The Citizen's Salute to Agriculture 2024

Caldwell tells our stories, but who will tell his?

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen

Wayne Caldwell is the foremost expert in rural planning in Ontario and perhaps all of Canadaeveryone knows this. When The Citizen or any other media outlet needs a rural planning genius, they call Caldwell. He tells the world the story of rural planning, but who will tell his story?

First of all, that’s Dr. Wayne J. Caldwell PhD, FCIP, RPP to you, pal.

He is the author of many books, the holder of many degrees and the winner of many awards. He has been the president or chair of many committees, institutes and councils.

And yet, all of this success, knowledge and wisdom began on an East Wawanosh Township farm.

The retired rural planning and development professor from the University of Guelph was first educated at S.S.#10 in East Wawanosh, which is where his siblings and his father all studied before him. Caldwell notes this in his introduction to A Snippet in Time, the history book produced in 2017 to mark the 150th anniversary of East Wawanosh.

It’s that foundational education that sent Caldwell in the direction he would eventually go, one in which life on the farm was always a central tenet.

“Again, memories and lessons connected to farm, family and community were reinforced throughout these early years [attending S.S.#10 East Wawanosh],” Caldwell wrote.

“While I look back nostalgically at the early years in S.S.#10, I recognize now that moving to this larger school was helping prepare each of us for the changes that were happening in society. Unlike the generation of my parents, my generation had the opportunity, and expectation of continuing education.”

Caldwell then noted that he went south to attend Central Huron Secondary School from there, while many in the northern portion of the township went north to Wingham to continue their education.

“Secondary school allowed us to participate in organized sports, develop our interests and begin to think about our place in the world. Secondary school also provided the opportunity to travel and to explore new horizons,” Caldwell wrote.

“For me, trips to Washington and Italy catered to an interest in politics, history and culture. These and other experiences helped to point us in directions that would culminate in career choices.

“For some, secondary school led to a career in carpentry, for others, engineering, pharmacy and farming. Unlike my parents’ generation, changes in society and in agriculture meant that many of us were leaving the farm.”

Then, in his piece, Caldwell provides a paragraph that could easily be interpreted as the thesis statement for his very career.

“For myself, even though I was pulled in the direction of academia, I remained committed to the concepts of family, farm and community. I was intrigued with questions such as: What is the future of agriculture and rural communities? What is the role of rural Canada in a global community? What will be the place of rural Canada and how do we build concepts of civil society? How can we influence or help to steer public policy to the benefit of

current and future generations? How do we improve lives and livelihoods? How do we (i.e. rural folk) interact with the dominant forces of urbanization that redefine Canadian society? And finally, what are our respective roles as citizens in helping to shape this future?”

Caldwell wrote.

Caldwell then reminisced about his time spent aboard the S.S.#10 school float in 1967 when the township marked its centennial and all that has changed in the subsequent 50 years.

“Since that time, we have seen a significant reduction in the number of farms within the township, while production and average farm size has increased,” Caldwell wrote.

“While my father would have been quite happy with an average yield of 100 bushels of corn to the acre, my brother today has expectations of 200 bushels! Over this time period, we have also seen a significant reduction in ‘’mixed farming practices’ and an increase in larger, more specialized farms.

“Our landscape is also more open with much larger fields and fewer fencerows. Many farmers and others embrace environmental responsibility working towards improved soil health, clean air and water and healthy woodlots. As a child, the Blyth Brook that was close to my parents’ farm had an unmistakable odour with minimal fish populations, whereas today

it is a wonderful trout stream.”

In the event that you doubt Caldwell’s commitment to being a champion of telling the story of rural Ontario, don’t. Just don’t. The Citizen spoke with Caldwell for this story via Zoom as he vacationed in Spain. Snuck in after a siesta but before a late dinner, The Citizen spoke to Caldwell about the changing landscape of rural Ontario, his esteemed and wholly individual career and the very civilized nature of siesta and late dinner culture.

He said that, as opportunities increased, children and young adults with differing skill sets and interests were able to apply them in a way that was able to better the

world around them. So, for a young man with an interest in governance and planning with a healthy side of rural Ontario knowledge, Caldwell became the change he wanted to see in the world, to co-opt a famous quote.

He was educated in geography at the University of Western Ontario in the 1980s before furthering his education in economic development and regional planning and resource development at the University of Waterloo in the 1990s.

He began working with the Huron County Planning and Development Department in his home community, but would eventually

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Caldwell has advocated for rural Ontario for decades

the industry magazine for the Canadian Institute of Planners. At the time, he said, there was a clear discrepancy in that nearly all of the articles were being written about larger, urban centres, while about 20 per cent of the population of Canada lived in rural areas. By that math, at least one in five articles should be about rural communities, but that just wasn’t what he was seeing.

As Caldwell started to craft a rural planning approach, viewing policies and decisions through what he calls a “rural lens”, he developed a graduate program at the University of Guelph and began teaching students more about rural Ontario. He found that the students who made the effort to take his course were “fully invested” in what they were doing.

From there, the natural next step was for Caldwell and his students to begin doing their own research and singing the song of rural Ontario to ensure it was part of the provincial conversation and that policies were taking these communities into account so that they might thrive as well.

Over the years, Caldwell has authored or co-authored many books, papers and reports on sustainability and survivability for rural Ontario and he feels that three of his pieces of work stand above the rest in terms of changing the minds of decision-makers in the province.

research has many applications throughout Huron County, as a majority of its communities have maintained relatively stable populations over the years and even for generations.

Using Blyth as an example, as a community whose population has hovered around 1,000 for many years now, his research pointed to the ways in which a community like that could prosper and find economic stability in the face of a stagnant population.

Then there was Health Futures for Huron Agriculture: Best Management Practices for Rural Water Quality, a program proposal prepared on behalf of Huron County in 2000.

Like so much of Caldwell’s work, it greatly considers the changing climate and how it will affect rural Ontario with its healthy soil and agriculture-rich economy. He says that research focused on the environmental side of things and used land-use planning to protect the farmland communities like Huron County so cherish.

Continued from page A4 take a turn towards academia as a professor and researcher with the University of Guelph. As he rose through the ranks and became a shining light in Ontario’s

planning and research worlds, Caldwell saw a disproportionate amount of attention being paid to urban centres. After all, he said, when one thinks of planning, the ideas of city planning and urban

development do leap to mind for many.

In fact, to prove this point, Caldwell and a colleague, many years ago, performed an analysis of articles published by Plan Canada,

The first was a report on finding prosperity with a stagnant or declining population ( Finding Prosperity with a Stagnant or Declining Population, 2010). The

The third gets to the very heart of the changing landscape of rural Ontario, but in a way that endeavours to help them flourish and prosper, rather than lament what has been lost. That, as a side note, is something Caldwell strives for when few others do. He feels the research into the decline of certain things in rural settings is easy to come by, whereas very few people are working to find ways that these communities can thrive as they are.

The “Healthy Rural Communities Toolkit” is an extensive guide to

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Caldwell hopes his work has had an impact

ongoing projects and more. And for those who doubt Caldwell’s eye to the future and status as a Nostradamus-like figure for the rural landscape, here are the last few paragraphs of his address in A Snippet in Time in 2017 (not torn from today’s headlines, The Citizen assures you).

“While the questions asked earlier are not easily answered, the future of East Wawanosh (now located within the Township of North Huron) is to be found in these answers. In 2067 (50 years from now) and in 2117 (100 years from now) East Wawanosh, Ontario and Canada will be very different. The population bulge caused by the baby boom generation will be behind us and yet the population of urban centres of the province and country will have grown significantly,” Caldwell wrote. “While the rural voice will have politically dwindled, the importance of rural communities to the environmental, ecological and economic health of the province will have increased. Those areas of rural and small town Canada that thrive will have a more diverse population more closely mirroring

Canadian society as a whole.

“Over the next 50 to 100 years, climate change will have unforeseen circumstances. While agriculture in this part of the world is forecast to be more productive, we should anticipate new pests, less predictable weather and global uncertainty. The end result is likely to make our precious agricultural resources even more valuable,” he said. “The nature of agriculture in this new environment remains a question mark. Thinking out 50 and 100 years, there are reasons to anticipate either a more intense small-scale approach to production, or a more mechanized, corporate version.

“In order to cope with these changes, I also anticipate that, as a society, we will need to be more globally aware and that we will continue to embrace those values that make us Canadian. Values of tolerance, respect, equality, generosity and social justice will help guide us into this future,” he wrote. “These are the values that I was taught 50 years ago by my parents, my Sunday school teachers and my elementary and secondary school teachers.”

Continued from page A5 optimizing scenarios for rural Ontario through effective land use planning policies, the benefits of a co-ordinated approach to rural planning and development and identifying innovative land use planning policies that can lead to healthy rural populations.

“This tool kit recognizes that low population density, an expansive rural landscape, dispersed population and small urban settlements all challenge the built environment. Planning processes can help to engage residents, leading to strategies that can influence the built environment and the local economy. This ranges from community design, for example, improving walkability, to local economic development by helping to create employment and enhance quality of life,” Caldwell wrote on his website, describing the toolkit.

“This tool kit identifies land use and development strategies that can help to enhance the rural built environment and contribute to positive quality of life and health outcomes. The tool kit brings a rural lens to issues that are often viewed from an urban perspective. Numerous examples and innovative practices from across the province are profiled. This tool kit recognizes many characteristics associated with rural communities, including a low-density population, a declining population in some areas, aging citizens, youth outmigration, rural land uses and an economy that is significantly different than that of urban Ontario.”

Reflecting on what has been a decades-spanning career as a champion for rural Ontario, doing everything in his power to ensure its success, Caldwell says he hopes he has changed some minds and improved perspectives, putting a rural lens on decisions to ensure those 20 per cent of Canadians aren’t being forgotten and that those communities have just as much of a right to be prosperous as urbancentric communities do.

Caldwell continues to conduct research and, for those interested in his work, his website, which can be found at waynecaldwell.ca, is a tremendous resource that includes full reports, publications, tool kits,

Howson & Howson produces semolina flour for pasta

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When considering what makes Blyth unique, the first thing that comes to most people’s minds might be its hearty theatre scene, or perhaps its unofficial mascot - the rutabaga. But there’s another important component to the town’s identity that just might be worthy of celebrating, and it’s been hiding in plain sight for decades - pasta!

That’s right, Blyth is home to the largest durum semolina flour mill in Canada - Howson & Howson Ltd, located right downtown, by the Goderich-to-Guelph (G2G) Rail

Trail. Over the years, President Jeff Howson has gotten used to explaining what his job is to people.

