The Rural Voice March 2025

Rural Voice March 2025

The

THE MAGAZINE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE

Celebrating 50 Years!

$3.50 PM 40037593

BUFFALO BEN Ben Van Haastert spends his retirement farming bison

GROWING DIVERSITY New Canadians bring opportunity for local farmers

BLAST FROM THE PAST Revisiting our Rural Voice stories from 10 years ago

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Contents

20 16 25

The Rural Voice THE MAGAZINE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE

Published monthly by: The Rural Voice, Box 429, Blyth, Ontario, N0M 1H0 Telephone: 519-523-4311 Fax: 519-523-9140 E-mail: info@northhuron.on.ca Website: ruralvoice.ca Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Melisa Luymes mel@northhuron.on.ca

Columns

Mel Luymes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Keith Roulston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Kate Procter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Mabel’s Grill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Ralph Martin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Blair Scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Gardening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Woodlots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Agrilaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Departments Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Ruralite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Business Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Newsletters

National Farmers Union . . . . . . . . . .58 Perth Pork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Bruce County Federation . . . . . . . . .60 Grey County Federation . . . . . . . . .61 Perth County Federation . . . . . . . . . .62 Huron County Federation . . . . . . . . .64

MARCH 2025 Cover Photo

Buffalo Ben with his bison Photo: Jeff Tribe

Deadlines: April Issue – March 10 May Issue – April 7

16 Meet Buffalo Ben

Ben Van Haastert works with the Kings of the Plains near Thamesford, ON

Contributing writers: Keith Roulston, Kate Procter, Ralph Martin, Jeff Tribe, Arnold Mathers, Donna Lacey, Carolyn Crawford, Rhea Hamilton Seeger Advertising Sales: Shelley Kroes rvads@northhuron.on.ca Production co-ordinator & Telemarketing: Joan Caldwell

20 Cropportunities

PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40037593 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 429, BLYTH ON N0M 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca

25 Blast from the Past

Subscriptions: $30 (12 issues) $55 (24 issues), includes HST

New Canadians bring new demand for ethnic food

Revisiting the stories from our March 2015 issue

30 Precision Agriculture

Back copies $3.75 each.

Make cheques payable to: NORTH HURON PUBLISHING CO.

Agronomist Blair Scott reflects on past and future of ag tech

35 Queen’s Bush Settlement Arnold Mathers explores early European settlement in this month’s history column

37 Celebrating Pi Day!

The Rural Voice Magazine Since 1975

Carolyn Crawford shares some irrational square pie recipes for March 14 (3.14) - pi day!

All manuscripts submitted for consideration should be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited submissions. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. Editorial content may be reproduced only by permission of the publisher. The Rural Voice makes every effort to see that advertising copy is correct. However, should an error occur, please notify The Rural Voice office within 30 days of invoicing in order to obtain a billing adjustment.

A division of North Huron Publishing Company Inc.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.

Feedback Letters to the Editor: The Rural Voice, P.O. Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 or email to mel@northhuron.on.ca

Focus on the pay gap!

A recent debt survey says that half of Canadians are $200 or less away from being unable to cover their monthly bills. I believe this is because an excessive pay gap has developed here and around the world. Let me explain.

In 2024, legislation gave federal politicians a $8500 pay increase, bringing their income to six times that of a minimum wage earner’s income. I have heard that the public servant’s income is 15 per cent higher than the average private sector’s income. The pay gap means the private sector worker is at a disadvantage when trading the money from their work to purchase public services, and this does not include the public servant’s pensions and benefits. I believe the next generation will have to pay a big portion of those pensions and benefits, along with the $62 billion deficit that was passed on for 2024-5.

The annual pay increases that the public servants take keep increasing costs for farming and business. No farmer, business or grocery retailer can stay viable if they don’t cover the cost of someone charging them more, so groceries, rent and everything else has

to inflate in price.

Legislation that helps someone to get more income than what the marketplace would give them, whether through labour laws, supply management or other legislation, is like a referee helping one side of a game win all the time. Everyone’s money comes from someone else and so legislation that helps one side of the exchange gain more money every year, means the divide between the rich and the poor will keep growing. Too many people think the answer to a better economy is simply wage growth, but I think it is more about minimizing the pay gap.

Here are more thoughts to consider: 1) Political candidates should state how much they would charge to do the job at nomination and have the successful candidate’s wage paid by the riding’s municipal taxes because that person is the riding’s representative, not the government’s representative.

2) The government should make it easier for unions to be established, i.e. even two people could be considered a union. Governments should maintain collective bargaining and the right to strike, but the employer must have the right to change management or workers without penalty. And the public servant’s wage levels should be set to match a similar private sector’s worker’s pay, in order to keep the pay gap reasonable.

You will have people say they can’t afford to have their pay or prices pressured lower by competition. One benefit of an affordable pay gap is the higher paid won’t need to be excessively taxed to subsidize the needs of the lower paid because the lower paid would be able to pay for things

themselves.

You won’t need excessive deficit budgeting or taxation to cover inflated pay increases taken by the politicians, senators and public servants. True marketplace competition would mean our savings would buy as much 10 years from now as the day we saved the money because inflation would stay close to zero percent.

The way I see it, the middle class is not defined by a certain wage level, but it is formed when competition produces the smallest pay gap possible. With a small pay gap, the majority of the population are paid close to the same amount and can easily afford each other’s goods and services.

I am old enough to remember an economy with a more even pay gap. In 1960, I was working in a union shop and the pay gap between my job and the public workforce was close to even.

Working people had no trouble affording a car, groceries or rent costs.

This all changed, in 1963, Lester B. Pearson’s Liberal government gave the striking Montreal dock workers a 50 per cent pay increase and it wasn’t long before government workers asked for the same amount. The rest of society had to catch-up to the increase in the pay gap by producing more. In 1967, supply management was put in place.

In 1968, I received a $1000 capital grant subsidy, the first of many to keep farms and businesses viable. The government is still subsidizing us, with child benefits, school food programs and dental care, etc. but ultimately, it is the pay gap they should really be focusing on.

Larry Biesinger, retired farmer, Listowel

And print communication keeps getting less and less.

Please don’t stop print media Newspapers are small or no longer in print. So, when I read, I have just read the December 2024 edition. I am not really that far behind, I just read January first. While reading the new editor’s column, one line scared me and resulted in this note.

I am an older, grey-haired lady, approaching my mid 70s, so I am not good at using modern technology. And I live in one of those corners of the province with little reception. I have a beautiful piece of property with a lakefront, hidden behind 15 acres of bush. The sunsets are beautiful, the trees are full of birds and the air is fresh BUT the cell phone often does not work, the internet connection often cuts out and the satellite TV requires a couple of extra gizmos to get acceptable reception. One Bell serviceman said he could give me perfect reception if I would just cut down 70 trees or so!

2 The Rural Voice

“if print media is shifting, what sorts of social media should the Rural Voice pursue?” My answer? Please don’t stop printing!

I am sure I am not alone. You put out an interesting, informative magazine. I find the ads lead me to find things, the articles increase my knowledge and while reading, I am smiling and enjoying life. And my summer neighbours love to read it when I am through. Please keep the issues coming!

A loyal reader in Huron County, Donna B. Editor’s note: Not to worry, Donna! We don’t plan on stopping a print edition, we are just looking at also engaging with the next generation through other means. Thank for you reading and thanks for the note! Mel

Let’s “Thrive in ‘25!”

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March 2025 3

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Ruralite The pine stays green in winter… wisdom in hardship.

-Norman Douglas

Baking, with trees

By Chelsea Gamble

Photo: Scott Stephenson

W

hen European settlers first came to what would later be called Ontario, they faced long, harsh winters. As they carved workable land out of the wilderness, farmers often had little access to fresh supplies for the entire winter. It’s hard to imagine it in the abundant age of the modern supermarket, but colonists frequently found themselves at risk of developing vitamin deficiencies and associated diseases, like scurvy.

For centuries, sailors had been fighting this dread disease by travelling with barrels of lemons and limes to get their daily dose of Vitamin C, but citrus fruit was often in short supply for the first rural Ontarians. Luckily, there was another source of Vitamin C to be had, growing right under their noses - the pine tree!

Pine needles, like citrus fruit, contain Vitamin C, which means a simple tea of steeped needles was just the thing the settlers needed to fight off the woes of winter. Of course, they weren’t the first ones to figure out that drinking pine needle tea is where it’s at - Indigenous communities all over North America have been appreciating the benefits of pine needle tea since time immemorial. In this area, the Anishinaabe have traditionally brewed Zhingwaak Mshkiiki Waabo - white pine tea.

If you’d like to make your own pine needle tea, there are several simple methods you can try! The easiest way is to pour hot (not boiling) water over about a dozen clean, white pine needles in a mug. Steep for five to eight minutes. The flavour will be very mild and not at all overpowering.

