTINATIONS, CUBA, MAY BE POISED TO REACH A NEW LEVEL — one that could be a changing market opportunity for Ontario specialty grain producers and help save the struggling Caribbean country from economic and humanitarian disaster.

There’s lots of interesting reading. – and a few surprises too – in Canada’s latest agriculture census, undertaken every five years. From growth in grains and oilseeds to niche farm markets, it reports on farmers’ expanding sustainable practices, but continued decline in the number of young operators. Photo: capi-icpa.ca

Upcoming mid-term elections in the U.S. could influence the direction of the 2023 Farm Bill. Expected Republican wins would likely shift the bill’s emphasis from environmental to greater farmer autonomy, increased yields and access to new markets. Photo: twitter.com

There’s nothing like a first hand account of a harrowing story to make you sit up and take note. That’s why we’re grateful to farmer Bev Bodkin for recounting his farm accident, and how easily it could have been any one of us.

Farm safety is a timely topic at all times, but especially so during harvest when farmers are spending long hours with machinery. The odds of problems arising increase significantly. This year’s farm safety messaging uses creative marketing approaches, like those employed to increase public support for COVID-19 vaccinations. Photo: @farmerlex

In the midst of a saturated media market, a movie made on a shoestring budget – about grain handling safety – has generated a buzz among rural audiences. SILO is a Hollywood style, 80 minute-long story of a farm worker who gets trapped trying to free-up grain stuck in a 50-foot high storage bin. Compared to most instructional videos, SILO takes farm safety to a whole new level.

Many of us try to follow Canada’s new food guide, to incorporate more plant materials into our meals. Some plant-based foods though contain foreign-sounding ingredients that make you shake your head. Enter Neophyto Foods of Guelph and the ‘Craft it Yourself’ meal kit, with just five ingredients.

Farms can be noisy workplaces, from running equipment to livestock and ventilation systems. All may be unavoidable, but all are loud. If hearing protection is neglected, hearing loss can jeopardize worker safety. And that’s not to mention the mental health problems that can arise when conversations aren’t heard or well understood.

A water quality initiative underway in Huron County is aimed at slowing the flow of water runoff on contoured land, where it’s particularly hard to manage. The project, headed by the Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association, brings to focus how sustainability has economic as well as environmental implications, so yield measurements are an important part of the study.

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