“The company has been in Blyth for decades, and the bulk of people in the town have no idea what we do here. Some people, when they think of flour mills, they actually think of flowers. And then they think of bread and pastry flour.”

For five generations, the Howson family has been processing grain in Ontario. When they first opened up shop in Blyth’s then-defunct flour mill, the operation had one truck, a single electric light, and three employees. Back then, bread flour was still part of the equation.

Today, Howson & Howson uses state-of-the-art technology to process hundreds of metric tonnes of durum wheat every day, which is transported to various food manufacturers in Canada and the United States, where it becomes the primary ingredient in staple foods like pasta, couscous and bread. Between the mill operation and the transportation division, Howson & Howson now has over 50 employees, all of them working for wheat!

Canadian Western Amber Durum

Wheat from Southern Saskatchewan, to be precise. Unlike its softer, more common cousin,

bread wheat, this wheat is one of the toughest grains around“durum” is actually Latin for “hard”. Durum is resistant to milling, and demands more effort for flour production. While high in protein, it lacks the gluten strength for standard bread dough, but is considered to be the perfect wheat for pasta-making. Semolina stands out with its golden colour, nutty taste and higher protein compared to all-purpose flour, forming elastic dough ideal for pasta. Conversely, all-purpose flour lacks semolina’s flavour and protein, varying in colour and requiring more effort for pasta making. Almost all commercial dry pasta is made from durum semolina, while those making fresh pasta at home often incorporate a blend of soft and hard wheats. Pasta made with semolina holds a special place in the culinary traditions in many regions around the globe, including Canada. From university students making Kraft Dinner in their dorm on a forbidden hot plate, to impressing a date with a fancy dinner of homemade pappardelle, to the fridge-clearing casseroles we scrounge together to feed a crowd on a budget, Canadians like their noodles.

Even though durum is the second-most common cultivated wheat in the world, it still represents less than 10 per cent of global wheat production. The overwhelming majority of wheat grown in Ontario is soft wheat. While it is possible to grow durum wheat in Ontario, Saskatchewan has the ideal growing conditions for this fascinating grain. Durum is a spring wheat, which means it is

typically sowed in the spring and harvested in the fall. Once the grain is harvested in Saskatchewan, it travels by rail to Thunder Bay where it is loaded onto vessels and brought to Goderich, at which point it makes the final leg of its journey to Blyth by truck.

In its early days, the mill’s position close to the rail line made it easy to transport grain products. “This was the spot for us,” said Howson. The existing mill had not been in operation since 1934, so major renovation and equipment updates were needed. The oldest part of the mill that still remains today dates all the way back to 1883. Now that the rail line has been converted into the G2G trail, the mill remains as a towering, working reminder of the golden age of rail travel.

Despite a lack of widespread local awareness, the mill is not without its fans. “Any food auditors or customers that come into our facility, they all say the same thing - that they have never toured a flour mill with the level of cleanliness that we have here,” Howson explained, clearly proud of the mill’s AA safety rating and long track record of producing consistent products.

Another, equally proud Howson at the mill is Steve Howson, VicePresident of Quality Control, who loves his family’s place in Huron County history. “Blyth’s been my home for my whole life,” he said. “My great-greatgrandfather came to Aberfoyle, then to Teeswater, then Wingham, and finally Blyth in 1952.”

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Following strict process ensures consistent quality

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Steve has been involved with the family business for most of his life.

“I started back when I was a kid, just doing Saturday work, odd jobs here and there - cleaning, sweeping, loading trucks - just whatever. I’ve been around here for 50 years, or close to it.” He’s been at Howson & Howson full-time since 1981, gradually working his way up to his current position. Like Jeff, he loves their unique milling process, and wants more people to understand how cool it really is. “It takes a lot of moving parts to make flour! People see the big building, but they don’t know what’s going on here... we’ve done a lot of upgrades over the past years, and efficiencies have really changed in the 20 or 30 years since I’ve been here. Actually 40, I guess!”

Much has to happen in order to transform the raw durum into usable semolina flour, and there are quality control systems in place for each stage of the complex process. Even the slightest variations in the semolina would affect the quality of the finished noodles, and is to be avoided at all costs. Tests are run at every step along the way to ensure everything is proceeding as it should.

Once the raw grain has arrived in Blyth, the first step is to begin removing all the things that don’t belong. First, a machine known as a combi-cleaner removes coarse foreign objects like large stones, which tend to get mixed in during the harvesting process.

Next to be refined out are other agricultural products that don’t belong, like soft wheat varieties. Other common crop interlopers include peas, soybeans and corn. Further cleaning is done by a colour sorter, which uses electric eyes to spot any off-colour contaminants that you wouldn’t want to find in your fettuccine. A process called aspiration then uses bursts of air to blow any dusty material off the grain.

After the grain is properly cleaned, it goes into a turbolizer, where water is added. This extra moisture is needed to soften the hard bran layer on the outside of the durum.

Next, the durum is tempered until it reaches between 16.5 - 17 per cent moisture content before entering the mill. Warming the water, especially during cold Ontario winters, helps it absorb just the right amount. At this point, it is also treated to sterilize the grain against any possible microorganisms that might be lurking in their midst. When the wheat leaves the mill, its moisture content is required to be 14.5 per cent.

The wheat then moves on to the debranner, where a grinding stone

removes the hard exterior bran from the interior grain, which is now ready to begin the actual milling process. This starts with the roller mills, which grind up the grain. The now-pulverized wheat moves down the line, and is then sized by multiple sifter screens. As likesized granules accumulate together, those of the desired grades move one step further down the path to

becoming a finished product, while those that aren’t quite right yet head back to be reground.

Finally, the cleaned, finished product emerges - semolina! This flour has a completely different look than its all-purpose cousin - it looks like yellow sand. At this point, it’s ready to go to the lab, where it is tested to ensure it has the properties required to make spectacular spaghetti and

marvelous macaroni. All product that passes muster is then transported upward via grain elevator, and then dropped into the most suitable of Howson’s seven silos.

Whenever it is time for the semolina to move on to its next destination, tanker trucks are toploaded at a rate of seven metric tonnes a minute. The mill sends out seven to 10 truckloads a day - that’s

a lot of spaghetti! It takes about 20 minutes to load each truck, which takes its payload of semolina to pasta manufacturers in Canada and the United States, who process it into oodles of noodles of every size and shape. Those noodles are then packaged and shipped to grocery stores, where they await their chance to become somebody’s show-stopping lasagna, comforting

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Continued from page A8 comforting kugel or creative casserole.

All of these moving parts are kept moving by a dedicated staff that each have their own role to play. Whether you speak to the millers or the maintenance crew or the administrative staff, the employees in each department all tend to say the same three things - they like their work environment, they like the people they work with, and that safety and quality are the numberone priorities.

Beyond those similar sentiments, it seems like every person working at the mill enjoys a different aspect of what their team does. Mill Superintendent Dan Ryan has worked at Howson & Howson for 15 years, having started out as a packer. As an overseer of the whole operation, Ryan tends to consider the big picture. “When I go grocery shopping with my family, I do enjoy that we can look at the shelves and say ‘we’re helping supply the food chain’ - I get a kick out of that!” he explained.

Lab technician Kevin Gross has worked at the mill since the 1990s. “It’s a family-owned business, and you’re not treated so much as a number here, like you are at other places - there’s a real camaraderie here.”

Maintenance Manager Ken Stewart runs the only department that’s busier when the mill isn’t running. He’s been at the company for 23 years, managing daily maintenance and emergent mechanical issues. He relishes his part in the well-organized collective effort put forth by the whole team to optimize the operation. “It’s a long process, and everybody has to work together to make it happen.”

As a Financial Controller who grew up on a farm, Steve Van Meeteran loves the role the mill plays in the operation. “It’s a great company to work for,” he said. “Agriculture is in my background, so it’s exciting to work in the business.” When he’s not at the mill, Van Meeteran does a bit of cash cropping on his farm just north of Blyth.

Fran Cook has been working in the office for 24 years, and in that time she’s noticed a few changes.

“It’s a little bit more computerized

Continued

Left, technician Kevin Gross rigourously tests samples in the laboratory to maintain the highest standards of quality. Right, Mill Superintendant Dan Ryan overees daily operations of the mill’s sophisticated production equipment. (Scott Stephenson photos)

High demand for pasta keeps the team busy

Continued from page A9 now. I was using a typewriter when I started here 24 years ago - I was quite happy to throw that out the window!”

No load leaves the mill unless the front office has ensured the

paperwork is in order, and that’s the dominion of Administrative Assistant Deb Stevenson. She’s been working at the mill for 15 years, and most admires the way Howson & Howson strives to be a good community partner. “There’s

people in Blyth that don’t even know we’re here! The owners are not flashy people, the business is not flashy about how they support the community. They live here too, so they’re invested in the success of the town.”

Makin’ it grain

If Blyth chooses to embrace this starchy side of itself, perhaps tortellini tourism is not far off. If the humble rutabaga can have its own festival, why not the noodle? From spaghetti cook-offs to lasagna layering workshops, the

possibilities for celebration are practically endless!

If you have a recipe you’d like to share with the world, or any ideas for a potential Blyth Pasta Party, send them to The Citizen , post haste!

Above, financial controller Steve Van Meeteran enjoys working in the food and agriculture industry. Below, maintainance manager Ken Stewart ensures the facility is able to keep up with the demanding operation schedule. (Scott Stephenson photos)

Oudshoorn reflects as presidency comes to end

Passing of the... bear

In March of 2023, when outgoing Junior Farmers of Ontario President Jamie Schultz of Renfrew County passed the reins to Auburn-area native Jolande Oudshoorn, so too was Gordie the bear handed off. The legend goes that Gordie is meant to assist the current president in not losing the historical president’s pin. This weekend, Oudshoorn will now pass on the duties (and the bear). (Photo courtesy of Doug van Wolde)

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen

This weekend, in Peterborough, the Junior Farmers of Ontario will be holding their annual March Conference. There, Auburn-area native Jolande Oudshoorn will be making way for a new provincial president after a successful year at the top.

Around this time last year, Oudshoorn was elected the 80th president in the provincial organization’s storied history. The honour came exactly 20 years after the last Huron County resident, Mary Feldskov, was elected to the top position in Ontario Junior Farmers.

As The Citizen connected with Oudshoorn, who now lives in the Niagara Region’s wine country with her boyfriend with hopes of creating a small farm of their own, Oudshoorn was putting the finishing touches on planning for the March Conference, which is a touchstone for the organization and arguably its biggest event of the year. She was also just tying up loose ends, wrapping up any projects that were still on the go and tidying things up to ensure a smooth transition when a new president takes over this weekend.