You can also make a pine infused honey by submerging a handful of needles into a small jar of honey for at least three days. The longer you let the needles mingle with the honey,

the stronger the fragrance of the forest will be. When it’s teatime, just add few spoonfuls of honey (with or without the needles) into a mug of hot water. This is especially nice when you have a sore throat!

If you’re the sort who craves something to snack on along with your tea, try your hand at these pine needle honey cookies. These cookies have a light, biscuit-like texture that goes perfectly with tea or coffee.

3∕4 c pine needle honey 1∕2 c softened butter 1 1∕2 c all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1∕2 tsp salt 1∕4 c finely minced pine needles (optional) Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. Cream butter and pine needle honey together. Mix in egg until completely combined. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in minced pine needles if a stronger flavour is desired. Slowly fold flour into butter mixture until it is easy to roll into balls.

Roll into roughly 24 small balls and place on cookie sheet.

Bake six to nine minutes, or until edges of cookies have begun to brown. Remove from oven, cool, and serve.

Note:When gathering pine needles for human consumption, it is important to only forage from edible varieties, like the Eastern White Pine. Conifers like Yews, Norfolk Island Pines, and Ponderosa Pines are believed to be toxic to humans. Ensure that trees are in a healthy environment - do not collect needles from roadside trees, Christmas trees, or trees exposed to pesticides. Do not take needles from trees in protected lands.◊ March 2025 5

Mel Luymes Mel Luymes is the editor of the Rural Voice and hails from rural Wellington County.

What can happen in a decade?

In this month’s issue, we start going back in time to reflect on 50 years of The Rural Voice. The first step is visiting the issue 10 years ago, then going back decade by decade.

I’m looking for back issues from the 70s and 80s, if any readers saved them!

Ten years seems like a long time, a lot can happen in a decade. A pine tree can grow 20-30 feet in 10 years.

But it also goes by in a blink!

This isn’t exactly a happy edition,

6 The Rural Voice

sorry, I didn’t plan it this way. It is just how it came together.

On one hand, it is. We get a sense of how far agricultural technology has come starting on page 27 and there have been many improvements in efficiency and for soil health. The bison herd in Canada is being rebuilt from near extinction and new Canadians are increasing opportunities for new foods to be grown here. Over the last decade, there have also been many resources and supports created for mental health in agriculture, and you’ll read about one on page 51. The supports are great, and I hope you all take advantage of them, but are we are addressing the symptoms without the root cause of mental un-ease?

There is a lot to be stressed out about! We have a letter to the editor discussing the wage gap, a marketing column looking at global uncertainty from a looming tariff, Dr. Ralph Martin with bleak predictions for the future, and even a short article about modern-day slavery if you weren’t already overwhelmed with the world.

On top of that, there is another snow day today (as I write this) and this winter feels like it will never end!

Last week, I was driving home as the light was fading and yet another snowstorm was picking up. Up ahead was a car in the ditch, and someone else had pulled over to help. I pulled over too. I had my trusty snow shovel along with me and, strangely, wasn’t rushing to get somewhere either.

The driver, a young girl, was feeling terrible for her mistake and her dad, the passenger, was being so kind to her. But the car wasn’t budging. And then a little Ford Ranger stopped and, few moments after that, a young guy in a substantially bigger truck slowed down. Between all of us, we had a hitch, a rope, had some laughs and got the car pulled out within a few minutes. Then we all went on our separate way, as I exclaimed, “I love strangers!”

It was a flash of optimism for our ability to get ourselves out of sticky situations through collaboration. But only on a micro-scale. I feel less optimistic about political parties or countries attempting to work together to solve the issues we are facing.

They seem more complicated than getting out of a ditch.

Are we better than we were 10 years ago? Will things get better in the next 10 years? I don’t know the answer to that question, but we always go on trying and go on hoping, don’t we? This month we have another history column about the settlement of the Queen’s Bush on page 35, and I can’t help but marvel at the determination of European settlers to make it through these harsh winters. And our Ruralite story on page five highlights the pine needles that provided the nutrition people needed to survive the winter. There is something so beautiful about pine trees, watching over us as the decades pass, patient and resilient.

Likely, the future will be a series of advances and setbacks, living and dying, like seasons. We could try to relax into the present moment, not get caught up in the drama, be good to our minds and bodies, good to our neighbours and good to our environment around us. And just take the next decade one day at a time. ◊

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March 2025 7

Keith Roulston Keith is former publisher of The Rural Voice.

He lives near Blyth, ON.

What a story 50 years makes!

Although the 50th season of the Blyth Festival was celebrated last summer, we’re coming up to a historic date this month, when I received a letter from young James Roy to see if I’d be interested in meeting with him to talk about starting a theatre in Blyth.

I was thrilled at the possibility. I’d been trying since The Farm Show was first performed in a barn near Clinton in the summer of 1972, to host Paul Thompson and Theatre Passe Muraille in Blyth Memorial Hall but getting the building up to safety standards kept that vision from happening in both 1973 and 1974, so

8 The Rural Voice

eventually Thompson accepted the invitation to make Petrolia his summer headquarters.

James Roy, unknown to me then, was also in the barn in 1972 for the first performance of The Farm Show.

At the time, he was living in Clinton, a student of the York University theatre program. After graduating, he was working for Thompson in the winter of 1974-75 when he mentioned he wanted to start a theatre. Thompson suggested he should contact me.

I have a photograph of James sitting in the front row of the theatre when he came to Blyth in the spring of 1974. James had actually been brought up on a farm a few miles south of Blyth before his father gave up farming and moved to the Sarnia area. He had been in the basement of Memorial Hall to receive a vaccination but had never seen the theatre, which had since become available for use after the entire roof had been replaced.

We decided to start a theatre and James declared it would begin that summer (we were both young and

impatient).

Going home, James wondered what to program that summer. He wanted to do something Canadian but there were few Canadian plays back then. He remembered reading a book

by Harry J. Boyle, about life in West Wawanosh Township and pulled Mostly in Clover off his mother’s book-shelf; he decided he could make a play from it and other, similar Boyle books. Because he was uncertain of an audience for a local story, he booked Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap as the second show.

To make a long story shorter, Mostly in Clover was a huge hit and The Mousetrap would become the only non-Canadian play the Festival ever produced.

The thing that makes this story suitable for a farm magazine now, is that there was so much about early farm life in Mostly in Clover. I remember the theatre rocking with laughter for “the stove-moving scene”, recalling that annual struggle to take the wood stove out of the front room for the summer. There were stories of the mother’s efforts in cooking and tasks in the barn. There was a hilarious scene about driving the teacher to school and getting involved in a buggy-race.

Since then there have been many plays about farming. In 1984 Anne Chislett and I co-wrote Another Season’s Promise about the effect of high interest rates for farmers. It was such a hit that the next season it was taken on a national tour.

We would turn to the next generation of the same family in 2006 for Another Season’s Harvest, when panic shut down export of cattle, crashing prices and leaving beef producers teetering on the edge.

There have been more than 150 world premieres at the Blyth Festival over 50 years. This summer there will be two more premieres, one Radio Town a tribute to the legendary “Doc” Cruickshank, founder of CKNX radio. As well, both Anne Chislett and I will have popular plays restaged: Anne’s Quiet in the Land about the pacifist Mennonite community in the First World War and my play from 20 years ago, Powers and Gloria.

So much has changed in 50 years but the Blyth Festival is one of the startling improvements.◊

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Kate Procter Kate farms, hikes, canoes, and plays guitar in Huron County.

Protecting farms (and trees) for the long-term It is no secret that I am an unabashed tree hugger. I know the term carries some negative connotations, but considering the importance of trees, I am willing to carry that. I’ve planted hundreds of trees over my lifetime and now doing a reforestation project on our farm. It has been a way for me to put my values into action.

Many years ago, I joined the Ontario Woodlot Association and I have learned a lot from this organization. Boasting 21 chapters across the province, they have great field trips all over Ontario and they also publish a regular print magazine, The Ontario Woodlander, as well as a monthly e-newsletter. Founded in 1992, the organization lists its values as supporting woodlots that are “sustainable and productive, ecologically healthy and diverse, and spiritually and physically renewing.”

Their Mission Statement is “Helping each other to become the best possible stewards of our woodlands.”

Members of the Association own and manage woodlots and the Association believes that private landowners play a key role in sustaining healthy forests in Ontario.

There are many benefits to becoming a member including the Woodlot Buy and Sell Marketplace and Forest Service Provider directory, being part of a community and learning through many forest stewardship workshops and events, and the ability to be part of many of the OWA programs.

One of the articles that caught my eye in The Ontario Woodlander Issue 116, Fall 2024, is titled “Can I Protect My Woodlot Forever?” by 10 The Rural Voice

Olivia Foster, Kawartha Chapter.

Foster writes about land trusts, types of protections, as well as the pros and cons of conservation easement agreements.

“The Couchiching Conservancy is a charitable non-profit land trust supported by people who want to ensure pristine land and habitat are safeguarded for the future. As of April 2024, nearly 15,000 acres of land in the region have been protected.”

