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New in our photo library |
 Farm & Food Care's photo library has had more than 200 new images added to it over the last year. These images are available for any members or media to use. Visit the library here. |
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Coming Events | |
North American forum on sustainable animal agriculture - September 17-18, 2012 (Delta Meadowvale Hotel, Mississauga)
Ontario Harvest Gala and 2013 Faces of Farming calendar launch
- November 1, 2012
(Guelph Delta Hotel)
Media training sesions November 6 and November 21
2012, (Ontario AgriCentre) |
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Find us online | |
On Twitter: @farmfoodcare
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Welcome to the July edition of the e-newsletter of Farm & Food Care Ontario.
It may be the dog days of summer but our team continues its efforts with a full roster of speaking engagements, meetings, farm tour programs and other events. In this newsletter, we update you on an exciting funding announcement for the Farm & Food Care Foundation, our Friend a Farmer and media tour program successes and an upcoming North American forum on sustainable animal agriculture that we're partnering on this September. |
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Floradale Feed Mill Ltd. pledges $50,000 to Farm & Food Care Foundation
Floradale Feed Mill Limited has announced a pledge of $50,000 to the Farm & Food Care Foundation.
Floradale Feed Mill Limited is an independent, family owned and operated, feed company serving livestock and poultry producers in Ontario. This investment is timely as it coincides with the 50th anniversary of the company. The announcement was made by Foundation Chairman Bruce Christie and company President Craig Schwindt in early June.
"Floradale Feed Mill is making this donation as a testament to our long-time commitment to our customers and the success of Ontario agriculture," said Schwindt. "We're pleased to do our part by investing in building public confidence in food and farming."
Each year over the five-year agreement, the Foundation and Floradale Feed Mill will meet to determine funding priorities. In 2012, the funds will be put towards extending the distribution of the award-winning publication, The Real Dirt on Farming into mainstream media targeting business people and decision makers. A second component will feature a new Real Dirt on Farming speaking tour. This program will feature farmers and agri-food industry professionals speaking to urban audiences such as Rotary Clubs and Chambers of Commerce on topics covered in the booklet like modern farming basics, animal care, the environment and food safety.
Bruce Christie, Foundation chair, said, "Investments from industry partners like Floradale and their team are so important as we work to fulfill our mandate of improving awareness and understanding about food and farming on behalf of the entire sector."
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Temple Grandin lecture and processor workshop
The Farm & Food Care Foundation hosted internationally-acclaimed animal welfare specialist, Dr. Temple Grandin, to a reception and lecture in Mississauga on Thursday, June 7. 200 attendees heard from Grandin in person while another 100 4-H members watched via webcast from their 4-H meetings in various points in Ontario. The webcasting of the broadcast was sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. More on the lecture can be read on the Let's Talk Farm Animals blog.
On the afternoon following the lecture, Dr. Temple Grandin candidly discussed problems and issues that she commonly sees across North American processing plants and encouraged attendees of a processing plant workshop to share their concerns with her.
Dr. Grandin spent the afternoon talking about proper animal handling, trouble shooting issues and discussing how to implement a practical auditing system in any processing plant. Her insight and passion for improving animal welfare fascinated the 29 attendees and gave the opportunity for a very informal educational discussion. Feedback from attendees indicated that it was a unique experience that they gained a lot of insight from the opportunity.
 | | Dr. Grandin speaks at the lecture |
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Friend a Farmer pilot program a success
The pilot program Friend a Farmer has wrapped up with broiler chicken and hog farmers Jennifer and Mike Van Boekel visiting a grade 3 class at Country Hills Public School in Kitchener in early June and grain farmer Dave Whaley hosting a grade 6 class from Malborough Public School in Windsor on his farm in late June.
The program was a joint initiative of the Farmers Feed Cities program and Farm & Food Care.
The classes had been corresponding with their farmers over the course of the winter and spring with letters and classroom visits, learning about the day to day activities on the farm and how the farmers were taking care of their animals and growing their crops.
The teachers involved in the program said that meeting a farmer had a great impact on their students and that the program exceeded their expectations. The students said they enjoying learning about animals and what the farmers feed them, the equipment used to plant and harvest crops and how long it takes to complete different jobs around the farm.
Special thanks to the farmers who participated in the program's pilot - Dave Whaley, Mike and Jennifer Van Boekel and Dale Mountjoy and Holly Kelly.
