When it comes to food and farming, the battle for hearts and minds, wallets and headlines are often based on farm animal welfare or environmental issues and arguments.  Here's your chance to hear some innovative and challenging speakers on these often divisive topics.  Get the latest information on what Canadians and farmers really think about the environment and farm animal care.

 And most importantly - what do you think?  Do you have ideas on what is needed for a sustainable future for farming in Ontario? We want your valuable input into future directions for Farm & Food Care's Animal Care and Environment Councils and efforts to provide credible information to the public on food and farming. 
 

The Farm & Food Care Foundation is in the process of hiring an agency to develop a new framework for proactive dialogue with Canadians that builds trust and confidence in food and farming.  This work is the positive outcome from the North American Forum for Sustainable Animal Agriculture hosted in Mississauga last September, and initiated in discussions at the Feeding a Hungry World Summit in Ottawa in October 2011. 
 

The goal of the five-year project will be to create a social contract between Canadians and the people who grow, process and market their food with consideration for the five principles of sustainable food and farming: human health, food safety, economics/food affordability, environment and animal welfare.
 

The draft framework will be presented at an afternoon session on April 2 with facilitated discussion for your input on the strategy and the approach. This session will be free of charge for Farm & Food Care members. 

April 2, 2013 (Evening)  - Social Media Training Session

Back by popular demand, two more media training sessions have been planned for March 18 or March 27. The two courses offered last fall were both sold out.

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 is 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:

• 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 cost is $400 per attendee and space is limited to the first 10 participants who register. Book a spot by emailing info@farmfoodcare.org.

Farm & Food Care wants to recognize an Ontario "Champion" who works to get the message out about agriculture.

The "Champion" Award is presented to individuals, organizations or businesses who have helped to inform the public or the agri-food industry about issues in agriculture.

Award winners will be honoured at the upcoming FFC annual meeting, April 3, 2013 at the Hanlon Convention Centre in Guelph.

 Nomination forms are available at: http://www.farmfoodcare.org/about-us/champion-award 

Nominations must be received at the Farm & Food Care office by March 22, 2013.

Nominations are open to any who have taken an active role in getting the message out about agriculture. A nominated individual or group does not have to be a member of FFC to be eligible. 

Nominations will be accepted from all FFC members, including the FFC Board. Current board members are not eligible for nomination. Members may nominate more than one individual, organization or business.  
 

A panel will select the award winner(s).

Winners were recently selected in the 2012 Farm Creativity Contest. Almost 1,600 entries were received in the province wide contest co-sponsored with Farmers Feed Cities and the Canadian National Exhibition.
 

In the grade two and under category, the winners were Sophia Buda of Richmond Hill, Karah Gidge of Exeter and Rose Galante of Hamilton.
 

In the grades three to five category, Tyler Lorette of Courtice, Katie Russell of Trout Creek and Julia Fedoryshyn of Milton were selected as the winners.
 

In the grades six to eight category, the winning entries came from Rene Kozdas, Abinaya Srimuralitharan and Sheona Muir-Francis, all of Toronto.
 

In the classroom competition, three classrooms received cash prizes to go towards purchasing supplies. The winners were Ms. Danielle Levesque's grade 7/8 French class of John A. Leslie Public School in Toronto, Mrs. Patricia Lawrence's junior and senior kindergarten class of Vincent Massey Public School in Bowmanville and Ms. Donita Wagler's grade two class from Keppel-Sarawak Elementary School of Owen Sound.
 

Farm & Food Care will be sponsoring the contest in 2013 and materials are available at www.farmfoodcare.org.