As government focus changes with every election, there is increasing competition for land use between food production, living space, and industrial uses. Attention to the natural environment can become almost an afterthought.

I think about it not only from a woodlot protection perspective, but also for farmland in general. While we believe that the land that we own is under our control, the past year has shown otherwise. Ontario residents have witnessed the fragility of that understanding as farmers in Wilmot township are still in a fight to prevent their land from being expropriated for development.

The Ontario Farmland Trust (OFT) is one of several organizations concerned with protecting land from development. From their website, it says that “in the past 35 years, Ontario has lost 2.8 million acres (18 per cent) of its farmland to nonagricultural land uses like urbanization and aggregate mining.”

OFT’s mission is “to protect and preserve Ontario farmlands and associated agricultural, natural and cultural landscapes of food production for the benefit of Ontarians today and future generations.” As farmers living in one of the most productive regions in Canada, we know the importance of the land for growing food. Once it is paved over, getting it back is next to impossible.

There are different levels of protection for land: easement agreements are, according to OFT “private, legal contracts that are negotiated between property owners and OFT, and then registered on the property title." These agreements are the most permanent tools available to ensure the land remains dedicated to

the uses determined within the easement and apply to all owners in the future.

Easements also do not affect the ownership of the land with owners remaining free to buy and sell it as they wish. Every land easement agreement is unique, and they can even be used to ensure the land remains affordable for succeeding generations of farmers. Easements can be applied to portions of the land or an entire property. Farmland Easement Agreements do not require municipal or provincial approvals and are part of the Conservation Land Act. Conservation easements are more focused on preserving land in a more natural state to benefit communities and the environment. The Ontario Land Trust Alliance (OLTA) is an organization “committed to conserving and caring for natural lands for the benefit of communities and the environment.” The OLTA is concerned with protecting biodiversity, climate resilience, farmland conservation, land stewardship, and clean water.

Taking it one step further, land ownership is referred to as “fee simple.” Land can be donated to a trust, in which case the trust holds the title for the land and from then on is responsible for it. In the case of OFT, farmers can donate their land and work with OFT to remain living there for the remainder of their lives and still receive the tax benefits. An easement applied prior to donation will guarantee the land will only be used for purposes outlined in the legal document.

Entering into these agreements is not something people do without a great deal of dedication and passion.

The process itself can take years and there is a considerable amount of patience required. However, they are tools to consider for people concerned with preserving the land and environment now and in the future.

See fightforfarmland.com, olta.ca, or ontariofarmlandtrust.ca.

OFT will be hosting its Farmland Forum in Elora, ON and online on March 20 from 9am - 4:30pm.

Information is on their website.

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March 2025 11

Mabel’s Grill The world’s problems are solved daily ’round the table at Mabel’s Grill.

“I’ll have bacon and eggs and orange juice,” George MacKenzie said as he delivered his order at Mabel’s Grill the other morning.

“We don’t have orange juice anymore,” Molly Whiteside replied as she wrote down their orders. “It’ll have to be Canadian apple juice. It’s Mabel’s small protest against Donald Trump.”

“I thought she was always telling us how we had to leave politics behind at the front door,” Dave Winston said.

“Mabel said she’d leave politics behind if Trump would,” Molly replied. “But the guy just can’t seem to help himself.”

George reluctantly agreed to accept the apple juice and Molly, having already got Dave and Cliff Murray’s orders, headed back to pass

them on to Mabel in the kitchen.

“I’m going to be glad to see the warm weather get here,” Cliff said.

“This old-fashioned weather this year was a bit more than I could take.”

“Yeah, I got the loader stuck in the snow one day when I was trying to get a bale of hay for the cattle,” George agreed.

“That’s the nice thing about having pigs,” Dave chuckled.

“Everything’s indoors where it’s warm.”

“Yeah, rub it in,” George grumbled.

“I was reading that world-wide, we had the warmest January in recorded history,” Cliff said. “Hard to believe from things around here.”

“Yeah, well how do you believe any of that stuff you read about the climate,” George sneered. “I think they just make it up!”

“I hardly think so,” Cliff scoffed.

“I mean these people are often professors at universities.”

“Who’ve got a good thing going for them, earning a lot more than people like me ever will without ever getting manure on their shoes,”

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George said.

“Well climate change or no climate change, there were about five or six days I didn’t even get any mail this winter,” Dave threw in. “When I complained to my post master, she said some days it was too stormy for her mail carrier to be risking her life and some days I hadn’t cleaned out around my mailbox.”

“Yeah well it won’t be long before you won’t even need a mailbox,” Cliff said. “I mean we were already getting so much less mail and then the postal workers went on strike just before Christmas.”

“Except you’ll still be getting 20 flyers a week,” George grumbled.

“Yeah, for stores that used to support our weekly newspaper but now spend so little on advertising that the editor and reporters had to be laid off,” Dave sighed.

“Are you guys complaining about the post office?” Molly asked as she delivered their orders.

“Just saying there soon won’t be anything for the post office to deliver,” George sighed.

“I had a couple of postal workers in here the other day. They didn’t leave a tip. Said they couldn’t afford it because they hadn’t won the strike.

It made me mad enough I went home and looked it up on the internet. The median salary for a Canada Post worker is $24 an hour. My salary, with tips, is $16 an hour” “Yeah well, my salary’s less than that and I don’t get any tips,” George grumbled.

“Yeah, but the value of your farm keeps going up,” Molly answered.

“So my kids can get more money in my will,” George replied.

“Only because you’re too stubborn to retire and collect that money before then,” Molly sniped.

“I don’t want to retire to town and sit around all day and compare the weather with a bunch of other guys who have nothing better to do.”

Cliff couldn’t help smiling.

“Which was what we were doing while Molly was in the kitchen.”

“Yeah, well I have to go home and do chores when I finish here,” George grumbled.

“It wouldn’t matter anyway,” Molly said. “He wouldn’t leave a decent tip even if he had a million!”◊

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Viewpoint Ralph C. Martin is an author and a retired professor from the University of Guelph

Faith, hope and love, even in the worst scenario I’ve been reflecting on the future, and there are plenty of scientists and authors with a lot to say about it.

In 2009, Johan Rockstrom and several colleagues published an article in Nature, entitled “A safe operating space for humanity” that explored planetary boundaries, the safe limits for pressure from human activity in areas like freshwater change, ocean acidification, stratosphere ozone, etc. There are nine planetary boundaries (PB) and this research indicated that two had been crossed. We were beyond the safe operating space for the PBs, i) biodiversity loss and ii) excess biochemical flows, especially nitrogen.

By 2015, Will Steffan and many of the same colleagues published another paper, “Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet” in Science, that

warned we were close to other PBs. Again in 2023, Katherine Richardson and others published “Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries” in Science Advances and shared updated modeling, clarifying that four more PBs had been breached: land use change, climate change, excess novel entities, and freshwater change. Transgressing six of nine PBs inordinately taxes Earth Systems, they argued. In 2024, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research published Planetary Health Check and noted that the seventh PB, ocean acidification, is almost crossed.

In his comprehensive 2023 literature review in Futures entitled “Societal collapse: A literature review,” Danilo Brozović writes “earlier collapses were societal, local, regional, and civilizational in nature, but the possible future collapse—or decline—is global, presenting an existential threat to humanity and the planet.”

A stark question was asked by Gwynne Dyer in an article in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, and January 4: “Can we voluntarily shift from growing our global emissions by about one per cent a year to slashing them by seven per cent a year in the next five years, which is the minimum change needed to avoid a catastrophe?” Delaying until solar geoengineering is required, may

exacerbate, rather than solve, impacts on volatile weather.

How can we understand today’s existential threats and live with faith, hope and love? Brian McLaren, a former English professor and pastor, offers insights in his 2024 book, Life After Doom. He accepts the possibility of collapse, given how much humans have indulged in ecological overshoot, but doesn’t stop there.

Accepting uncertainty, McLaren suggests four scenarios. “The first is Collapse Avoidance, whereby destabilizing Earth’s support systems leads to transforming our civilization and living within ecological limits.

The second is Collapse/Rebirth as global civilization declines towards collapse in specific regions, sometimes suddenly and sometimes gradually. Surviving communities would rebuild with a new consciousness. The third is Collapse/Survival, indicating the collapse of civilization with a tenuous future for pockets of survivors.

The fourth is Collapse/Extinction with near or total extinction of humans and other living species.”

He refers to Larry Rasmussen’s 2022 book, The Planet You Inherit: Letters to My Grandchildren When Uncertainty’s a Sure Thing, writes “Faith isn’t about living with certainty; it’s about being confident,

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even joyous, about living with intractable uncertainty and profound mystery.” McLaren notes that, “good people promoting hope and good people critiquing hope are both against the same thing: complacency.

And both are for the same thing: wise action.”