While it will be bittersweet for Oudshoorn to say goodbye to the role that she’s called her own for the past 12 months, it has afforded her many opportunities, some of which have still yet to fully present themselves.

Going back to when she was first elected president, Oudshoorn was nominated for the province’s top job anonymously. She decided to let her name stand after spending the past year as a member of the provincial executive. She wasn’t alone, however, as a member of the Oxford County Junior Farmers also let her name stand, triggering a proper election, which Oudshoorn would, of course, go on to win. The process involved a question-

and-answer period, followed by the announcement that Oudshoorn had won.

According to the Junior Farmers Association of Ontario website, Oudshoorn is just the third Huron County resident to serve as the provincial president, after Mary Feldskov in 2003 and Jim Phelan in 1979. There have been two presidents since 1944 from Perth County: Claire Belluz in 1972 and Paul A. Nairn in 1991. She has succeeded Jamie Schultz

of Renfrew County, the 2022 president. The process included the traditional passing on of Gordie, the iconic stuffed bear that is given from president to president that is said to be done to keep the current president from losing the historical president’s pin.

This continued an impressive run in the Junior Farmers organization for Oudshoorn, who has steadily rose in the ranks since joining in 2019 as part of a natural progression from her extensive 4-H

involvement, from which she aged out, but stayed on as a leader.

At the end of her first year with the Huron-Perth Junior Farmers, 2019, she was elected vicepresident. In 2020, she won the Junior Farmers Association of Ontario Novice Outstanding Member Award for 2019, one of the association’s President’s Rose Awards.

The next year, Oudshoorn and Lauren Bos, her fellow Huron Perth Junior Farmers member and another Auburn-area resident, were named co-winners of the association’s President’s Rose Award for Most Outstanding Current Member. It was the first time that two members had been awarded in the same year. In that same year, the local club was named Agriculture Club of the Year

for its “Who Let The Hogs Out?” fundraiser.

Over the course of the year, Oudshoorn worked to plan a number of events for the Junior Farmers of Ontario, including the annual leadership conference, which is traditionally held in June. One of the most interesting aspects of being the president over the past year has been welcoming international delegates to Ontario. Not only was it great to show them what Ontario is like and how the provincial organization operates, but Oudshoorn said she was so interested to hear from them about the groups in their countries, their opportunities and challenges and all of the similarities and differences between the countries.

In the past year, seven

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‘Gordie the Bear’ to be passed on at conference

organization. Soon enough, Gordie the bear (so named by PastPresident Kurtis Smith), was made the official keeper of the president’s pin. In speaking with The Citizen

that day, Oudshoorn said the need to keep the pin was essential, as it had survived an encounter with a snowplow (making its way through

Shawn Loughlin The

When The Citizen , and, subsequently The Rural Voice , reported on Jolande Oudshoorn being elected president of Junior Farmers of Ontario in April of 2023, the story was accompanied by a picture of Oudshoorn receiving a stuffed bear, Gordie, from PastPresident Jamie Schultz. That report would lead to a reunion of sorts, facilitated by North Huron Publishing, who received the phone call from Jean Bennett.

Bennett, from the Bayfield area, had seen the story in The Rural Voice and told the staff at the office that she was the person who had made the bear many years ago. She was hoping to meet Oudshoorn and have the first face-to-face she’d had with the bear in nearly 20 years.

So, in May of 2023, Oudshoorn, Bennett and Citizen Editor and author of the story Shawn Loughlin all met in Seaforth for lunch. Gordie was the guest of honour.

Bennett, who was in her 90s, couldn’t believe her eyes when she opened the pages of The Rural Voice to see the bear she created as part of a fundraiser for the Junior Farmers of Ontario all those years ago.

Bennett has made close to 50 bears over the years, for everything from church fundraisers to family reunions. However, the bear she created for the Junior Farmers in the early 2000s is one that has remained close to her heart. First off, it’s bigger than most of the other bears she has created over the years. Second, she and her husband Art, who passed away in 2022, had a long and storied history with agriculture in Ontario and the Junior Farmers.

Art was a leader in Ontario agriculture. He was elected to the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2013, nominated by the Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario for his work in leadership training and development, as well as farm management training. In addition, he served as the secretary and

treasurer of the Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario and, for nearly a decade, he ran the group’s leadership camp.

So, when the provincial organization held its 60th annual general meeting, with an auction to go with it, Jean made a bear to be auctioned off that night. The winning bid was $350 in 2004 and the winning bidder was Allan Orr, the brother of the late Gordon Orr, who was the first-ever president of the Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario. Bennett said Allan bought the bear, adorned with a smart red tie and a 2004-dated vest, out of appreciation for his brother and wrote a cheque that night for $400 for the organization.

Two years later, however, the bear made its way back to the

We’ve

A memorable year at the top for Oudshoorn

Continued from page 11 international delegates came to Ontario from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and two from Scotland.

The tale of Gordie makes the rounds

Continued from page 12

the machine and living to tell the tale) and had been lost over the years in more than one move. As a result, Gordie was employed to keep the pin safe and was to be passed from provincial president to president.

Bennett’s story dates back to 1817 when her ancestors came to Canada from England. They made a life for themselves for years in the Halton region. There, she met Art and they were married. They lived and farmed in that area for nearly 30 years before eventually retiring and seeking out a new home, which is when they found one just south of Bayfield. They worked at renovating the home for over a decade, getting it up to snuff.

Then, one day, all those years later, Bennett was reading her monthly issue of The Rural Voice when she saw a picture of the bear she had created to raise money for the Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario nearly 20 years earlier. She saw it and knew she had to get in touch with Oudshoorn, the keeper of the bear.

Oudshoorn, for her part, said she

was both surprised and intrigued when Loughlin reached out to her, saying the person who claimed she had made Gordie the bear had been in touch. She quickly contacted Bennett, who first had begun making stuffed bears to raise money at local church bazaars, and the meeting was set.

When Bennett knew she would be reunited with her stuffed creation, after reading about its importance to the organization in recent years, she thought it was “just wonderful” and was eager to learn more.

As for Oudshoorn, she wanted to meet with Bennett and learn more before sharing the story of Gordie the bear far and wide, and she said it was pretty amazing to be connected with the person who had created the bear and to hear Bennett’s story so many years later.

This story has since been published in The Rural Voice, the Junior Farmers of Ontario newsletter and beyond, standing as an unlikely history of an unlikely symbol of the organization, its importance and its longevity within the province.

Meeting these people and getting to know them has opened some new doors for Oudshoorn, who has since applied to be part of the Junior Farmers exchange program this summer. She doesn’t know if she’s been approved yet, but she will soon, and, if she is, she’ll be spending some time in Northern Ireland as part of the program.

One of the things Oudshoorn oversaw over the course of the year was the return to in-person events in a lot of cases. Because of when she first got involved with the Junior Farmers of Ontario, she wasn’t able to experience a lot of

the organization’s traditional events in person. They were either held virtually or truncated, so, being able to return to in-person events in a safe manner, she said, has been a nice change over the course of the last year.

She says there hasn’t been any added stress as a result of returning to these events, mostly because of the stellar team she has around her. She said the executive has been a great help and she couldn’t have accomplished all that she has without them. On that note, she said the support she’s received from her friends and family, as well as from

her community, has been a great help as well.

Another highlight from the year was taking part in a rural economic development summit at the behest of Lisa Thompson, Huron-Bruce MPP and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

She also attended as many local chapter meetings as she could, which she loved for the opportunity to connect with members from different counties and learn about the differences and similarities between them and her very own Huron-Perth chapter, which she’s always found very informative.

CLINTON,

Dave Bernard

Bucket

Stevenson reps beef at provincial, national levels

Getting involved

Beef farming has been in Ron Stevenson’s blood since he was a kid helping his grandfather on his Walton-area farm. Now, he has a say in the success of the industry at both a provincial and national level with no plans to slow down. (File photo)

By Shawn Loughlin

Ron Stevenson from the Walton area has been a beef farmer for many years, with a lineage that dates back to his grandfather, but in recent years, he’s been making his presence felt at both the provincial and national levels of the beef industry.

Stevenson is currently in the second year of his second, threeyear term as Southern Director on the Beef Farmers of Ontario’s Board of Directors. He will be up for re-election in February of 2025 and, if the membership sees fit to have him return, Stevenson will then begin another three-year term that will take him to nearly the end of the decade. After a third term, he says, directors are then asked to take a break before running again.

So, if all goes well and Stevenson is re-elected next year, perhaps he will

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seek to return to the organization in the early 2030s for a fourth nonconsecutive term. He has recently expanded his role to include a federal appointment. Stevenson is currently the vicechair of the Beef Cattle Research Council’s Producer Council. On this body, members from all over the country represent their respective provincial organizations that send part of their Canadian Beef Cattle check-off (money paid to the national organization) to research.

The council is comprised of

members from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. Matt Bowman is Stevenson’s colleague from Ontario on the council.

Stevenson’s life in beef farming began much earlier than that, however. His grandfather, Allan McCall, was a beef farmer and Stevenson was one of those kids who just couldn’t get enough of being on the farm and helping his grandfather with the chores and anything else that went into the operation.

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McCall was very involved in the beef industry, Stevenson said, and would attend meetings and host events for producers.

Stevenson would strike out on his own on that very same parcel of land in 1998. However, during that same period of time, he would also work a number of off-farm jobs, but always working within the industry, so he says he’s truly lived his whole life within the beef industry in one way or another.

Educated at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus, Stevenson would then work as a territory manager for Purina and Cargill before beginning work with Pfizer Animal Health, which is now Zoetis. There he worked as the cattle representative for all of the veterinary clinics serviced by the company.

From there, Stevenson went on his own and purchased ownership stakes in veterinary clinicsMetzger Vet Services - in Linwood, Chesley and Alberta. For

Stevenson, he said it felt as though it was a natural transition to continue his journey in animal health and that’s been an investment that has helped deepen his impact within the industry, all while maintaining his beef herd right here in the Walton area.

Going back to Stevenson’s involvement in the governance side of the beef industry, he joined the Huron County Beef Producers in 1998, right when he began farming on his own. He said it was good to be among fellow producers and learn more about the industry through that local organization.

It was through the local association, of course, that he began to learn more about the provincial side of things and what was the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association at the time.

