CCA SUBMITS REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF BEEF IRRADIATION TO HEALTH CANADA

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) is pleased to announce it has submitted the necessary paperwork requested by Health Canada to restart the process for approval of beef irradiation in Canada.

The CCA expects it will take a minimum of a year for irradiation to be approved, following the submission of the documents to Health Canada on Friday. Irradiation is an effective technology already approved for other foods in Canada and used as a normal course of business in 50 countries around the world to improve food safety for consumers.

The ability of irradiation to reduce E.coli O157 and other pathogenic E.coli is well established. When combined with food safety interventions already in use, irradiation could essentially eliminate E.coli related illness associated with ground beef. The CCA believes this is reason enough to support making this choice available to Canadians that wish to purchase irradiated food products.

Beef irradiation can be performed using electricity to create energy which can destroy harmful bacteria. This process, called E-beam, is routinely used in the U.S. where irradiated beef products have been available to consumers since May of 2000. The approval of irradiation for beef in Canada would provide consumers here with the same choice. Canadian cattle producers strongly support making this an informed choice with labelling and other educational initiatives.

The Health Canada scientific review process has confirmed that irradiation causes minor changes to food, similar to cooking, and does not lead to any change in beef that would have an adverse effect on human health or that would significantly diminish its nutritional value. The safety of irradiated foods has been endorsed by many groups including the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The path toward approval of beef irradiation in Canada began in 1998 with the CCA’s submission of the original petition. The CCA’s ongoing efforts between then and now to amend the regulation reflects the association’s steadfast commitment to enhancing food safety and to providing Canadians the choice to purchase beef treated with this proven intervention.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) is pleased to announce it has submitted the necessary paperwork requested by Health Canada to restart the process for approval of beef irradiation in Canada.

SEEKING CANDIDATES FOR THE 2014 FACES OF FARMING CALENDAR

For the second year in a row, a contest is being launched to select one farmer or farm family to appear in the 2014 edition of the Faces of Farming calendar.

The calendar, now in its ninth year, has featured the faces and stories of about 125 farmers and farm families since it was first published in 2005. Each year, the calendar is distributed to thousands of Ontario media, grocery retail outlets and politicians and is sold through the Farm & Food Care office. The goal of the project is to break down stereotypes of who Ontario’s farmers are and what they look like.  It also works to introduce consumers to the farmers who work 365 days each year to provide quality, local Ontario products.

While most of the calendar’s participants are chosen with input from sponsoring commodity groups and agribusinesses, this is the second year that the contest will help select the farmer(s) that appear on one of the pages.

Kelly Daynard, Communications Manager for Farm & Food Care, said that last year’s contest attracted 31 entries from across Ontario. “We were so impressed with both the quality and quantity of the entries we received. Without exception, each entry showed a strong passion for this industry and for the calendar project.”

Last year’s winning entry was submitted by hog farmers Bob McMillan and Julie Moore and their family of Perth County. Their entry was chosen by a panel of urban reporters.

Farmers or farm families are encouraged to enter the contest by submitting both a family photo and short essay (maximum 500 words) describing their family. Candidates must make their primary income from agriculture. Their essays must include the following to be considered:

• Names and ages of all family members;

• Address including county or region of residency;

• A description of the farming operation including types of crops grown and/or livestock raised;

• History of the farm – number of generations farming, etc.;

• Any other details that make their story unique including community involvement, environmental initiatives, unusual hobbies, etc.;

• Why they’d be good candidates for the Faces of Farming calendar project.

All entries must be received at the Farm & Food Care office no later than Friday, May 31 when they will be judged.  The winning family will participate in a photo shoot in July, receive complimentary copies of the calendar and two tickets and accommodation for the 2013 Ontario Harvest Gala and calendar launch planned for October 24, 2013 in Guelph.

Entries can be emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or mailed to 100 Stone Road West, Suite 106, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 5L3.

For the second year in a row, a contest is being launched to select one farmer or farm family to appear in the 2014 edition of the Faces of Farming calendar.

BREAKFAST ON THE FARM

NEW DUNDEE DAIRY FARM TO OPEN ITS DOORS TO 2,000 VISITORS

Farm & Food Care will be partnering with Heritage Hill Farms of New Dundee, Foodland Ontario  and Egg Farmers of Ontario to host Ontario’s first ever Breakfast on the Farm program on June 22, 2013 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Visitors to the farm will receive a complimentary Taste of Ontario breakfast and then have the chance to tour the farm. The event is modeled off of a similar program in Michigan that hosts six Breakfast events annually at different farms throughout the state.

The event is free to attendees although visitors are asked to reserve their spots by visiting www.farmfoodcare.org to obtain complimentary tickets.

Heritage Hill Farms is a modern dairy cow farm owned by the Johnston and Doré families. Visitors will be free to visit and interact with the young calves, to handle the milking equipment and to see the farm’s many environmental initiatives including using gravity and solar energy to help clean the milking parlour after milkings. Farmers from other commodities will also be in attendance to talk about their farms too.  There will also be exhibits of farm equipment and much more.

Farmer Mary Ann Doré said that her family is excited to be hosting the inaugural event, expected to attract 2,000 visitors. Said Doré, “Breakfast on the Farm will be a great opportunity to show people what agriculture is all about. Not only can visitors enjoy a great breakfast made from Ontario foods, but you can see dairy cows up close in their own environment and talk to farmers from a variety of commodities about what they do every day.”