Later, McLaren writes, “We can commit to work for justice, peace and compassion wherever we are in this world, as long as we live … It is not too late to love and it never will be. Love will count, no matter what.

Even on the last day of the world.”

There are and will be ecological consequences, as homo sapiens exceed PBs with excess consumption, resource extraction, pollution and waste. Individuals and groups with more power and money, are most damaging to Earth and her creatures, including the poorest people. The less humans cooperate with nature, the less we will influence outcomes of our human endeavors. The human project of economic growth and ecological gutting will end.

We can have faith that humans are gifted beings in an interconnected universe of wonder and mystery, with a right to be here. We can hope that some of us will develop deepening insights about our authentic selves and act accordingly, as individuals and in communities, and keep acting, whatever the outcomes. Love sustained our ancestors so that they could survive with meaning and offer potential for our lives. Love, exercised one day at a time, reveals our capacity to hold other people and all of creation, with open palms, for as long as we exist.

Our efforts may persist for surviving species.

While The Bible was written in a different context than facing the worst scenario of collapse/extinction, I still find comfort in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13: “Three things remain – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.” It is a helpful call for emotional and psychological health and subsequent action, regardless of outcomes and one’s specific spiritual journey. ◊

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Meet Buffalo Ben Working with the Kings of the Plains

By Jeff Tribe

“B

uffalo Ben” Van Haastert’s love for his herd of prairie bison is tempered by a healthy dose of respect.

“They look very clumsy,” he cautioned as we prepared to deliver a large round bale of hay into a feeder. “But that can change in three seconds.” Bison can reach over 55 kilometres an hour in short bursts, Van Haastert continued, fast enough to outrun a horse.

“And they can reach that speed in 10 feet. That’s how super fast they are… and dangerous.”

Thirty-eight years a dairy farmer, Ben and wife Anke’s semi-retirement from the Woodstock area to their current property at 255395 25th Line, Thamesford, opened the door to a passion fostered from the age of six through a model bison that was gifted to him.

“The animal always intrigued me,” said Ben, who in a pre-internet world would enthusiastically read as many print articles as he could on the species’ history and contemporary status. “I wanted to learn more about them.”

An estimated 20-50-million bison once roamed North America, says Van Haastert. An enthusiastic historian, he has toured battlegrounds including Waterloo, Gettysburg and Little Big Horn along with Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site near Lethbridge, Alberta. At one of the world’s largest, oldest and best-preserved buffalo jumps, Indigenous people would skilfully stampede herds over a cliff, large-scale harvest of a resource crucial to their 16 The Rural Voice

survival.

Indigenous people did not put a dent in bison populations. But the Europeans did, with overhunting, slaughter for sport, the arrival of the railways and also, importantly, demand for buffalo hides as a source of shoe, belt and coat leather in Great Britain. The ‘“big kill” happened between 1870 and 1878, says Van Haastert.

“In four-and-a-half or five years, they wiped them out, basically,” he says.

Initially, a bull hide would bring $5, and a female $3, which was a lot of money in those days, before the script flipped and people realized cow hides were much easier to work with.

In the wild, herds featured around 200 cows and a couple of dominant bulls, which hunters would shoot first.

Afterward, the cows tended to roam around the bull carcasses, allowing the slaughter to continue. After the hunters were done, a crew came through that was able to process 35-40 hides daily. Hides were treated with arsenicum, dried in the sun and loaded on wagons. Hides were often spoiled during processing or in bad weather before drying, or wagonloads were lost to accidents en route, and only about half of the hides reaching their destination were deemed acceptable for market.

“That was a waste,” says Van Haastert.

Beyond the back-breaking work, hunting crews lost appendages, limbs and their lives to accidents, or got

Men standing with pile of buffalo skulls, Michigan Carbon Works, Rougeville MI, 1892. Photo from Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

caught in unexpectedly early winter storms.

“The money was good, but you took a big risk.”

The top kill was in 1873 when 1.5 million hides shipped from Dodge City, a number falling to 158,000 in 1874, partially due to a bad winter but also to reduced numbers, says Van Haastert. The precipitous drop in bison was mirrored in an Indigenous population already devastated by disease.

“They basically took their grocery stores away.”

By the turn of the century, only a few bison were left on the prairies, a score in Yellowstone Park, a couple hundred wood bison (which have longer legs than their prairie cousins) on Elk Island in Alberta, and a few on farms and in zoos.

“From there, people built the herd back up.”

Today, Van Haastert says Canadian and American bison associations estimate there are around 700,000 bison in North America, a number they would like to see reach 1,000,000 eventually.

Ben’s contribution began a decade ago, fuelled by the view of lowland pasture from their window. They thought it would be “super, super cool” to add a couple of roaming bison on the pasture. As per strong industry recommendations, he started small, purchasing 11 yearlings from a herd near Hagersville.

“And then you learn the animal.”

Van Haastert’s herd currently numbers around 40 cows and calves and one breeding bull. Adult females

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weigh between 1,200 and 1,400 pounds, with an eight-year-old bull as much as 2,000 to 3,000 pounds, with elevated aggression matching their much larger size.

“You can’t trust them,” says Ben. “You need four eyes on your head two on the front and two on the back.”

Although comfortable walking between cows and younger bulls, Van Haastert errs on the side of caution.

“They’re not tame at all.”

He cuts a majority of hay bale wrapping before entering the paddock to minimize time and exposure, always closes and locks gates, and has an exit strategy, particularly with a bull, always keeping the tractor between them.

“I always have to think about safety.”

Ben’s previous bull, whose head is mounted inside his retail outlet, was particularly aggressive. During one roundup, he cleared a seven-and-ahalf foot corral wall on his third attempt with a combination jump and “climb.”

“We watched it and couldn’t believe our eyes.”

Bison are seasonal breeders, typically calving between the end of April and July. Calves are “very light,” usually between 35 and 40 pounds, and while they begin grazing around 14 days and have access to creep-fed oat pellets, they are dependent on their mother’s milk until weaned at nine months, reaching 600 pounds as yearlings.

Resultantly, Van Haastert has gently refused offers to purchase a calf or two.

“They will survive, but without milk it is standing still, it doesn’t grow.”

Round-ups do not involve a chase.

Van Haastert gets them into a corral and loading chutes through strategically closing gates, in combination with treats and controlling feed and water sources.

They are intelligent and innately suspicious animals.

“You have to be quick and you only fool them once. If you miss out on that day, you miss out for the whole day, they won’t be back.”

Ben is assisted during round-ups

by a group of volunteer fellow farmers, without whom he’d be unable to do what he does. “They like to do it too because it’s different,” he says.

Van Haastert butchers a limited number of “99.9 per cent organic” animals for sale through the Buffalo Ben Bison store on the farm, offering government-inspected, vacuumpacked steaks, roasts, ground bison and pepperettes.

“The taste is a little sweeter than beef,” says Ben, likening its flavour to moose. “And because it’s grassfed, you have to cook it very low and slow.”

He also builds experiences around the bison, photo opportunities and summer tours, peaking in July with the presence of calves. Ben has a high wagon which can hold up to 18, often family groups looking for a unique opportunity to view bison grazing. “But I can do a tour for two, too.”

Admittedly, bison are more Ben’s thing than Anke’s. “She doesn’t come out of the tractor,” he smiled.

However, his wife has been supportive of what, for Ben, is a childhood dream he never thought would be realized.

“If you would have asked me 20, 30 years ago, I would say you’re nuts, you’re crazy,” he concluded. “I could never have imagined this.”

If you’re looking for Buffalo Ben Bison, call 519-608-3020 or email halvu@xplornet.com. ◊

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New Canadians New Foods New Cropportunities Three young farmers share their experience growing for ethnic markets in Ontario.

By Mel Luymes

I

Top (L­R): Laura Ferrier, Aramide Taiwo and Shiying Lu. Middle: ponmo (fried beef skin), Bottom: ewadu (jute leaves). Photos courtesy of Aramide Taiwo.

20 The Rural Voice

t was a small group, buzzing with big ideas. The County of Wellington partnered with the Boundless Accelerator to bring in rural entrepreneurs and keen funders to Elora’s Grandway Events Centre for Crops & Capital: Ethnocultural Foods & Agricultural Finance.

The day kicked off with a panel, moderated by Justine Dainard, Smart Cities Manager within the County’s Economic Development department. She set the stage by noting that as the cultural demographics of our cities and even rural towns are changing, so are there shifting demands for different types of foods. Even Canadians of European ancestry are getting more adventurous with their tastebuds and experiencing other cultures through their food, therefore increasing demand and creating new opportunities for producers.

“Ethnic foods were once a niche, but are now a growing, viable market,” says Justine.

Much of these foods are imported to serve the growing market, but could these foods be grown or processed here in Ontario? The panelists answered a definite yes!