As the years passed and he continued to be more and more involved at the local level and attending the annual provincial

Continued on page A19

The Citizen

Ag. Society has been an institution for over 160 years

Tasty and profitable

One event that has only grown in popularity in recent years on the opening night of the Brussels Fall Fair is the cake-decorating competition and auction. Ambassadors, Queens and Princesses gather to decorate cakes and then auction them off, all to benefit the Brussels Agricultural Society. The 2023 auction, which served as a return after the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, was another successful iteration of the event. (File photo)

By Scott Stephenson The Citizen

It’s fair to say that the Brussels Fall Fair is one of the fairest fairs in all of Huron County. Now celebrating its 161st year, the Fall Fair is one of Brussels’ most beloved community events, and it’s one that has been a stalwart, reliable anchor for the village. The Brussels Fall Fair has existed throughout the majority of Canada’s Industrial Revolution, two World Wars, a counterculture movement, and the Information Revolution. But what is the real driving force behind the endurance of this particular agricultural celebration? Is there something about the Brussels Fall Fair that sets it apart?

The Citizen has sought out a number of past and present members of the Brussels Agricultural Society (BAS) in search of the secret to keeping a high-quality agricultural exhibition going in the age of TikTok, and ended up uncovering nothing less than a dedicated cabal of Huron County agriculture enthusiasts who focus their energy ever year on putting together an annual showcase of all the hidden skills and talents of East Huron’s best and brightest. These unsung heroes are the true lifeblood of the fair!

Almost every fall fair in Ontario is organized by some manner of Agricultural Society, and the fair in Brussels is no exception. For current BAS President Reg Vinnicombe, joining the society was just a natural extension of his social life. “A number of Ag. Society members are also curlers, and I would curl with them on Monday nights [as part of the Brussels Curling Club], so I knew quite a few of them to begin with. When I retired from work, I wanted to find something else to get involved with... now I’m in my fourth year.”

The BAS has always been made up of a collective of local individuals who understand the importance of celebrating agriculture. They may work largely without accolades or attention, but it’s not some kind of secret society at all - in fact, they would likely love it if you wanted to join, or just help out on the weekend of the fair.

“We live and die by our volunteers,” Vinnicombe admitted. “We have a great bunch of volunteers - a lot of them have been members for a long time... they’re always good to step up the day of the fair, and make sure we have enough bodies to get everything set up, and all that sort of thing.”

The inception of any Ag. Society always begins with the desire to promote the local farm industry, but

it also tends to foster the development of a close-knit social network, as all members begin working together to put on a great event that coincides with one of the busiest times of the year for farmers - the harvest season. That timing is no coincidence - fall is the perfect time to hold a fair. Beyond the obvious fact that autumn is a time

when the fields of Huron County are overflowing with competitionready produce and livestock in need of judging, those feeling the extreme effort and strain that comes along with feeding a nation often find themselves in need of some kind of relief from the pressure. And perhaps that is where the true

Cardiff family foundational to society’s success

Bruce, during which he was a tireless advocate for agriculture. Murray was known to travel home to Brussels from Ottawa every weekend, where he would hold impromptu question periods with local residents in the hopes of keeping the lines of communication open between politicians and the people that feed them. Murray was dedicated to the well-being of

farmers, and his belief that agricultural fairs are one of the best ways to show appreciation for the agricultural industry inspired a whole new generation of young people to join the BAS and clubs like 4-H. In fact, to this day, the most prestigious award handed out by Huron 4-H is the Murray Cardiff Citizenship Award, often presented

on page A17

Continued from page A15 energy behind a rural agricultural fair comes from - a kind of blowing-off-steam power. In the early days of agricultural societies, the annual exhibitions were born of an inherent desire on the part of rural farmers who have the urge to compete in a friendly fashion against their neighbours.

Without the BAS, there would have never been such a successful, long-standing fair in Brussels. In its early days, all the festivities were held in the open air of Victoria Park, and all inside exhibits were housed within the Armstrong Hotel on Turnberry Street. That was back in the 1860s, when rural fairs were really starting to spread all across Southwestern Ontario.

While humanity has been holding harvest ‘faires’ for almost as long as there has been farming, the concept of the modern agricultural fair was first imported from Europe by way of the Maritime provinces, in the early 1800s. When innovative, impressive venues like England’s ‘Crystal Palace’ in Hyde Park were constructed specifically to highlight the quality of farm fresh products, it inspired farmers to engage in friendly competition against each other. It also elevated the profile of farming as a vital industry amongst a new sector of the population that found themselves less and less connected to the processes that put food on tables.

In 1875, community support of the local farming industry in Brussels led to the construction of a new Agricultural Hall, which cost $600. At that point in history, there were also agricultural societies working with Morris and Grey Townships that contributed to the success of what was then called the East Huron Agricultural Society. The fair expanded in 1891, when the township purchased 10 acres from local developer John Leckie in order to bring horse racing to the event. In 1895, there was the first Field Crop Competition. The crops were to be turnips (or rutabagas, depending on where one hails from) and mangels, a type of beet prized for its nutrient-rich greens and roots.

In 1900, a Friday night concert was introduced to the fair line-up, which was held at the Town Hall. It was estimated that, around this time, the little village of Brussels was hosting a fair with an estimated attendance of over 5,000 visitors. In order to handle the large number of

exhibition entries, it became traditional for women to assist in setting up and displaying exhibits.

Contests for children were also introduced around this time, and soon, there was no end to the creative contest concepts. Apple naming, soap nail planking and potato racing have all been offered over the years. In 1906, Brussels unveiled its own “Crystal Palace”a show hall that was built for a cost of $3,263. The space was the pride of Brussels for many years, before it was eventually replaced with the new Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre on the other side of town, where the fair is held to this day.

A name that would frequently appear under the “winning” column was Murray Cardiff - a local farmer, politician, and tireless BAS supporter. The Cardiff family has been an essential part of the agricultural scene in Brussels for as long as immigrants have been settling in the area. The first Cardiffs came to Huron County from Ireland in the early 1800s, and set about taming the land for agricultural use.

The family thrived in the area, and members began to extend their advocacy for agriculture into the wild world of politics. From 1932 to 1940, Lewis Elston Cardiff was

Reeve of Ontario's Morris Township. He entered federal politics in the 1940 general election, becoming a member of Parliament in 1940. Lewis Elston was re-elected to successive Parliament terms in 1945 and 1949 then re-elected in the Huron riding in 1953, 1957, 1958, 1962 and 1963, serving as Party Whip in 1957 and 1958, and he also served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture.

Later, Murray Cardiff served as a Member of Parliament for Huron-

Above, Kayla Bishop did the judging in 2017 when the fair was held in Walton as part of the International Plowing Match, though the 4-H shows went ahead at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre, as is tradition. (File photo)

Ambassadors a huge part of fair’s success

Crowned

Continued from page A16 by a family member, like Matt Cardiff, Murray’s grandson, in recent years.

Vinnicombe believes that the modern homecraft section of the Brussels Fall Fair just might have a category for everybody, no matter what their secret passion might be. “It gives a lot of people the opportunity to show off exhibits from their various areas of interest, and showcase what they’ve done for the year; quilting, field crops, a Junior Section, baking... all different types. Pretty much any interest that somebody has, there’s probably something that they could showcase in the fair, and be

recognized for it,” Vinnicombe said. Of course, there’s still room in Brussels for the most traditional of fair competitions - livestock judging. “We do have a 4-H show for the Brussels Belgrave Beef Club, and an open Sheep Show.”

Many decades have passed since the first-ever Brussels Fall Fair, and in that time, a variety of new activities have been added to the festivities in order to broaden its appeal to the people of Brussels. This year, the BAS is hosting a Family Fun Fair in the spring, with the hopes of familiarizing some of the town’s newcomers with the ins and outs of the fair’s judging system. “It’ll give you a chance to

come and submit something,” explained Vinnicombe. “And it’ll be judged. The judges will explain what they’re looking for, so exhibitors can see how they can improve for the fall.”

Past BAS President Dorothy Cummings still takes pride in the fair that she has helped to bring to fruition so many times over the years. When she first joined the team, Cummings had recently returned to the area, having just moved to town from Peterborough with her husband. “I grew up just north of Brussels, and my dad was president in 1981. He was still part of the Ag. Society, so when I moved back here, the other members thought it was an opportunity to ask me to join. So I did! I was recruited in 1992, and I became president for the first time from 1995 to 2001, which was a long presidency! And then I was president again from 2009 to 2010, and then again in 2018 to 2019.”

Cummings believes the fair’s strength comes straight from the efforts of the local exhibitors who contribute their entries to the competition every year.

In 1980, the first Queen of the Fair Competition was held in 1980, which was replaced in 1995 with the Ambassador Competition. Nicole Lowe, 2002 winner, can’t say enough good things about the public speaking competition for young people. “It’s a wonderful program for youth!” she exclaimed.

“Public speaking is the number one

Walton’s Baan now a ‘Guardian’

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen

Last year, Monique Baan of Walton, alongside a few other librarians from throughout Huron County, became Guardians through The Guardian Network, a provincewide suicide prevention initiative that focuses specifically on farmers and those in other agricultural fields.

She had read up on The Guardian Network, the Farmer Wellness Initiative and the In The Know program - known collectively as Agriculture Wellness Ontario - and considered getting involved. However, as an employee of the Huron County Library system who is on the front lines with many members of the public, those within the library system had put out the call for librarians to take part in the training, thinking it would be beneficial throughout the community.

Baan took her employer up on its offer last spring and she has since continued to expand her training, knowledge and outreach into the community as a trained Guardian who is ready to help.

Baan has grown up in the world of agriculture. Her parents immigrated to Canada from Holland when she was young and only years later, when she was an adult, was she able to comprehend the challenges they must have faced, taking up farming in a new land, with a new language.

It was a time of high interest rates and rapidly fluctuating markets, so the stresses would have been high at the time, she said, but she didn’t know it, because her parents were good at keeping those stresses to themselves.

She has learned about the stresses herself as her family has continued on with the farming legacy in

Walton. Everyone is susceptible to stress, she acknowledges, whether it be of the family or work variety, but the weather-dependent world of farming, so vulnerable to factors outside of the farm, is so different and specific. That is why Agriculture Wellness Ontario is a network that really has been a long time coming.

According to the organization, 76 per cent of Ontario’s farmers experience moderate or high levels of perceived stress. Fifty-eight per cent of the province’s farmers meet the classifications for anxiety and 40 per cent of Canadian producers reported that they would feel uneasy about seeking professional help due to what people may think. These statistics alone show the need for improved, specialized discussions and supports related to mental health in the world of agriculture.

Baan is a trained Guardian as part of Agriculture Wellness Ontario’s

The Guardian Network, which is billed as a volunteer, peer-driven community of mental health advocates that supports Ontario’s farming community.

A Guardian is anyone over the age of 18 who is in contact with farmers through their work or place in the community. They take a oneday training course that equips them with strategies and tools to identify the signs of mental distress, react to farmers who are at risk and connect individuals with appropriate mental health and crisis resources.

