New management tool unveiled

The Agri-food Management Institute (AMI) has launched a new online resource called Farm Productivity (http://agrifoodproductivity.ca/) to help producers increase efficiencies and reduce areas of waste on their farms. 

It starts with the entry of data from the farm to generate a baseline, identifies areas for potential improvements and farmers can then set their own goals.

"This resource is . . . for anyone who wants easy-to-use tools that help improve productivity," said Ashley Honsberger, executive director for the AMI. 

There are five commodity types featured on the website - grains, market vegetable, cow-calf, meat goat, and artisanal poultry. 

“For each one, commodity experts and producers were consulted to identify the top key performance indicators or measurements that have the biggest impact on productivity,” said the AMI.

Many studies have shown that improving management will do more to boost profits than government subsidies and tax breaks. Go for it!

Grain farmers applaud disaster relief

Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) thanked Ontario Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman for promising to ask the federal government to declare DON poisoning in corn a natural disaster.

That would release additional funding under the AgriRecovery federal-provincial program.

“Grain Farmers of Ontario appreciates the Ontario government's acknowledgement of the DON crisis in Ontario as a form of disaster and looks to the federal government to also be part of the solution,” said GFO chairman Markus Haerle.

“Our organization is committed to providing support to the Ontario government to ensure that the federal government understands the need of Ontario's grain farmers, and to ensure the risk management programs, including AgriRecovery, are effective for our members.”

Hardeman also extended the intake deadline for merit-based, cost-share funding to support projects that will help the corn value chain address challenges caused by DON. Funding for this targeted initiative is being provided through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership's funding assistance for Ontario's organizations and collaborations. 

The GFO thanked Hardeman for extending the deadline to this February 28.

EAT-Lancet calls for less-meat diet

EAT-Lancet released a report this week that calls for dietary guidelines to halve the amount of meat and dairy products people consume.

That’s necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are fuelling climate change, the report argues.

It wants beef and dairy producers to cut grains out of rations and to raise cattle on pastures.

Poultry producers escape with hardly any recommendations for change, either on the production or consumption end.

The British medical journal report comes out just as Health Canada is poised to publish its revised Canada Food Guide that will call for less meat and dairy and more fruits and vegetables for Canadian diets.

That has been controversial in the farming community.

Similar protests are mounting across the United States.

The meat industry is also concerned about research and development that is bringing more vegetable-based meat-product competition to the marketplace.

Ancient quinoa seeds found

Ancient quinoa seeds found at an archeological site in Brantford have been identified by a University of Torontoo professor.

The discovered seeds date back to 900 B.C.

Prior to their discovery, the quinoa variety has never been located north of Kentucky at this point in history, professor Gary Crawford of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, said in a news release this week.

The 140,000 seeds are domesticated goosefoot (C. berlandieri spp. jonesianum), a variety of an ancient grain native to eastern North America.

They were discovered during the clearing of a home construction site in Tutela Heights, now a housing development, in Brantford in 2010. 

The site underwent an archeological assessment, carried out by Archaeological Services Inc. (ASI), prior to site development.

Previous to this discovery, corn dated to 500 A.D. was the oldest known crop in Ontario.

            

Chicken Farmers welcomes red-tape reduction

The Chicken Farmers of Ontario marketing board recently met with Ontario Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman and came away applauding the drive to reduce red tape.

“CFO applauds the Ontario government for the ongoing commitment to growing business and supporting jobs in the province,” said board chairman Ed Benjamins.

“The red tape reduction challenge initiative is something that CFO would describe as Minimum Effective Regulation (MER).”
 

MER describes robust and appropriate regulation, supported by relevant policies that are “fit for purpose” – concentrating on outcomes and include, wherever possible, clear, value-creating goals, targets, and benchmarks.
 

The CFO says on its website that it “has undertaken an internal process of consulting with farmer-members, specifically with the governance leadership team comprised of board directors and district committee representatives.

“These consultations have determined several areas for proposed policy review resulting in anticipated ‘red tape reduction’. The process is on-going, and there will be further opportunities for farmer-member engagement on these matters.”
 

CFO president Rob Dougans said “Ii’s clear that the Ontario government is ‘open for business’ – we fully support these initiatives and are pleased to be working in a consultative capacity to remove barriers in the agriculture sector."

Mendez appointed to Agricorp

Derek Mendez has been appointed to a three-year term as a member of AgriCorp.

He is manager of operations and information technology for Molesworth Farm Services at Listowel.

Cameron McWilliams has been appointed to a one-year term on the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission which oversees marketing boards.

He is mayor of Dutton-Dunwich and a farmer who grows turkeys, beef cattle and cash crops.

Senate says farmers deserve carbon credits

A Senate committee report recommends that farmers and forest owners should be granted carbon offset credits when the federal carbon tax kicks into place in April.

It also says farmers ought not to have to pay carbon tax on energy used to heat barns and greenhouses.

It calls for more research to find ways in which farming can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as developing new crop varieties and technologies.

The federal carbon tax is due to start at $20 a tonne this April, eventually rising to $50 a tonne.

Ontario has joined Saskatchewan in a court challenge against the federal carbon tax.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford cancelled the Liberal government’s carbon exchange as one of his first acts after winning election last fall.

Under that exchange, the province raised several billions of dollars selling carbon credits to companies needing them to offset their ongoing greenhouse gas emissions. The Liberals used the revenues to carbon-reduction subsidies, such as up to $14,000 per vehicle for all-electric cars.