Ponmo & African vegetables Aramide Taiwo was originally from Nigeria and was a communications specialist, she now lives in Kitchener and is farmer and local food entrepreneur, starting Tileyi Brands Inc. in 2018. She comes from a culture that uses nearly every part of a beef cow for food, and she believes that she can create a win-win solution in Ontario to reduce the amount of wasted carcass and serve a growing market of consumers. Specifically, she has been working with Canadian regulators and local processing facilities to try to make ponmo here.

Ponmo is cleaned, dehaired & tenderized cow hide. Similar to jerky and pork rinds, this comfort food staple is a well-loved treat across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. It is a keto-friendly snack that is high-fat and low-carb. Currently, it is being imported or made in small batches, in potentially dangerous conditions, but Aramide believes that there would be a huge market for local, well-made ponmo.

Aramide found support through an incubator program called LiftOff by Caribbean Canadian Association of Waterloo Region.

The first issue she had was with provincial food regulations that claimed hide was leather, and not a food product. The CFIA however recognises its use as food across the world, next she needs access to food grade beef hide and a commercially approved processing facility where her products will be made..

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But perhaps the real hurdle is the cultural divide. “I have to start every business interaction by saying, This is not a joke,” says Aramide, “and I have to remind people that only a few decades ago, tripe wasn’t even available here. Markets change as the demand changes, but people have to pay attention to the changes going on around them and where there might be opportunities, even if they look strange at first.”

Aramide also started growing African vegetables for her community on a quarter-acre of land in the city under the name True North Tropical, and she simply couldn’t keep up with the demand from customers of largely Afro, Caribbean and Middle Eastern heritage. She grew dent corn, callaloo (amaranth), tete (spinach) and ewedu (jute leaves), among many others found online at the website, truenorthtropical.square.site. Her major barrier with the vegetables is long-term access to good land, as there were issues with flooding and compaction at the previous site.

Aramide hopes to find land in the Waterloo-Wellington area and if anyone has any leads, please reach out to her through the website.

Asian vegetables near Mono Shiying Lu farms near Mono, running Brilliant Meadows and selling both meats and Asian vegetables. Raised in the city by her Chinese immigrant parents, she did a farm internship in 2016 and fell in love with farming, working on farms and renting land to run her own farm business, but not finding a farm she

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could buy. As she went back to work in Toronto, she thought she would have to give up on her dream of having a farm but, by chance, she and her partner, Jason, saw a For Sale sign out front of their dream property on a weekend trip.

They bought the farm, and she balanced their full-time jobs and livestock farming by sharing the land with farm tenants that did the barn chores in exchange for access to land for vegetable production.

For the next few years, she developed a market for her pastured duck, chicken and pork, selling cuts that were not readily available, like pig trotters or chicken feet. The biggest issues she had was accessing an abattoir and finding a butcher that would even do those cuts of meat.

“They don’t value the cuts as much as my customers do,” said Shiying, yet she didn’t want to complain about a poor job cleaning or cutting, because she was just grateful to find someone willing to do it.

She found some support along the way with the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO)’s BIPOC network (refers to Black, Indigenous, and people of color) and farmer meet-ups, as well as the County’s Experiment Acres program that helped her try some innovative farming techniques.

In 2024, Shiying made the big move to farming full time, and she grew Asian vegetables for her existing customer base with an online ordering system in both English or Chinese, and delivery to weekly pick-up points. She also sold to a few local restaurants.

“Basically, I offered a fresh version of something you can find a sad version of in the grocery store,” she jokes. But, it worked. She couldn’t keep up to demand, selling out of bitter melon, waxy corn, dou miao (pea sprouts) qing cai (greens), daikon radish, sweet potato leaves, and so much more when they were in season. As well, faba beans were a “sleeper hit” for 2024, making her wish she had planted more.

Her biggest issues were sourcing seeds and finding information about growing the vegetables, especially in Ontario’s shorter growing season. As more luck would have it, she 22 The Rural Voice

An intro to Chinese vegetables

By Shiying Lu, Brilliant Meadows

Shiying with her crop of amaranth. Photo:EFAO

Bitter melon

Waxy corn

Sweet potato leaves

Bitter melon - A cucurbit fruit that is exactly what it sounds like! I grow the Chinese type that is green and smooth skinned, there are other varieties that are white in colour or have more jagged skin. It prefers a tropical climate, so it's a bit tricky to grow in Ontario without a greenhouse. Typically picked when the fruit is young, like a zucchini, and can be stir-fried, added to soup or stuffed with meat and steamed. The bitterness is considered to be a health benefit and is a part of many traditional medicine systems in Asia and Africa.

Waxy corn - A corn with a sticky texture, similar to sticky rice, that is popular in Asia.

The “waxy” texture is because the corn contains amylopectin instead of amylose starch due to a recessive gene that has been selectively bred in Asia. It is very hard to find fresh waxy corn, but frozen waxy corn is often available in Asian grocery stores. Our customers were VERY interested in fresh waxy corn - they asked pretty much every single week if we would have waxy corn! It is a long season crop so it was one of our very last crops to be harvested. It’s a tricky crop to grow because cross-pollination with non-waxy corn types will not produce waxy kernels. Luckily, we are in a fairly isolated pocket at our farm and we don’t have any nearby neighbours that grow field corn so I just isolate it from our sweet corn by planting waxy corn later.

Sweet potato leaves - Most people don’t know that sweet potato leaves are edible! They are very nutritious and can be used like spinach. We were able to harvest leaves from our sweet potatoes all summer and then also harvest the tubers, which makes it a very worthwhile crop.

It was a great leafy green to offer in the summer, because unlike many other leafy things (like lettuce, spinach or bok choi) it thrives in the heat. We tried a mix of regular, orange sweet potatoes and a starchier purple-skinned, white-fleshed Asian sweet potato. The tuber harvest was not as good for the Asian variety but I have some ideas on how to improve for next year. Growing new crops for Ontario usually means that I have to do some more research to find how to grow the crop and do a little bit of trial and error to find out how to make it work in our climate. ◊

When a traditional market for their lentils fell through, Laura Ferrier created Lau­tea­da Lentils and began direct marketing locally. Photo: Sylvia Pond connected with backyard gardeners in her Asian community that have many years of growing these vegetables here. As well, she has saved seeds to begin regionally adapting them to Ontario. See more at brilliantmeadows.com Lentils in Ontario Lentils are small, lens-shaped legumes that are rich in protein and

fibre; they are a staple in vegetarian diets and are also popular in South Asian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines. Canada is a global leader in lentil production, but not from Ontario.

Laura Ferrier and her husband grew 30 acres of lentils in 2016, which was the International Year of the Lentil. Located near Elora, they

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were the only farm in Ontario to grow lentils that year, and the plan was to deliver the crop to Saskatchewan and do a back haul of fertilizer.

But when the market fell drastically that year due to India raising a tariff, the Ferriers were left with a perfectly good crop of lentils but nowhere to sell it. They pivoted and started reaching out to grocery stores to sell directly, building their brand as Lau-tea-da Lentils, packaging in small cone bags, or selling to restaurants in 50-pound bags.

Laura is an agronomist and knows that there are plenty of good reasons to grow lentils here, to fix nitrogen in the soil, break up pest and disease cycles, and just to increase income diversity. Still, it is hard for Ontario to compete with the Prairie climate when it comes to lentils because the crop likes relatively cool and dry growing conditions. As well, Ontario isn’t equipped with many options to clean the lentils. Laura struggled to get their crop clean enough for direct sales.

Laura had to hustle to get the lentils sold, delivering across the area with small children in tow, which was difficult especially with last minute orders that she couldn’t plan into her busy schedule. But she did sell the crop eventually and even went on to grow another crop.

Another hurdle Laura had to face is that many people in this area don’t know what to do with lentils, so she created a recipe card to help people learn more about them and how to cook them. She shared more recipes on the farm’s Facebook page and promoted the restaurants that were serving their lentils.

She still believes that farms should be diversified but has no plans to keep growing lentils. Instead, she grows pumpkins and sells them at a roadside stand, Ferrier’s Farm Stand.

Next steps for ethnocultural foods A few key barriers to Ontario’s ethnocultural food market emerged from the panel discussion. The barriers were not in the local demand but in the value chain, both up- and down-stream: finding regionally adapted seeds and the know-how, having regulations that support new March 2025 23

products, finding secure access to land and capital, as well as having skilled butchers and processing facilities adapted for new products.

The event concluded with presentations from Ag Credit Corp, Fair Finance Fund and Farm Credit Canada, as well as introductions from exhibitors that funded grants for farmers, including Saugeen Economic Development Corporation with their Agri-Business and Business Startup Loans, Harvest Impact, Wellington County’s

Community Improve Funding Programme and OMAFA’s Business Investment and Development Unit.

When we think about what Ontario’s agricultural landscape will look like in the future, we remember that wheat and soybeans aren’t any more native to Ontario than ewedu, bitter melon, or lentils are. We are in an ever-evolving relationship between people and the land, everresponding to the changes that are going on around us. And who knows what cropportunity will be next!◊

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Blast from the Past

The Rural Voice catches up with stories from the March 2015 issue: maple syrup, precision ag, Steve Bowers, and more!