As mentioned, Baan is one of three Huron County librarians who took the course last year, but more have since hopped aboard. However, librarians are not the only ones who have become Guardians in Huron County. Huron East Deputy-Mayor Alvin McLellan, for example, has taken the training, as have many others throughout

thing people don’t like to do.”

Every year, the fair has a different theme - this year, it’s “Pork and Beans”, which really plays to some of the core agricultural strengths of the county - Hensall is, after all, the White Bean Capital of Canada, and, as anybody who has ever tasted the heavenly peameal bacon that comes from Seaforth’s 5 Chicks and a Farmer will attest, it’s a region that knows its hogs.

The BAS hopes that this tasty

theme and the excitement surrounding the fair will draw in some of the town’s more curious newcomers, as it has so many times in the past, because, despite how much has changed, some things always stay the same. Year after year, the people of Brussels and its neighbouring communities have gathered together for their fair, and this year will be no different. And, with good weather, it’s sure to be a real humdinger!

In 2002, Kelly McDonald, left, crowned Nicole Lowe as the next Brussels Fall Fair Ambassador. (File photo)

Farmerettes, ‘Farm Show’ set for ‘Harvest Stage’

Under the night sky

Originally built as an alternative delivery method for theatre during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blyth Festival’s Harvest Stage has since been expanded and upgraded to be part of the Festival’s offerings season after season. This year, the Festival will celebrate its 50th anniversary season and its two outdoor productions will tell the story of The Farm Show and the Farmerettes. (File photo)

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen

This summer, the Blyth Festival will stage its 50th anniversary season - a sprawling offering of local theatre that includes six shows over two stages. Its two outdoor shows at the Harvest Stage - The Farm Show: Then and Now and Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes - have an unmistakable connection to the world of agriculture and to Huron County itself.

The original production of The Farm Show, of course, dates back to the early 1970s, when a group of actors from Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille, led by theatre legend Paul Thompson, who grew up in the Atwood area, escaped the trappings of the city and set up shop in the area of Goderich Township - what is now part of Central Huron - to learn about the world of farming from, you guessed it: Farmers!

The production, which began on the farms of Huron County and

materialized in Ray Bird’s barn, would go on to be a hit in Toronto and all over the world. Apart from its international success and indisputable status as a watershed moment for Canadian theatre and Canadians telling their own stories, the show served as very clear inspiration for the Blyth Festival, which would produce its first-ever season just a few years later.

Furthermore, as the years went on, the impact of the show continued to be felt locally, as Farm Show artists like Thompson, David Fox, Ted Johns, Janet Amos, Miles Potter and Anne Anglin would go on to have long, fruitful relationships with the newlycreated Blyth Festival, writing, directing and starring in productions in the village over the course of the next half-century.

The show marked its 50th anniversary in August of 2022 and was memorialized beautifully by Keith Roulston, a co-creator of the Blyth Festival, in the June, 2022 issue of The Rural Voice. He was in

the audience that day when the cast first brought The Farm Show to the world.

“Paul Thompson, son of a veterinarian who had practised in Atwood, decided he wanted to do a play about farm life - which became known as The Farm Show. Alison Lobb, today a municipal councillor in Central Huron and very active in the community, remembers that Thompson arrived at her farm with Ted Johns, a teacher from between Clinton and Seaforth who would later become foundational in area professional theatre himself. They wanted a home for Thompson’s acting company for a few weeks while they went out and learned about the farmers of the community,” Roulston wrote. “Lobb remembers thinking, ‘we’ll just show them around’ and taking them along the Maitland and 16th Line area. Ray Bird’s vacant house was suggested as a home base for the company.”

The actors would then go out into the community and meet with local residents and farmers, spending time with them and taking notes in an effort to eventually

Barry Elliott

tell their stories on the stage.

“In ones and twos, the actors went out and introduced themselves to their neighbours. They would talk to them or work side by side with them, then come back to the farm and work together to improvise scenes based on their activities,” Roulston wrote. “So Fox, for instance, visited Les Jervis, who had established a wildlife sanctuary near Holmesville after seeing something similar on a trip to Germany. Later Fox recreated that visit and gives us a sense of that experience.

“Anglin created a song, after speaking with Jean and Mervyn Lobb, about the ‘Gobs and Gobs of Lobbs’ who lived in the area,” Roulston continued. “Amos recreated the busy life of a farm wife of the era who still stayed home on the farm, trying to do the laundry with an old wringer washing machine between interruptions from children and deliverymen and eventually becoming part of the process, churning like the washing machine.”

Potter would tell the story of his first job of the process, working

Continued on page A19

o:

c: 519-357-5375

barry.elliott@hubcapital.ca

Brucefield,

Mike

Ag. stories a natural fit for anniversary season

Boots on the ground

The Farm Show was a seminal moment for Canadian theatre, and it just so happened to put agriculture at centre stage thanks to the cast from Theatre Passe Muraille back in 1972. (Photo courtesy of the Blyth Festival by way of Farm Show co-creators Ted Johns and Paul Thompson)

Continued from page A18 outside and taking in bales of hay from someone as they unloaded a wagon, leading to what Roulston called one of the longest and funniest scenes in the play.

“His first job is working outside, taking bales from someone else who is unloading a wagon. His job is simply to put the bales on the elevator that is carrying the bales upward to the hay mow in the barn. He quickly learns putting the bale on the elevator in a way that keeps it from tumbling back down is harder than it seems at first. And the bales just keep coming at him!” Roulston wrote. “He’s relieved when, after a load, he’s offered a job in the hay mow. Here the bales also keep coming in an apparently unending torrent. It’s also hot beyond his belief. And, wearily, he tries to help lift the bales using his unclothed leg. He also discovers the holes between the stacked bales.

“Eventually the bales stop coming and he goes to the mow opening and luxuriates in the cooler air. He also discovers the Freshie in the workers’ coolers. Then he looks down and sees another wagon full of bales has pulled into place and the elevator is switched on again and sending another endless stream of bales upward. He goes back to work for the rest of his stay but he wonders aloud why anyone would put themselves through such hell year after year.”

Speaking with Blyth Festival Artistic Director Gil Garratt, he said he first became aware of The Farm Show in high school. He said he had very interesting teachers in high school and something like The Farm Show became required reading. In Grade 12, for example, his teachers instructed the students to go see six shows at six different theatres in Toronto to get a taste of the variety

Research Council a natural step

Continued from page A14 conference in the Toronto area, Stevenson began mulling over getting involved at the provincial level.

Jack Chaffe, who was president of the Beef Farmers of Ontario for a time, approached Stevenson about letting his name stand for a position on the board of directors. The thinking there was that all of the contacts Stevenson had made and knowledge he had accrued would be an asset to Ontario’s beef farmers. And he appears to have been right, as Stevenson is now in his fifth year of representing the beef farmers from the southern region of the province with an eye on a third, three-year term.

When he began his time with the Beef Farmers of Ontario, Stevenson said he immediately began learning more about the political and administrative side of the beef industry, something he wasn’t necessarily tuned into as a farmer in

the field with his herd. Learning about international markets, the beef trade, lobbying efforts with provincial, federal and international governments was all very eyeopening for him. (One specific market that just recently opened back up for Ontario beef is Saudi Arabia, which is in the market for some of the best of the best cuts that make their way from St. Helen’s Meat Packers Limited in Toronto.)

Once he had his feet under him, Stevenson was availed of another opportunity, which was to be part of the Beef Cattle Research Council. The group works with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) as well as Health Canada’s Veterinary Drugs Directorate (VDD), among others.

While Stevenson feels as though he has learned a lot from his involvement at both the provincial and national levels, what he really feels he’s taken away from it all is

offered in the city. Needless to say, Garratt became aware of the work being done at Theatre Passe Muraille at a young age.

Furthermore, the play has endured in the world of Canadian theatre. Scenes, he says, are still taught in Canadian theatre school and it’s clear that the telling of Canadian stories and collective creation pioneered by Thompson and his group all those years ago has left an indelible mark on the world of Canadian theatre.

Twenty years later, Garratt would be working with Thompson on

Death of the Hired Man, which explored the same topics in the same way. This would be the beginning of a long and successful working relationship between Garratt and Thompson.

Garratt says that telling stories in Huron County means the unavoidable (and, of course, welcome) presence of agriculture and farming. Things have changed in regards to farming - most notably with technology and scale - but to be able to return to the show this season and give it some updates (the

how helpful an organization like the Beef Farmers of Ontario can be to a producer in Huron County, if only they would take the organization up on its offer.

He says the Beef Farmers’ website is full of helpful resources for producers. Furthermore, the staff in Guelph is tremendous, he says, and are there to help whenever a producer calls.

Having that kind of a network and the support to go with it, he says, can make a real difference in the strength of the sector in Ontario.

On a personal level, Stevenson is happy where he is. He’s busy with his numerous business interests and work with the provincial and national bodies, so he doesn’t have any aspirations of throwing his hat into the ring to be the president or vice-president of the organization. He’s happy representing the farmers of the south, as he has been for the last five years.

Play will tell the story of unlikely war effort heroes

Even some women who tended to their own home farms while their husbands or fathers were away were recognized by the federal government for their contribution to the war effort.

The story is another local one. Sitter lives in Exeter, for starters. Plus, the stories of the Farmerettes include many Huron County women or those with local ties. The play is billed as a story of “coming of age as a young woman in a time of change.”

Speaking with The Citizen, Sitter said that a common thread throughout the stories she has been told is that these young women took an opportunity based on “zero experience” but they were keen to take part in what many of them viewed as a summer camp-adjacent experience.

In terms of the agricultural aspect of the work, Sitter said that, despite many of the young women not having any experience, they were given brief tutorials and then sent to the fields or sometimes left to their own devices to learn on the fly. It was hard work throughout long days, she said, but she has heard

nothing but positive stories about the time the women spent together working, getting to know one another and, in a way that isn’t celebrated as wholly as it should, serving their country at a time of great conflict.

Sitter’s involvement with the group dates back several years when she found a picture in her late husband’s possessions. She had never heard of the Farmerettes and decided to investigate further, and once she began looking into it, she was immediately interested in learning all she could.

Connecting with numerous Farmerettes from all over the province, Sitter wrote an article for The Rural Voice, The Citizen’s sister publication, that would serve to connect her not only with many Farmerettes, but with English, who would eventually become the coauthor of her book.

English, who was a Farmerette herself, saw the article and then wrote a letter to the editor. She said she was moved by the story and then told her own story about working on the Sitter farm in Thedford in the early 1950s. That was the

connection Sitter was looking for and the two women soon began speaking and working together.

English told Sitter that the summer of 1952 was the best summer of her life and that she looks back on that time very fondly.