For more information on the program, contact Heather Hargrave at the Farm & Food Care office (heather@farmfoodcare.org).
 | | Essex County Farmer Dave Whaley with the students at his farm. |
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2012 farm media tour shines spotlight on dairy, apples and horticultural research
If you were following the conversation on Twitter on June 14, you would have thought that every food enthusiast in Ontario was visiting a farm that day.
The chatter (from over 100 tweets) was generated by a bus load of food writers, bloggers, chefs and professional home economists participating in Farm & Food Care Ontario's annual Toronto media tour.
This year's tour was co-hosted by Dairy Farmers of Canada with support from the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Association, Ontario Apple Growers, the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, Gay-Lea Foods Cooperative and Staff Estate winery.
Annually, the tour focuses on different types of crop and livestock farms, with the goal of giving visitors a close-up look into the work that takes place on Ontario farms.
Attendance to the annual event has continued to grow with the 2011 and 2012 tours being sold out with 50 attendees.
This year's tour featured three stops. The group first visited the orchards of Art Moyer in Grimsby, the bus toured through a number of farms where they learned about apples, sour cherries, grapes and pears.
Leaving Grimsby, the tour continued to the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre where guests were greeted by a contingent of the centre's lead staff and researchers and were introduced to some of the centre's research plots focusing on work being put into developing ethno-cultural vegetables for Canadian immigrant populations.
The group then enjoyed a gourmet Taste of Ontario lunch sponsored by Dairy Farmers of Canada and catered by Chef Jan-Willem Stulp of the Grand Oak Culinary Market in Vineland and finally a tour of Doug and Joan Cranston's progressive Ancaster dairy farm where they were toured through the Cranstons' large free stall barn, introduced to a minutes-old calf and watched the afternoon's milking process begin.
A second tour is being planned for September 13. Farm & Food Care is partnering with Savour Ottawa and will take Ottawa area writers and chefs to farms near the nation's capital.
 | | In the milking parlour at the Cranstons' dairy farm. |
 | | Art Moyer tours the group through his apple orchard. |
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North American forum on sustainable animal agriculture
Farm & Food Care Ontario will be partnering with its American counterpart, the Centre for Food Integrity (www.foodintegrity.org) to host a North American Forum on Sustainable Animal Agriculture.
The forum, planned for September 17-18 at the Delta Meadowvale hotel in Mississauga, will convene a group of influential food system leaders from across the continent who are involved in providing safe, affordable and sustainable food to consumers.
Several objectives will guide the agenda, including:
- understand the many tools being used to drive change throughout the food system
- addressing the abundant and complicated factors related to sustainable animal agriculture
- defining "sustainable animal agriculture" in an effort to build consumer trust and confidence
- introduction of the Coalition for Sustainable Animal Agriculture (CSAA)
Attendees are expected to be anyone interested in sustainable animal agriculture in North America including retailers, processors, farmers, agri-food businesses and more. More information will be available shortly on the Farm & Food Care website at www.farmfoodcare.org and in the August edition of this newsletter. |
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Save the Date: November media training sessions
Farm & Food Care Ontario will be hosting two day-long media training sessions this fall at the Ontario AgriCentre in Guelph.
The sessions will be interactive and give the participants the understanding of the media, the tools needed to prepare to face the media and an interview process that will give each person real life interview experience. The program would be useful for board members and staff at commodity associations who speak regularly about issues related to their sectors or any primary producer who is asked to give farm tours or speak on behalf of agriculture at municipal council meetings or other events.
Each session will include a focus on:
- Talking to Canadians about food and farming
- The relationship between you and the media
- Media tips and techniques
- Writing letters to the editor and opinion pieces
- Key messages - what are you saying, who are you saying it to and why?
- Interview/public speaking techniques
- Dealing with difficult questions
- Two to three on-camera practice sessions with review and feedback.
The sessions are planned for either Tuesday, November 6 or Wednesday, November 21. The cost is $400 per attendee and space is limited to the first 10 participants who register. Book a spot by emailing info@farmfoodcare.org |
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If you've misplaced a copy of the newsletter or want to check an item from a past issue, they're all archived on our website under the Media Centre section.
We encourage you to forward this newsletter to other members of your company or organization who might be interested. They can also subscribe directly by emailing info@farmfoodcare.org |
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100 Stone Road West, Suite 106
Guelph, ON
N1G 5L3
519-837-1326
www.farmfoodcare.org
Twitter: @farmfoodcare
Email: info@farmfoodcare.org |
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