By Mel Luymes

alcohol per tap, which was approved for use by the organic standards in Canada.

Back then he was “knocking on the door of 2,000 taps” and “looking longterm at reaching his woodlot’s 3,000 tap potential.” Ten years later, has 3,127 taps. He knows exactly how many because taps are $0.50 a piece and come in bags of 100. Terry can reuse the taps because he uses a new insert over them, Ten years after appearing on the cover, Terry Hoover holds the March 2015 which protects the tree (which is only $0.20 a piece and he sends off for plastic edition of the Rural Voice recycling). He has 15 kilometers of line o celebrate the Rural Voice magazine’s 50th for sap to flow through, and in the last decade he has anniversary, let’s take a walk back in time and see switched from a pump that pulls to the sap shack, to an how far Ontario agriculture has come! This month, electric pump in the sugar bush that can push 600 gallons/ we’re looking back only 10 years to the March 2015 issue hour up to the shack at the front of the property for and reflect on the major stories inside. processing.

Cover story: On the cover, we had Terry Hoover Over the years, the sap output has went up and down, standing outside in a plaid jacket in front of his shed. An but mainly up. Ten years ago, Terry and Diane would article about Hoover’s Maple Syrup outlines his operation count on an average of one litre of syrup from each tap, but and what made it organic maple syrup. now that is one and a half litre average. While last year Terry and Diane Hoover are still going strong with averaged 1.3L, the year before that was 1.74L. maple syrup production on their farm (and 50 acres sugar The “Rule of 86” in maple syrup production is that if bush) near Atwood. you divide 86 by the sugar content of your sap, that is how In case you didn’t know or didn’t see the article, most to estimate how many litres of sap you would need to make maple trees would be considered organic because they a litre of syrup. Over the years, the average sugar content don’t receive any fertilizers or crop protection products; (measured in Brix level) has nearly doubled, which however, it is in the cleaning of the lines and processing accounts for the rise in production. Terry and Diane credit equipment that determines Hoover’s organic status. Ten the rise of the sugar levels to all the work they have done in years ago, when Lisa wrote the article, Terry used an agethe bush to thin it and remove the dead ash. old organic strategy to clean. He left the last sap of the “Managing the bush is all part of our long-term season in a pan to ferment for a month or so, and it turned sustainability plan,” says Diane. into a acidic gel that was a powerful cleaning agent.

After the story came out, Terry went on to become the “But it smelled so bad,” Terry admits. Since the last president of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers article, Terry has switched to cleaning the evaporator by Association (OMSPA) for two years. He hosted the boiling permeate from the reverse osmosis process and, as association’s summer tour that same year and had 300 for the sap lines, he vacuums them and then uses isopropyl people over to the farm. During his time as president, the

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major issue he dealt with was adding traceability for all maple syrup producers into Ontario Regulation 119/11.

Better than Groundhog Day, the first tap of a sugar bush captures the promise of spring and the flowing of sap. But when will farmers begin to tap? That has changed over the years and depends on the winter. Maple syrup producers go by the weather and the forecast. Ideally, it is a stretch of sunny days, just around 1°C, any colder and the tree’s bark might split. It takes Terry and his crew three to four days to tap his entire sugar bush. Last year, he started February second because we didn’t have much of a winter; but 2025 has been a different story. The ceremonial tap was cancelled due to a snowstorm, but Terry expects to begin tapping once the weather turns.

“As much as I’m checking the weather, I’m also figuring out when other producers are tapping and don’t want to be too much after Brad Martin,” laughs Terry.

In the last few years, Terry and Diane have also led the local 4-H maple syrup club, and with both of them now retired, they have no plans of slowing down with the maple syrup.

Organic dairy: The March 2015 issue featured a panel on organic production at the Dairy Xpo that featured both Tom Boon and Paul DeJong, among others. In the last 10 years, Tom has made a host of changes at Boondale Farms near Woodstock, starting with a new free stall barn built in 2015 and the installation of the EASYFIX aeration system on his below-barn manure pit.

Since the story, he has nearly doubled his herd size, now milking 94 cows; he has started a succession plan with his son and daughter-inlaw, while his two other sons have started their own dairy farms nearby through the DFO Organic New Entrant Program. He no longer has the mastitis challenges he had described at the Expo and remains enthusiastic about organic farming, striving to improve management on all fronts: in the soil, the crops and the cows.

As for Paul DeJong of Ventry Hill Farm near Dundalk, you may be wondering where he went. According

to the Beef Farmers of Ontario’s Beef North media campaign, Paul made a big move up to Northern Ontario in the fall of 2017 with his partner Kim Inglis. He moved to a 960-acre farm near Englehard and has transitioned to beef production.

Precision Agriculture: Ten years ago, there was a panel at the Grey Bruce Farmers week about precision agriculture, featuring Paul Raymer, Mark Ribey and Craig Trelford, moderated by Blair Scott of Sprucedale Agromart. We caught up with them to see how precision agriculture has changed in the last 10 years, how many more farmers are using it and what might be on the horizon for the next decade. Blair went above and beyond the call of duty and sent the Rural Voice a detailed email, which we’ve included here as a pop-out column.

We caught up with Paul Raymer, the co-founder and President of SoilOptix. Ten years ago, SoilOptix® was in its early days, just getting off the ground. Since then, it has grown to 27 countries around the world. Outside of North America, it has contract service providers making SoilOptix® mapping in the E.U. and U.K., in Chile and Argentina and this month, he’ll be on a trade mission to Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines to see how the technology can help farmers there.

“There is still a strong appetite for soil maps,” says Paul. “Farmers want to understand their field and improve efficiency with their inputs, and that hasn’t changed.”

SoilOptix® field maps are created using a sensor mounted on a collection vehicle that drives up and down the field, and the sensor measures gamma radiation to map soil texture. That technology hasn’t changed, but it used to take hours to synthesize all that information into zones and now it can be done in seconds. Paul credits an incredible team of young staff that are on the cutting edge of using AI (these days, AI means artificial intelligence, but 10 years ago it likely still meant artificial insemination!)

The soil zone map determines where a soil sample should be taken that would be representative of that zone. So, there is still a bottleneck

Top: A graphic from SoilOptix® on how they create detailed soil maps for farmers. Bottom: The Radicle Ag automatic soil lab at Agritechnica 2024. with the soil collection and analysis.

But there are a few technologies that may help over the next decade.

Precision Planting’s Radicle Labs is an autonomous soil lab that could be run out of a farm shop and have soil analysis done in a matter of hours. It works with cans of soil that are automatically RFID tagged from the field with the exact location they were taken from, so it cuts down any manual data entry. As well, there is Laser Ag, using lasers to do soil analysis and a few other technologies out there trying to get to real-time soil analysis.

Once real-time technology is here, and some are optimistic it will be in

the next 10-20 years, the industry would start to see on-the-go variable rate fertilizer, variable rate seeding, variable rate everything!

Ten years ago, Mark Ribey was already using variable rate technology, but it was, and still is, based on recommendations from a real-life agronomist. Mark is a partner with Biermans Farms HM Ltd and farms about 6000 acres near Dobbinton. The farm has always been on the cutting edge of technology adoption, purchasing a yield monitor back in 1996 with the John Deere 9500 combine harvester, and GPS guidance installed in a sprayer and planting tractor in 2003.

March 2025 27

Mark had a read through the article and laughed, “I hardly remember what we were doing back then but yeah, we had Apex on a CD drive.”

Apex was the data management software he used and remembers taking variable rate prescription maps on USB sticks. Now they have switched to John Deere’s Operation Centre which is entirely cloud-based.

(In other words, the data and maps are on the internet and hosted remotely, not on a CD drive or computer) Mark has fields mapped with SWAT MAPS, a SoilOptix® competitor, and works with the SMS system to make fertilizer and seeding maps with variable rates. Using yield data, he is also able to make profit maps at the end of the season. Profit maps help a farmer understand what parts of the field are making or losing them money, but it doesn’t tell you exactly why or what to do about it.

Mark is starting to look at his field mapping on a crop nutrient removal basis, as a soil fertility bank, but still relies on an agronomist, Deb Campbell. From Blair Scott’s article, you’ll see that this is another bottleneck area that may be solved in

the next 10 years, with AI and machine learning technologies (the “brain box” as Blair calls it) being able to make agronomy recommendations.

The 2015 article mentioned GreenSeeker’s NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) technology, which may be the closest we have come to real-time variable rate nitrogen application. It measures the “green-ness” of a corn plant to determine how much nitrogen it should get for optimal growth. Mark doesn’t use the GreenSeeker anymore but is still focused on optimizing nitrogen and has been doing split application on corn and wheat for years, to time nitrogen applications when the plant needs it most. For the last two years, he was able to get an OFCAF (On-Farm Climate Action Fund) grant to use inhibitors that slow the release of nitrogen, which has an environmental benefit as well.