Once Sitter and English began working together, collecting stories, letters and photographs from living Farmerettes, the pair committed themselves to a tight deadline. Sitter gave English no choice in the matter, telling her they had to write a book and they should aim to finish it within a year. Due to the advanced age of so many Farmerettes, they wanted to pen the story as soon as they could, so as many women as possible who lived the Farmerette life could read it.

The Farm Show: Then and Now begins with preview performances on June 12 and June 13 before opening on Friday, June 14 and closing on Sunday, Aug. 4. Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes begins its run with preview performances on Aug. 14 and Aug. 15, followed by opening night on Friday, Aug. 16. The show ends its run on Saturday, Sept. 7.

Continued from page A19 original creators have given Garratt their blessing) is a perfect way to mark a 50th anniversary, Garratt said.

The second of two shows outdoors at the Blyth Festival’s Harvest Stage will tell the story of the Farmerettes, a little-known corner of Canada’s World War II history that is finally seeing the light of day thanks to the Herculean efforts of Bonnie Sitter and Shirleyan English, who penned Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: Memories of Ontario Farmerettes in 2019.

Sitter wrote the book and has

continued meeting with Farmerettes and documenting their stories with a second book and a filmed documentary hopefully on the horizon.

As for the show, however, the Blyth Festival and 4th Line Theatre (the two companies cocommissioned the show) turned the reins over to notable playwright Alison Lawrence.

The Farmerette program recruited young women from all over the province to work in the dirt of the province’s produce farms during World War II while the men who had tended those farms were off to war.

Peter Johnson is getting the word out on wheat

‘Wheat Pete’

Peter Johnson is an accomplished agronomist, farmer, researcher, podcaster and crop consultant known to many as “Wheat Pete”. (Scott Stephenson photo)

Peter Johnson is a man of many hats. He’s both the Resident Agronomist for RealAgriculture and the Environmental Advocate for the Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario. He’s also a farmer, a researcher, a podcaster and a crop consultant. But most people just know him as “Wheat Pete”.

Following one of his frequent public speaking engagements, the gregarious gentleman was kind enough to sit down with The Citizen at the Stanley Community Centre in Varna for a quick discussion about what he loves about being an agricultural advocate.

“Agriculture is so diverse,” he began, “and it’s exciting! People think that farming is kind of dull, but that’s so far from the truth! It’s a biological system, and there’s so much we don’t know! To be a part of the incredible world of agriculture, to try to drive something forward that has so many nuances that we don’t understand, and so many interrelationships that we’re still discovering, to try and help people to do that well, and to do that better - how could you not love it?”

“Wheat Pete” is also drawn towards the world of performance. “A lot of people are absolutely petrified of speaking in public - I’m the reverse! It just pumps me up, to be able to interact with people!” It’s clear from the energetic chatter amongst the crowd after his community centre talk that “Wheat Pete’s” enthusiasm tends to be infectious. “I bring the science, and I bring the enthusiasm, and I try to

rye, buckwheat, and spelt. Why buckwheat? Nobody ever knows!

Regardless, when Twitter came along, everybody needed a Twitter handle, and my first name has always been Peter, but ‘Wheat Peter’ just doesn’t work. ‘Wheat Pete?’ Now that works!”

These days, podcasting is a pretty

get growers excited about what they’re doing, and I try to help them do it better, and that’s what I love about being an educator - leaving a room more excited than when they came in.”

He also values all forms of engagement from his audiences. “I want the questions, because questions mean that the person is thinking about what you said, which means they’re engaged, so you can have an intelligent discussion. And sometimes you agree to disagree - that’s ok!”

Does “Wheat Pete” have any thoughts about crop trends?

Absolutely! “Yields continue to go up, and that means we need to support those yields with inputs, but those inputs cannot have negative environmental consequences. So it’s this balance. And how do we do that better? I’m a big ‘more yield’ guy - I’m ‘Wheat Pete’! I want higher wheat yields. I want higher corn yields. And we’re seeing those! But we’re also seeing algal bloom in Lake Erie. We’re seeing a ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico. We have to sort out how we mitigate those consequences. We do have some environmental concerns, but it astounds me how the focus is always on the negative, when the overall story is hugely positive!”

Despite the name, “Wheat Pete” doesn’t just talk about wheat - he’s passionate about all things agricultural! “Wheat Pete” first took on the mantle of his rhyming moniker during the 30 years he spent with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, when he was the Provincial Cereal Specialist. “The Cereal Specialist oversees wheat, barley,

popular way to have your say, but way back before the dawn of the new millennium, there were a lot fewer ways to get the word out about wheat and other agricultural wonders. “Back in 1991, all I had to work with was a voicemail system attached to my phone. The way things evolved, I got up in the

morning one day and they said the forecast for the day was 2 degrees Celsius. And then I was out for the day, and I put on my voicemail system - ‘Peter Johnson, out for the day! Don’t spray Dicamba today, it’s too hot.’ That’s where it started. It wasn’t really a podcast, but we

Johnson offers growers information, encouragement

Continued from page A21 didn’t have podcasts then. And so that evolved into what we called ‘CropLine’ at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. CropLine was my baby.” For many years before rural internet was commonplace, the CropLine Hotline was a way for farmers to ask questions and convey important information and thoughts to the Ministry. The hotline evolved into the CropLine Podcast, which remained in operation until 2015.

Wheat Pete’s current podcast, Wheat Pete’s Word, continues to field questions from farmers on a wide range of subjects.

People ask “Wheat Pete” all the time what his predictions are for the coming growing season, but he doesn’t think that’s an easy question to answer. “The problem is, right now you’d say it’s a warm winter, so we should have an early start to the season. An early start to the season, in general terms, should be a good thing. Well, guess what? It could start raining tomorrow, and it could keep raining until June, and we could have nothing in the ground, and the winter wheat crop could be half drowned out. So my only expectations are that it’s going to be different, that it’s going to be challenging, that it’s going to be fun, and that we’re going to make the best darn crop we can out of it!”

Baan takes ‘Guardian’ training to help her community

the Know is a mental health workshop for the agricultural community.

According to the In The Know documentation, those who take the seminars will learn awareness of mental health stigma in the agricultural community; common stressors and mental health concerns in agriculture; how to

identify warning signs of stress, depression, anxiety, substance use and suicide; how to start a conversation around mental health, and the importance of self care.

According to In The Know, 98 per cent of those who took part in the program reported that their confidence in their ability to speak to someone about their mental

health increased as a result of the session.

For more information, visit agriculturewellnessontario.ca, a comprehensive website for all three divisions of the mental health initiative that is full of resources and ways to connect if you are in need of help or would like to become a Guardian.

Continued from page A17 the county and the province.

In fact, Baan recently attended a symposium for The Guardian Network and more than 200 people were in attendance, all Guardians in their home communities. Training opportunities are regular and ongoing, she said, happening about every month or so.

Baan is now trained to recognize signs of distress or concern in the people she sees on a daily basis. As a result, she says she sees the community and its people in a slightly different way - and that’s a good thing.

The Guardian Network training helps build knowledge about mental health in the agriculture industry, identifying signs of mental distress and suicide risk factors, building confidence in having conversations about mental health and suicide and increasing awareness of resources and how to access support.

Being a Guardian, however, is all about connection. Baan would be the first to acknowledge that she’s not trained to provide proper mental health assistance to anyone, but, as a Guardian, it’s all about connecting those in need with the people who can help them.

That’s where the Farmer Wellness Initiative, another of the three prongs of Agriculture Wellness Ontario, comes in. It’s free mental health support by way of unlimited counselling sessions for farmers, farm workers and their families.

The help line is 1-866-267-6255 and it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year in both English and French. The program is supported by both the provincial and federal governments, as well as the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership and the Canadian Mental

Health Association of Ontario.

Baan says that, while the people waiting to help those in need through the Farmer Wellness Initiative are trained mental health professionals, for this specific branch of support, they are all versed in the world of agriculture, and that is key, Baan says. More than most other professions, farming has its own specific stresses, so, when someone is in need of help, it’s essential that the person on the other end of the line knows about agriculture and is able to speak intelligently about it and offer support that only someone who is well-versed in agriculture can.

On the Farmer Wellness Initiative website, the following topics are listed as helpful starting points for people who may be calling, but don’t know where to start: Developing coping strategies and mental health, family or relationships, financial pressure, succession or transition planning, stress on the farm, anxiety or depression, managing your workload, substance use, loneliness or isolation, how to support loved ones or processing traumatic events.

Furthermore, Guardians themselves all have access to private, individual counselling sessions, should they need them. They can also connect with the program’s Psychological Support Co-ordinator, other Guardians through monthly virtual “Guardian Connects” sessions and more.

The third and final prong of the Agriculture Wellness Ontario program is the In the Know sessions, which Baan hopes to take in the near future. Developed by a research team at the University of Guelph in 2019 and rolled out by the Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario in 2021, In

(Shawn Loughlin photo)

Farm issues are front and centre in ‘The Rural Voice’

By Scott Stephenson The Citizen

While The Citizen ’s annual “Salute to Agriculture” may come but once a year, its sister publication, The Rural Voice, has been doing nothing but saluting agriculture, once a month, for almost 50 years. The magazine’s founder, Keith Roulston, may have retired from his position as editor of the farm-focused periodical over a decade ago, but he can still be convinced to stop by the offices of North Huron Publishing to share a little bit of history about how Huron County’s record of all things rural came to be.

As with so many successful creative endeavours, The Rural Voice began when Roulston realized he could do better than the farming periodicals that were already on the newsstand. “In those days, Western Ontario Farmer

Today was a big farm paper, and they were just making a small fortune, and I didn’t think they were doing the job they should be. They were mostly just running press releases, and so on and so forth. We needed a different farm paper, one that was doing more serious work about farmers, so I started The Rural Voice.” It was a natural move for a young rural journalist with a passion for agriculture. “I grew up on a farm - my life was about farming, and it’s the basis of our community here,” he said.

When he started The Rural Voice, Roulston was already well-versed in the newspaper game, so the early issues were printed in the standard newspaper style of the day. “We were doing much shorter articles at first,” he explained. At that time, the Huron County Federation of Agriculture was sending out its own newsletter via mail. “They were getting funding from the Ontario

Federation of Agriculture. So we said we’ll publish your newsletter, and put it in The Rural Voice. In the beginning, it was a challenge - there hadn’t been a farm newsletter in our area before. Most of the newspapers just covered whatever stories came to them.” That first newsletter was soon joined by the Perth County Federation of Agriculture’s newsletter. Then Bruce County’s, and finally Grey’s. As those basic newsletter articles gradually began to evolve into longer stories of agricultural interest, the

publication’s format switched to magazine style.