Heather Hargrave, Program Coordinator for Farm & Food Care, has attended several of the Michigan Breakfast on the Farm events. Said Hargrave, “We’re eager to duplicate this successful event here and give Ontarians an opportunity to tour a working farm.”

Other partners in the project include Agriculture & Agri Food Canada, Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Ltd., Gray Ridge Egg Farms, the Ontario Apple Growers, Ontario Beekeepers’ Association, P & H Milling Group, Stratford Farm Equipment, and Stonaleen Farms.

Farm & Food Care is looking for volunteers to help with parking, serving food, welcoming guests and with the farm’s self guided tour. Anyone interested can contact the Farm & Food Care office at 519-837-1326.

More details on the event are posted to www.farmfoodcare.org or at Farm & Food Care’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/farmfoodcare

Farm & Food Care will be partnering with Heritage Hill Farms of New Dundee, Foodland Ontario  and Egg Farmers of Ontario to host Ontario’s first ever Breakfast on the Farm program on June 22, 2013 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

FARM AND RURAL LEADERS DISCUSS RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AT ANNUAL FARMLAND FORUM

Be creative, uncover social capital, protect farmland and support local agriculture.  These tips were identified by agricultural and rural leaders at the 2013 Farmland Forum as key elements to building resilience to climate change and rising energy prices in rural Ontario.

Anticipating a future with unpredictable and extreme weather events, and higher energy costs associated with living and working in rural communities, over 120 farmers, elected officials and policy-makers came together at the event to share ideas about how to address these challenges and proactively plan for such uncertainty.

The Forum was organized by the Ontario Farmland Trust, in partnership with the University of Guelph School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. The purpose was to raise awareness of the interconnectedness of a strong farm economy and the strength of rural communities, and to showcase many of the initiatives being led by farmers and community members across the province in response to climate change and energy concerns.

“Following 2012’s intense drought conditions across much of Ontario and the U.S., it was timely to provide a forum that allowed people to meet and discuss local strategies and actions being taken in response to climate change, particularly at that interface between what is happening in the farm sector and more broadly in rural communities,” explains Matt Setzkorn, Acting Executive Director of the Farmland Trust. “We wanted to know: are people understanding the ties between a thriving farm economy, land stewardship and rural resilience?”

Resilience was the buzz word of the day. Huron County Planner, Susanna Reid, defined resiliency as the ability to withstand and recover quickly from stress. She drew from her experience working in Goderich following the 2011 tornado. Reid witnessed the community rallying to support those in need and actively planning for rebuilding an even stronger, more vibrant community.

“The response to the Goderich tornado demonstrated the resilience in rural Ontario to respond to unexpected extreme events,” says Reid. “Building resilience requires clear leadership, supporting people’s livelihoods, and learning how to work together.”

Other examples of grassroots community action profiled at the forum included the Eden Mills ‘Going Carbon Neutral’ project and Transition Guelph – groups that are both very active in educating community members about climate change and encouraging everyone to plan for a post-fossil-fuel future for themselves and their neighbourhoods. Local food, local energy production and land conservation are important to these groups’ efforts.

Keynote speaker Jon Scholl of the American Farmland Trust says “North America’s greatest resource is agriculture,” but that sustainability of the farming sector remains a significant concern, particularly in light of climate change and shrinking water availability. Scholl says a major part of resilience for agriculture is preservation of our farmland resources. He emphasized the need to “save farmland by the acre and by the inch”: protect farmland from urban sprawl through strong land preservation programs and protect farming soils from ongoing erosion through good farm stewardship. Scholl says that discussions around climate change in the U.S. have shifted positively from questioning its existence, to searching for the best way to deal with it from a land conservation and stewardship approach at the farm level.

“To help deal with climate change we can regulate greenhouse gases, subsidize research into transportation and food storage, and pay farmers for their ecological stewardship,” suggests Ted Cowan, Farm Energy Policy Researcher with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. “We need to open up our range of adaptability for different conditions, and the safest thing we can do right now is to learn, to observe, and to take our foot off the gas pedal.”

Ontario farmers Grant Martin and Kevin Eisses, while having different approaches to managing climate change risks and energy use on their organic and conventional dairy operations, agreed that there is a lot of innovation happening on Ontario farms to improve efficiencies, keep energy costs down, and protect farming soils. As Past President of Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario (IFAO), Eisses says, “We can do a lot to improve our own resiliency, such as developing partnerships and supporting scientific research.” IFAO is a group of farmers that convened in the 1980s and created an organization dedicated to sharing knowledge and experiences related to new practices, on-farm innovation and technologies that advance conservation tillage and farm stewardship.

Reflecting on the day’s conversations, Setzkorn says the Farmland Forum exceeded expectations. “This dialogue was positive and collaborative. People left with a sense that it’s not all doom and gloom, but that the challenges presented by climate change actually give us an opportunity to bring community members together, develop new partnerships, reimagine a sustainable and bright future of our rural areas, and inspire people to actively plan for healthier communities by protecting our local food, water and farmlands.”

Full forum proceedings can be viewed at www.OntarioFarmlandTrust.ca.

Be creative, uncover social capital, protect farmland and support local agriculture.  These tips were identified by agricultural and rural leaders at the 2013 Farmland Forum as key elements to building resilience to climate change and rising energy prices in rural Ontario.