For Mark, the last 10 years have meant chasing the details on the planter as well, investing in electric seed metering, hydraulic down pressure and SmartFirmer sensors that adjust seed depth in real-time, based

on moisture in the soil.

Looking forward, Mark’s next sprayer is going to have See & Spray™ technology which means that it will only put out an herbicide where there is a weed. See more on this in Blair’s column. He hopes this will help cut some costs for their (IP) identity-preserved soybeans.

Biermans Farms HM Ltd is also a trial farm for Upside Robots and last year, they trialed a small robot that was able to drive up and down corn rows to put down small amounts of nitrogen every 10 days. “We talk about spoon-feeding nitrogen to a corn crop, and now there is a technology that can actually do it,” says Mark, who saw incredible results on nitrogen efficiency in 2024, and is excited for another trial this coming year.

International Year of Soils: The United Nations declared 2015 the International Year of Soils and there was a lot of fanfare about soil in the media globally, and in our associations locally, as noted in Kate Procter’s column in the March issue.

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Figure from the CAIR 1990-2020 report shows that farm fatalities are going down, especially for farmers over 60 years old.

Science and Technology, as well as the International Year of Cooperatives and the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation) Farm safety: The issue included a story of Jason McKee and the farm accident that cost him a good part of his leg in September 2012. While we didn’t reach out to Jason, we thought we’d follow up with statistics on farm injuries and fatalities since then. A recent report suggests that farm fatalities are going down in Canada, but came with a warning that the number of farms and farmers is also decreasing, so that may be the reason for the decline. According to the Canadian Agriculture Injury Reporting (CAIR) report Agriculturerelated Fatalities in Canada 1990 – 2020, the most fatalities are from equipment rollovers and runovers and the highest fatalities are in men and those over the age of 60.

Wildlife damage: Ten years ago, there was an article on coyote control.

As of last year, coyotes continue to account for the majority of claims (over $800,000) through the Ontario Wildlife Damage fund and kill six times more livestock than the weasel, which is in second place.

Woodlots: In this issue, Steve Bowers was still writing the monthly column on woodlots. We caught up with him and are happy to report that he is still enjoying long walks in the woods with his wife, and now with four grandchildren. He lives on a treed property and just had a successful

thinning/ harvest over the winter.

Steve wrote for The Rural Voice for 16 years and says he didn’t consider himself a writer when he started. He admits there were some late nights getting the column in at the last minute before a deadline but that it was rewarding; he enjoyed writing as a way of connecting to the community.

Vertical farms: In his column “Urbanites have lettuce-in-the-sky dreams,” Keith Roulston wrote about two of the “hot trends” in Canadian Business magazine that year and discussed both cricket farms and vertical farming. He was amused with cricket farming and, as we know, cricket farming is still a real thing, with one of the world’s largest farmers in London, ON. Keith was more skeptical, however, about vertical farming in the city.

Turns out, he was right! They had been hailed as an important breakthrough for food production and garnered billions and billions of investment funding, but the hype has waned. Turns out it is extremely expensive to take city real estate and then pay for both sunlight and water to grow food, when both come for free in the great outdoors. Still, there are some examples of businesses making a go of it for leafy greens (ie.

GoodLeaf Farms in Guelph) and you can still find them on grocery store shelves, but it will be interesting to see if and how vertical farms evolve in the next 10 years. ◊

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Blair Scott Blair is an agronomist and partner in Sprucedale Agromart

Precision ag: looking back, and looking forward It was interesting to re-read the March 2015 article on Precision Agriculture and reflect on what has changed since then, and where we might go next.

The articles talked a lot about growers adopting new technologies and precision ag, mainly from the standpoint of GPS guidance and autosteer, as well as row shut offs and section control on sprayers. This adoption has only increased in the last decade, and I think you would be hard-pressed these days to find a farm that doesn’t have at least some form of guidance or steering on their equipment. Maybe some small farms are the exception there.

In broad-acre farming, this technology is an easy win and a quick payback. Section control on sprayers and planters demonstrated a clear payback in seed and crop protection savings as well, as yield increases. It is a no-brainer.

To take this technology further, PWM (pulse width modulation) technology on sprayers has also become more mainstream. PWM technology allows operators to vary the spray pressure and droplet size independently of travel speed and application rate, which is a huge win for managing spray drift and quality.

PWM has also allowed sprayers to do individual nozzle control thus improving section control accuracy and crop protection savings. The third improvement with PWM is turn compensation on sprayers, allowing the rate to increase on the outside of the boom on a turn and decrease on the inside.

More recently, this technology is 30 The Rural Voice

being paired with camera technology that can sense weeds and the sprayer can turn on and off depending on the presence of weeds.This technology has been around for quite a few years in fallow spraying (green on brown) but recent advancements in AI and machine learning now allow weeds to be sensed and targeted within a crop canopy (green on green).

In addition to huge advancements in spray technology, planters have had more improvements too. Many planter attachments are available to clean residue, improve singulation, increase ground speed, monitor and adjust down-pressure for conditions, place nutrients, and SmartFirmer technology that can tell you info on the soil conditions on the go.

Another huge step forward for precision ag has been the advancements in cloud computing for holding and processing farm data.

The article talked about Mark using APEX, John Deere’s desktop software. Back in 2015, this software was quite powerful to analyze data and make decisions, but the process was very manual and involved transferring files via data cards or USB sticks. Also the data was not very shareable or portable as it was on a computer in the back office.

Today this data all lives on cloud based platforms like John Deere Operations Center, Fieldview, or Tellus agronomy, and the data flows wirelessly through cellular connections between the equipment

and the cloud. Data is fed live to these platforms from the field and is available on your phone or tablet to view from the field in near real-time.

It is also much easier to connect data from multiple brands of equipment to the clouds, and data can be shared with agronomists, dealers, accountants or other trusted advisors with just a few taps of the screen.

Still, there is a lot that hasn’t changed in the last decade. I do have to say that traditional precision agriculture, usually meaning variable rate application (VRA) technology, has had slower adoption than we thought it would. Application equipment and planters have been capable of running VRA scripts for 20+ years, yet only a small percentage of farmers are making use of it. I believe this is due to a lack of sound agronomic information from which to make these decisions.

There are many ways we can make VRA maps with just a few taps but, in some cases, we are only making “pretty maps” and the agronomic or economic value of these maps has yet to be seen. High resolution soil maps like SoilOptix® are helping to fill in the information gaps, but it comes at a cost and not all growers are there yet. There are three main soil mapping services in Ontario these days (SWAT MAPS, Groundworks, and SoilOptix®), and the agronomic package and knowledge offered alongside these maps are slowly helping to build that farmer

Sprayer technology has come a long way in the last decade.

confidence and increase adoption.

So what is next? That is a very good question. I believe the sky is the limit! The last 10 years have changed more rapidly than we thought and the next 10 will be even faster yet, I think. The speed at which we get information and compute it is increasing.

AI technology is all the buzz now and I do believe it will be disruptive technology for farmers and agribusiness, changing the way we make decisions. Currently many

agronomic decisions are made by looking at the available information and making informed decisions based on current crop and weather conditions as well as a prediction of what we think the weather is going to do. So, it is a manual process, very “human.” It is not black and white and still includes a great deal of “gut feel”. I believe that as AI and sensor technology continue to gather information, these processes will become more automated. I don’t believe the traditional grower-

agronomist relationship is going away anytime soon (I hope not! I’m an agronomist), but I do believe that it will evolve as we may get a “brain box” to help us make these decisions.

Autonomy, drones and route planning software are also examples of disruptive technology that I think will increase in the future as well.

As we automate routine tasks, it creates opportunity for labour and time savings that is much needed in today's agriculture. Let’s see where the next 10 years will take us! ◊

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Arnold Mathers Arnold is a retired educator, principal, farmers and a local author.

The Queen’s Bush

Starting in 1820, land was granted to Black loyalists near Fergus.

Approximately 1500 freed black slaves from the USA came to the area between 1820 and 1840. They settled mostly in the south east part of the Queen’s Bush. They established the first church and school near Winterbourne and then throughout the district namely at Yatton, Glen Allan and Wallenstein.

One of the early Black settlers, John Little, who eventually became a prosperous farmer described his experience of arrival to the area in 1841. “Then we marched right into the wilderness, where there were thousands of acres of woods which the chain had never run around since Adam. At night we made a fire, and cut down a tree, and put up slats like a wigwam. This was February when the snow was two feet deep.”1 Farms were extremely isolated, even so, farmers helped each other; Mennonites families helped the English families who helped the Black families. This was especially true when it came to building cabins and rustic barns.

In 1836 this land was acquired by Francis Bond Head, the British governor of Upper Canada as part of the Manitowaning treaty with the Ojibway of Manitoulin Island and the Saugeen Peninsula. The British government set aside 66,000 acres of this vast tract of land for the sole benefit of the Anglican Church. It

was called the Clergy Reserve.