In 1975, Roulston discovered a new passion - founding a rural theatre. Over time, he divested himself of much of his publishing empire, including The Rural Voice, which changed hands several times before it came back to Blyth for good in 1991. And it didn’t come alone. “When we bought it back again, it came with all these contributors - freelancers that it collected along the way.”

Those new contributors and Roulston’s renewed stewardship brought The Rural Voice into a new era of rural journalism. “We just wanted healthy rural communities, and to serve those communities by telling the stories that are available to us,” he said. “As we went along, we found so many interesting people [whose stories we needed to tell]. I think that because of the

coverage that The Rural Voice did over the years in telling stories about people doing things like conservation tillage, and so on - I think it helped change the way people farmed. Writing about those leaders and those innovators made it possible for more people to know about them.”

In his opinion, there’s only a few rules for what makes a good Rural Voice story. “It has to be interesting, and be something that people can apply to their own lives. They can say ‘oh, gee, it’s interesting what that person is doing. Could we do some of that on our farm?’”

Roulston eventually turned stewardship of The Rural Voice over to its current editor, Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot, who also doesn’t mind stopping by to talk about the magazine - after all, both offices are on the same floor of North Huron

Continued on page A25

Roulston names Boonstoppel-Pot as successor

Continued from page A24 Publishing. As a professional journalist and avid beekeeper, it’s her job to keep the energy around Roulston’s rural magazine buzzing. Whether she’s writing about worms or featuring a local farmer, Boonstoppel-Pot clearly loves what she does. “I was a co-op student here when I was 16 years old,” she explained. “So I have been involved with this company for a very long time. Keith was always so generous in letting me write stories for both the paper and the magazine, since I was a farm girl. And that’s how I got started.”

Roulston may have handed over the mantle of the magazine, but he hasn’t quite finished with the world of rural publishing, much to the delight of his one time co-op student. “He’s still a very treasured and valuable columnist. When he retired, I was really worried that he was going to stop writing his column,” admitted BoonstoppelPot. “But he was keen to go, and every month, he absolutely delivers. It’s unbelievable.”

When compared to its inaugural issue, The Rural Voice has clearly changed since she first started. “The magazine is a lot more colourful now,” she pointed out. “Visually, that’s definitely the biggest difference. All the photography used to be in black and white. And we were developing our own photos back then - technology has made everything more colourful. And easier. There’s also been some design changes, so it looks a little different. Also, none of our original

the agricultural sector. “Even for people that are not actively farming, it’s about understanding how farming has changed. The Rural Voice has been recording those changes now for 50 years, and as people get more and more removed from the actual farm, it plays a huge role in showing and telling them what farming is like nowadays.” She would love to see the magazine

find a wider readership in more urban areas.

Boonstoppel-Pot’s favourite type of Rural Voice stories are the ones that shine a light on local lives. “In every issue, I like to have at least one story, or more than one story, that’s simply about a farmer. A story about a farmer that’s doing something new, who wants to share what they’re doing, to talk about the

why, what, where in a way that celebrates agriculture, and encourages other people to perhaps investigate what they’re doing on their farms, or perhaps even a new farmer might say ‘hey, I’d like to try that too!’ I think people’s stories are the best stories. You can learn so much as people share their accomplishments, and their difficulties, and their struggles.”

freelancers are still here, although we do still have a few left from Keith’s era.”

From a content perspective, The Rural Voice has never stopped evolving right along with the agricultural community. “I think, with the advent of social media, the focus has changed a little bit. I don’t think it’s a magazine that you go to for current news... I think we are in changing times. We see it all over the place - in agriculture, and in print media specifically, as everyone turns to social media for their information and their news.

But I think it’s really important to realize that journalists like you and me are the ones who go to the farms, we sit down at the kitchen tables, we talk to the real people, and we get the real story. This is not one paragraph that tells you nothing - you get a whole picture of what’s really happening. Don’t give up on print media - it has something to say!”

One thing that hasn’t changed is the sheer volume of stories that are worth telling. “Huron County is a noted agricultural county. We are top of the heap in terms of our production and farm numbers, along with the other counties we cover. Our identity is rural and agricultural. Our roots are just steeped in it, and we need to honour and celebrate that, and tell those stories, and teach and encourage one another with the stories we record in The Rural Voice.”

Boonstoppel-Pot also thinks that The Rural Voice is a worthwhile read for all people, not just those in

Above, a cover from January 1991 featuring the Kroes family. Shelley, second from right, now works in advertising sales for The Rural Voice. Below, current Editor Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot. (File/Scott Stephenson photo)

On the hunt for freshness? Buy it direct in Huron

food they eat. Firmly Rooted also offers custom subscriptions, with optional add-ons from other great local farms, like Weth Mushrooms out of Goderich. Members can pick up their share at the farm, or at designated pick-up spots across Huron County. But interesting farm stores aren’t limited to just produce. Blyth Farm Cheese in Blyth makes its own distinct brand of sheep’s milk Gouda right on the own farm. Visitors to the Blyth Farm Cheese on-farm store can see happy sheep out grazing in the field, then step inside to check out racks of freshly waxed wheels of cheese, try some samples of cumin-flecked or honeyinfused cheese, and choose a favourite to take home.

There’s also a plethora of proteinbased options available at local farm stores. Diminutive Dashwood alone boasts The Whole Pig and Hayter’s Farm. At The Whole Pig, a rustic barn board storefront showcases the impressive versatility of pork. From the full gamut of breakfast meats (peameal, ham, sausage and strip bacon) to simple heat-and-eat lunch options like pre-cooked pulled pork to

dinner-worthy smoked chops, shoulder roasts, and side ribs, this little shop has it all, pork-wise.

At Hayter’s, three generations of the Hayter family have been thinking outside the Thanksgiving box with their birds - at their farm, shoppers can pick up turkey burgers, turkey sausages, tandoori turkey, turkey schnitzel, teriyaki turkey - turkey everything!

There’s a profound satisfaction in tasting the results of local labour and the earth’s fertility, feeling a direct connection to the land and the seasons. But starting up the retail side of any agricultural operation is far more complicated than just building a shed and filling it with hams and radishes - the road from farm store dream to reality is often a long and winding one.

Take Meeting Place Organic Farm near St. Helens, for example. As one of the first organic farms in Ontario and a vanguard of the sustainable farming movement, Meeting Place has been bringing its organic apples, beef, pork and poultry to Huron County and beyond for decades. In the past, the McQuail family ran a community

Continued on page A27

By Scott Stephenson The Citizen

One of the best ways to understand the true glory of Huron County’s world-class agricultural bounty is to experience the abundance yourself, by going straight to the source. Luckily, Ontario’s West Coast is home to a number of entrepreneurial farmers who sell some of the freshest food around, right from their own family farms, using the direct-to-consumer approach.

Seasonal produce stands like Morrison’s Berry Farm in Lucknow do things the traditional farm store way - focus most of their energy on their farm’s specialties - when strawberries are in peak season, the store is open, and when the year’s harvest runs out, it’s “better luck next year” for fruit fans. Any excess berries are frozen at the end of the season and sold to customers looking to brighten up the winter with a sweet reminder of summertime.

Bayfield Berry Farm grows a wide variety of berries and fruits, both usual and unusual, which they sell from their farm’s store in Bayfield. Over the years, they’ve consistently experimented with various methods of fruit preservation - they even have their own on-site processing facility, bakery, and café! Less travel time from the field to a processing plant means that each fruit’s unique flavour is caught at the height of its intensity. Pie filling, jam, wine and schnapps are just a few of the options they have on offer year round.

Farms like Firmly Rooted in Belgrave grow some of the best seasonal vegetables around, and sell them using the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. Local consumers buy shares of a farm’s harvest before the growing season. In return, members receive baskets of the farm’s produce throughout the growing season, typically on a weekly or biweekly basis. The upfront investment helps cover the farm’s operational costs, which provides financial security for farmers. Farm shares create a partnership between local farmers and community members, and foster a closer connection between people and the

Meeting Place Organic Farm is working to join the ranks of many county farms and open its own on-farm store. But first, there must be art - in this case, a bespoke mural created for the farm by Goderich-based artist Autumn Ducharme. (Scott Stephenson photo)

Farm

Continued from page A26 garden using the CSA model - these days, they utilize an online store to take orders for pick-up or delivery of their own products, as well as lamb, butter, fish and eggs from other local farms that put the same emphasis on quality that they do. Their delivery zone may be vast, but they’re only now getting close to having a long-desired farm store up and running for drop-in customers and events.

“It’s been a long time coming,” explained second-generation farmer Katrina McQuail. “We’ve always done retail from here, we just haven’t ever had a space for it. I just got really tired, especially during the pandemic, of having to

meet people in the upstairs of the barn. It’s still very much an idea in progress, though - I still need to figure out so many logistics, like ‘how does it change my insurance?’ ‘how does it change how I’m taxed?’ I’m still trying to work all that out!”

McQuail also wants to make sure the final space is capable of handling all of her big ideas! “I want to start having a petting zoo. And plein air painting classes. And I want to have local chefs come in for events. And workshops, like dried flower wreath making! And weddings on the farm, of course! We’re always thinking about multiuse options.” The ever-ambitious organic farmer hopes to have

her special shop open by this spring. Eating food fresh straight from the farm is an enriching and delicious way to feel closer to where food actually comes from, and every year, Huron County has more and more of these vibrant venues for local farmers to showcase the love they put into their labour. All these charming establishments offer not just fresh, farm-to-table produce, but a chance to momentarily immerse oneself in the places where food begins. As visitors traverse from one farm store to another, they embark on a journey through all the flavours, traditions and foods that define Huron County.

Ranch Wear

When Auburn-based agronomist Michelle Durnin began designing overalls, she did so with a specific woman in mind - herself! “I always had a difficult time finding goodfitting women’s workwear,” she explained in an interview with The Citizen. “I grew up on a farm, and also rode horses in the coldest part of the winter. I’d be bundled up in my Carhartts, but nothing ever fit great… I’d say I’m selfish, in that I mostly do design things that I feel like are missing from my wardrobe.”

Fed up with the frequent frustration about the workwear industry’s lack of attention towards making clothing for the form of the female farmer, Durnin figured that she should at least try to do it herself. “I had always thought about how great it would be to have women’s workwear that met those needs. And then a few years ago, I just decided to try my hand and see if I could design something that I

would love to wear.... It turns out that other people like to wear them too!” These days, there are people in every province who are wearing Durnin Ranch Wear.

A lot of experience went into Durnin’s first pair of overalls. She first fell in love with agriculture in Ancaster, at her family farm.

