Reading Time: 3 minutes Wahab Zamani’s family knows what it wants in a lamb. And family members go to great lengths, partnering with sheep farmers, to get it. The Zamani family runs Simcoe Street Meat Packers and processes lamb in Kawartha Lakes for its retail stores in Toronto. They specialize in “truly halal products” he told the Ontario Sheep […] Read more
Customer focus drives lamb processor partnerships with farmers
Big trends drive diverging high and low income food interests
Panel discussed the future of food and the widening disconnect between growers and consumers
Reading Time: 3 minutes There are larger issues driving food trends that should give farmers opportunities to open conversations with people in the food movement. The challenge is starting that conversation. Jayson Lusk, the head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, told the George Morris AgriFood Policy Lecture on the future of food that influencers are […] Read more
Two minds
More couples like the De Groots are taking advanced farm business training together, and report that it’s good both for the farm and for their marriage
Reading Time: 6 minutes To say that Marty and Krista De Groot have their hands full is an understatement. The young couple are in the midst of taking over the third-generation family farm from Marty’s parents. Although his dad, Jack, still helps out, Marty does the bulk of the daily work, taking care of the 40,000 broiler chickens, 2,500 […] Read more
Ferrero looks to Ontario to crack Turkish grip on hazelnuts
Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters – Chocolate makers’ dependence on hazelnuts from a single major producer, Turkey, has sent Italy’s Ferrero searching for new suppliers to satisfy consumer cravings, from Eastern Canada to Chile and Australia.The farmer recruitment efforts of Ferrero, one of the world’s biggest hazelnut buyers for its Nutella spread and Ferrero Rocher chocolates, may […] Read more
Governments to kick-start Ontario hazelnut sector
Reading Time: 2 minutes Development of hazelnut crop management practices and new and improved processing plants for a major user of hazelnuts are getting federal and provincial government funding in Ontario. The federal government on Wednesday pledged up to $492,052 to the Ontario Hazelnut Association (OHA) to help develop the hazelnut sector, working with the University of Guelph and […] Read more
More than cutworms “bugged” corn crops in 2017
Pests in 2017 have been a more complicated picture, based largely on a mixed bag of weather-related challenges
Reading Time: 5 minutes Coming out of winter and looking ahead to any growing season, it’s impossible to predict which insect pests will be the biggest challenge for growers. In 2001, for instance, soybean aphids first became a widespread issue for Ontario farmers, and the fear took such firm root that we’d have to deal with them in 2002 […] Read more
Jobs survey finds growing demand for agriculture graduates
Ontario Agriculture College boosts spots in its agriculture programs by 30 per cent
Reading Time: 3 minutes The University of Guelph continues to increase enrolment in its agriculture programs, but graduates will continue to find four jobs available for each of them. The Ontario Agriculture College (OAC), at the university has boosted spots in its agriculture programs by 30 per cent since 2012 and by 50 per cent in its Bachelor of […] Read more
VIDEO: Measuring how crop rotations affect soil health in Ontario
Reading Time: < 1 minute A unique facility at the Elora Research Station operated by the University of Guelph digs deep to quantify soil ecosystem services.
Rudy honoured for career in soil conservation
Reading Time: 2 minutes When Harold Rudy joined the soil conservation movement, he says he got the job not because of his University of Guelph degrees in agriculture economics and business, or his background growing up on his family’s farm, but because of his burgeoning computer skills. Being hired as part of a group of 20 soil conservation advisors […] Read more
Study abroad
More young people, including young farmers, are heading overseas to expand the skills they’ll bring back home
Reading Time: 5 minutes Of all the ways a person can prepare for a career, spending time far from the classroom and away from familiar surroundings may actually have the most impact. Lisa Blenkinsop, manager of the Studies Abroad program at the University of Guelph, hears this feedback over and over again from students who have spent time studying […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