“When I was very young, we had beef cattle, and I always loved when we had new calves, and going to check on them. Working with my dad in general was great, honestly.”

Since then, Durnin has worked on all kinds of farms, and visited so many others in her role as an agronomist. “I’ve certainly had a taste of everything! Running equipment, being out in the field, doing agronomy - you look for different design elements in each aspect. When I’m out in the field as a working professional, I want to feel kind of put together. When I’m working on the farm, it’s more about comfort and functionality.”

When it comes to design, Durnin also doesn’t stop learning with her

Durnin has plans to expand into menswear

Blind spot

Michelle Durnin created a business after discovering a gap in the market, knowing that women’s bodies called for different styles and features than men’s when it comes to on-the-farm wear. Her work has been so successful, that she’s now planning on expanding into menswear. (Photo courtesy of Seafind Photography)

Continued from page A27 own experiences - “I have lots of friends who work in the dairy industry and the poultry industry, so having access to their feedback has really helped to tailor the fit and add features.” Things like elastic straps, zipper pockets, quick dry fabric and optional pregnancy panels that extend with your body are just a few of the female-friendly features you’ll find with Durnin Ranch Wear. “I work with a local leather worker and seamstress out of North Huron who is just great, and she actually does a custom maternity fit option for me.” Durnin says she’s also very pleased with how warm and stylish her insulated overalls are. “They’re great for working, they’re great for riding, and I love the colours. Every time we come out with a new colour, I think it’s my favourite!”

While having two different occupations can be a challenge, Durnin feels she benefits from the natural rhythm of her schedule. “Fortunately for me, they are both relatively seasonal, and on opposite seasons. With agronomy, May until the middle of July is my busy season, and my quiet season would certainly be towards the end of the year, into the winter, which is when I’m busiest with selling apparel…. It’s difficult to split your brain power between two very different endeavours. I try to focus on one thing at a time, rather than jump back and forth between the two.”

One of the ways Durnin gets the word out about her functional fashions is through social media

videos that reach hundreds of thousands or even a million views from Auburn, Ontario is truly incredible.” That reach has attracted customers from far and wide. She’s also shipped her ranch wear all the way to the U.K. and most parts of the United States, including Alaska! Durnin sees a lot of potential space in rural communities to develop digital businesses. “There are towns that you might drive through in Huron County and go ‘wow, it’s a bit of a shame that there’s some industry that’s left here, but at the same time, I think that really neat things can be built through social media that you don’t necessarily see.”

Attracting customers online means that Durnin doesn’t have to

leave her chosen home in order to be a successful clothier, which is great, because she has no interest in going anywhere just yet. “I love so much about Huron County! I’m an import, right? So, first and foremost, the trail systems here are amazing - I think I probably use the Huron County forests as much as anybody! We’re obviously in a great location, with the lake, and all the rivers, and the soil here is incredible. For the first five years I was up here, every time I got to a new field I would say ‘wow, this is nice ground!’ Especially in comparison to the clay back home.”

As demand for her clothing continues to grow, Durnin has a plan to reach more people on a local level - in the fall of 2023, she

purchased a mobile store. “It’s actually at Sign Guys in Clinton right now, getting all decked out,” she said excitedly. “It’s going to be really handy for outdoor trade shows this year.” Another big plan for this summer is her first ever pair of shorts “I think a lot of us that are working professionals just struggle to find modest shorts with functional pockets. That’s not a lot to ask for!”

In addition to the new store and her new shorts, there’s also a few other things in store for this summer that Durnin’s not quite ready to let out of the bag yet, so stay tuned! And for all you jealous guys out there, don’t despair - she’s already working on some patterns for menswear!

sites like TikTok and Instagram. “I know for some people, social media can be cumbersome, but I really enjoy it! I think we are really fortunate in this day and age to be able to connect with so many people from across the world. TikTok has been such an amazing platform. I’ve only been on that app for about a year and a half, but the reach truly is incredible. To have

When it comes to tractors, brand affiliation is strong

named John Froelich created the first gas-powered traction engine in Froelich, Iowa, tractors have been facilitating the effort of farmers all over to produce more food for more people in less time and with less effort. Needing fewer people to farm has meant that many other aspects of society have flourished from the influx of employable individuals who would have otherwise been needed for the effort of manual farm labour. It also meant that enough affordable food could be produced to feed entire cities.

Before the big tractor boom brought mechanization to fields, the brunt of the agricultural effort was born by men and beasts of burden. Here in Huron County, we have a living reminder of the old ways, as a hearty Amish and Mennonite population continues to do most of its farming without modern machinery. Fields are worked by teams of horses pulling plows, and the harvest is brought in using collective manpower.

Now, tractors are everywhere. From the iconic red of India’s Mahindra & Mahindra to the historic orange of an Australian Chamberlain, the sight of colourful farm equipment trundling back and forth as they work the soil is ubiquitous. A sky blue Landini crisscrossing the countryside is a sure sign of Scotland, whereas a dark green Fendt on a distant hill just might mean you’re in Germany.

performance while lessening environmental impact.

After decades of research and development, the 1950s saw the dawn of the golden age of the tractor. It was an era that elevated the tractor to new heights - from a simple piece of revolutionary farm equipment to a beloved part of the rural identity. Companies like Massey Ferguson, John Deere, and International Harvester were presenting new pinnacles of agricultural advancement every year, and, as the tractor became the eternal emblem of farming, families and friends suddenly found themselves fighting over which brand was the best.

As anybody who has ever attended the annual reunion of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association can confirm, these machines were built to last, so it’s no wonder that some farmers develop a real sense of loyalty to their brand of choice.

In terms of candy-coloured crop

contraptions, there is none more easily recognizable than the bright green of a John Deere. The colour

Since Paleolithic Egyptians first began utilizing irrigation to draw water into their arid fields from the nearby Nile River, the agricultural industry has been one of near constant technological

advancement. And while the industry has seen some truly sparkling breakthroughs over the millennia, there has perhaps been no single invention that changed the course of human history quite as dramatically and irrevocably as the tractor.

Ever since the 1890s, when a man

But with great power comes great responsibility. Overuse and misuse of the tractor has, historically, led to disaster. For example, in the 1930s, over-tilling of the earth with tractors was a huge contributor to the advent of The Dust Bowl, which in turn exacerbated the conditions that created The Great Depression. The farm equipment industry of today has worked to learn from past mistakes - tractor manufacturers are driven to always improve

Tractors have played a major role in modern farming

Seeing red

Continued from page A29 green of a John Deere. The colour known simply as “John Deere Green” is not only an official shade of Pantone, John Deere has also won a trademark case that confirmed that their farm equipment’s classic combination of green with yellow accents is, indeed, iconic enough to be protected under copyright law.

The John Deere company got its start when innovative blacksmith John Deere moved from Vermont to Illinois in search of new business opportunities. By 1837, Deere had become a village repairman and a maker of hand tools like pitchforks and shovels. He then created a selfscouring steel plow, a pioneering piece that he crafted from a Scottish steel saw blade. This tool really streamlined the sowing process,

speeding up the surge of settlers moving across the Great Plains. In 1923, Deere debuted the Model D in the distinctive green and yellow that is still in use today. John Deere was one of the first manufacturers to start to pre-produce plows instead of making them to order, which is the main method by which farm equipment is sold today. One such seller of John Deere machines is Garrett Van Dieten, who has been working at Huron Tractor in Blyth for the past seven years. “In a previous life I worked for the Hensall Co-op, but here at Huron Tractor, it’s a little bit more flexible. And it’s John Deere, right? I’ve been drinking from the John Deere water for quite a while nowsince I was a kid. If you’d asked me in high school what my dream job would be - I’m sitting in it right

now.” Van Dieten is not afraid to admit that he tends to take his work home with him. “I farm with my family on the side. We all run John Deere farm equipment - it’s just part of who we are. We all bleed green!”

Case IH is a red-blooded company born out of the wild world of steam-powered threshing. Case’s history began when, in 1842, Jerome Case founded Racine Threshing Machine Works on the strength of his innovative new threshing machine.

In 1869, Case expanded into the steam engine business and, by 1886, Case was the world's largest manufacturer of steam engines. Back in the age of steam, Case machines were generally black, with green machinery. Case was also the first company to build a diesel-powered tractor, in 1892, which was denoted by a grey body. Case made the official transition over to Flambeau Red in 1939.

The IH in Case IH stands for International Harvester, another

giant of the farm equipment world. International Harvester produced vehicles of all kinds in just as many colours, but their most iconic tractors came in Harvester Red. After Case and International Harvester were merged by parent company Tennaco in 1985, a deep shade of red was the natural choice for the new company’s tractor colour. Always an industry leader, in 1995 Case IH was the first agricultural equipment company to introduce global positioning system technology. In 1999, Case IH actually merged with New Holland to form CNH Global. As Service Manager of the Agriculture Department of Delta Power Equipment, Scott Dow sees his fair share of Case IH equipment, and he thinks customers really appreciate dependability. “Well, I’m in charge of the service department, so you know we’ve got great service. And we’re fully stocked with readily available parts, and we offer after-hours servicing... it’s about good support when you need it.”

The bright blue paint of a New Holland tractor is hard to miss, and the story of New Holland is one that illustrates how a well-made machine can attract global attention. New Holland Machine Company was first founded in New Holland, Pennsylvania, by Abe Zimmerman, a man who sought to bolster the local farming community by making agricultural products in his barn in 1895. The New Holland brand has since grown through decades of corporate mergers, takeovers and acquisitions, as farm equipment companies from all around the world were brought together. In 1947, New Holland was taken over by the Sperry Rand Corporation out of New York. In 1964, Sperry New Holland bought a major interest in Belgian tractor manufacturer Claeys, and in 1986, New Holland was purchased by the agricultural branch of American industry leader Ford, where the brand picked up its sprightly shade of blue. which was subsequently purchased in 1991 by

Continued on page A31

Jim

Delta Power Equipment near Seaforth stocks and services farm equipment from Case IH. (Scott Stephenson photos)

Driverless tractors now a reality on farms

Continued from page A31 do it right, and they treat their dealers well.” Despite his casual declaration of Kubota superiority, Caldwell believes people can overcome their fear of change and

ingrained habits to create a more Technicolor future. “It’s not about tractors, it’s about personalities... there’s a lot of people out there that see all kinds of colours.”

The next big thing in farming is

right now becoming a reality - the driverless tractor. Just as the first gas-powered tractors changed our world forever, so too will these emergent, unmanned machines. While John Deere, New Holland,

Case IH and Kubota have all already begun to market their own driverless farm machines, perhaps the impending autonomous tractor boom will bring about some brand new companies, and, with them,

some brand new colours with which to fall in love.

‘Orange’