Beginning in 1840, the government of Upper Canada (later Ontario) began surveying the Queen’s Bush into concession roads and one-hundred-acre farms. In 1848, the land including the clergy reserves was put up for sale and the mostly squatters who lived on this land then had to pay for their farms. Many were unable to pay the dollar an acre and left the area.

Despite the conditions some of the farmers of the Queen’s Bush did very well and retained their land into the 20th century. They cleared vast acreages, constructed buildings, and built rudimentary roads. Some of the settlers chose not to farm and dammed streams to build saw mills and grist mills. Others delivered supplies to the settlers and built stores in the fledgling villages. A few blacksmiths had a thriving trade shoeing oxen and horses and making nails needed for cabin building. 2 It was my observation that the Irish Catholics, Irish protestants, English, Scottish and German settlers and Black settlers got along well together. It seemed that in the Queen’s Bush old grudges were forgotten.

In 1867, at the time of Confederation, Upper Canada became known as Ontario and the government changed the name of the former territories such as the Huron Tract and the Talbot settlement to counties. Queen’s Bush disappeared and became Bruce, Wellington, and parts of Perth and Huron.

I spent a lot of my childhood/youth on my uncle’s Queen’s Bush Valley farm and I decided to write a story about some of the families that came from Ireland to the Queen’s Bush. The book From Ireland to the Queen’s Bush is available from the North Huron Publishing Company in Blyth. It is a fictional story about 12 families that emigrated from Ireland to Canada. ◊

Not many people in Ontario know about a large tract of land that was called “The Queen’s Bush.” There is a pub in Hanover by that name.

There is a street in the town of Wellesley named Queen’s Bush Road and there is a farm organization that is called The Queen’s Bush Ministry. The farm where my mother grew up on the ninth concession of Turnberry Township was called Queen’s Bush Valley Farm and the truck that I had just found with the name “Queen’s Bush Valley Farm” painted on the door.

The Queen’s Bush was a vast unsurveyed tract of land from Lake Huron on the west to the Waterloo settlement on the east. It spread from Wingham on the south to Collingwood on the north. This area was originally the Anishinabeck nation: the people known as Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomie nations.

Beginning in the early 1800s settlers came from Scotland, Ireland, England, Germany and began taking up land in this area. The Scots were particularly attracted to the north west part of the area because the geography was somewhat similar to Scotland. This area was later named Bruce County.

The conditions in the Queen’s Bush were extremely harsh even for 18th century Canada. There was almost nothing in the way of either economic or social infrastructure to support the settlements. Clearing the land was a desperately difficult job.

The forests were dense and there was a thick underbrush. Bears and wolves roamed the area. The early settlers planted their crops between the stumps. Few farmers could afford a team of 1. The Refugee, or North Side View of oxen so had to till, sow and reap A cairn stands in the village of Glen Allan celebrating history Slavery by hand.

2. “Ontario Heritage Trust 2008” of the Queen’s Bush.

March 2025 35

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Feast your eyes on irrational pi(es)!

Some time ago, it was declared that January 23 be National Pie Day. “Irrational!” stated those with mathematical acuity! Pie (or pi) day should be March 14 as pi is valued at 3.14(159265…). Further they explained, “Pies are circular, and the area of a circle (π r 2) involves the use of pi in its calculation.” Whatever the reason, I declare, there is always room for pie in one’s life no matter what shape, so this month I will provide you with some recipes for pies, and, in the spirit of mathematics, ideas for creating your pie.

If you are half sold on the idea of pie, there are “split decision” pie plates. This plate comes with a divider in the centre of the pan and allows you to make two different semi-circle shaped pies in one pan.

So, meat pie on one side and a dessert pie on the other! Great as a meal for two or three. I made a split decision that I’ll have to order me one of those!

Pie can be so fun to make. I’m not going to get a chance to tell you about tinting the pastry in different colours … but take a look at Lauren Ko’s www.lokokitchen.com or find her content on Instagram @lokokitchen. She is the author of the cookbook Pieometry and has some mind blowing colourfullydesigned pies!

Square Deep-Dish Strawberry Pie If you have a stoneware pan, you will know how versatile and nonstick they can become over time.

They are useful in making a square shaped pie and will hold more filling than a circle, for the lover of all things sweet. You can place different shapes of pastry on the top, cut diagonally, and drizzle with

chocolate when cool for an extra effect. You’ll see there is a range for the corn starch measurement below; if you have more liquid from thawing the strawberries or want a firmer filling, use more corn starch. I thicken by trial and error and you can add more corn starch if needed. The pie must be completely cool before cutting.

Pre-made pastry, enough for 8inch or 9-inch double crust pie 4-6 cups frozen strawberries (sliced or whole), partially thawed enough to break apart 1 tbsp lemon juice ½ tsp almond flavouring (optional) 1 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup - ½ cup corn starch 1 tbsp butter ¼ - ½ cup semi sweet, dark, and/or white chocolate chips, for drizzling ½ cup sliced almonds, optional, also for decorating Roll out two layers of pastry. Line the first one in an 8-inch or 9-inch square pan. Place strawberries and lemon juice in a saucepan. In a small separate bowl, mix together sugar and corn starch and stir mixture into strawberries until well combined.

Cook over medium-low heat until strawberries are softened. Turn heat up slightly and bring to a boil stirring constantly (watch for scorching) for a few minutes to thicken. (This is when you add more corn starch blended with a little water to thicken more if it is needed—boil a minute or two more to cook the corn starch thoroughly). Add almond flavouring (if you like) and butter, stirring completely to mix in; set to cool slightly. Preheat the oven to 450F. Pour filling into a lined pastry pan.

Place pastry over top of filling or make a creative design with your pastry—lattice, heart, or other geometric shapes. Bake at 450°F for 15 minutes then turn the oven down to 350°F and bake 40-50 minutes more or less until evenly browned.

Use sliced almonds and chocolate drizzle to garnish.

Mini Lemony Peach Pie (in muffin tins) Pre-made lemon curd, added as you would add caramel in an apple pie, makes these mini pies a tangy but sweet treat. This is something I was inspired to try because Mum’s recipe for peach pie calls for lemon juice in it. I left the lemon juice out

(peaches have enough liquid especially if they are from frozen) but added lemon curd on top of the peach filling before covering. You could also do this with turnovers and puff pastry for a triangular shape.

Blueberries, raspberries, cranberries would make a great substitution for, or in addition to, the peaches.

For Lemon Curd: I use the recipe I included in the April 2022 Rural Voice which is from the Women’s Institutes’ The Erland Lee Museum Home Heritage Cookbook submitted

by Elaine Ferguson, Norfolk District.

For Peach Filling: Use the same recipe as above, substituting peaches for strawberries. Do not add the lemon juice but put the curd on top of the cooled peach filling in each pastry-lined muffin tin. Cover with any design of pastry for top cover.

Sprinkle the pastry top with coarse sugar before baking.

Bake at 400°F for 5 minutes then turn the oven down to 350°F for 10 minutes (or more if needed) until evenly baked golden brown and pastry is cooked through.

Raisin Slab Pie (Raisin Squares) My Grandma Breadner used to make this recipe for special family occasions. She did not call it a modern slab pie—she called them raisin squares. I have her raisin pie recipe and numerous pastry recipes she could possibly have used, but I was not sure how exactly she made it. Neither she, nor Mum had it in their manuscript cookbooks or recipe file. When Grandma and Mum were not sure how to proceed with a recipe, they consulted “Kate.” On a whim, I looked up the recipe for Raisin Bars in Kate Aitken’s

March 2025 37

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Canadian Cook Book. I could taste it just from looking at the page! I had to make it! I still remember how it tasted when Grandma made it… which, I hope you agree, was scrumptious!

2 cups sifted pastry flour 2 tbsp white sugar ½ tsp salt ½ cup shortening 2 eggs, separated ¼ cup sour cream 1 cup raisins, chopped ½ cup hot water ½ cup brown sugar 2 tbsp lemon rind, grated 2 tbsp lemon juice 2 tbsp corn starch ¼ cup dry crumbs 1 tbsp white sugar Sift together the pastry flour, 2 tbsp white sugar, and salt; cut in the shortening until mixture is crumbly; make a well in the centre. Beat the egg yolks slightly; add the sour cream. Add to the flour mixture; mix lightly. Turn on a floured board and knead to form a ball; cut in half and chill while the raisins are being prepared. Measure the raisins, hot water, sugar, lemon rind, juice, and corn starch into a saucepan. Cook and stir until smooth and thick; cool slightly. Roll out the bottom half of the pastry into a rectangle to fit on a cookie sheet; sprinkle with the dry crumbs; spread with the slightly cooled raisin filling. Roll the second half of the pastry; place on top of the raisin filling, rolling the edges together. (You can style your top layer of pastry any way you like— lattice, geometric design, etc.) Brush the top with the unbeaten egg whites and sprinkle with white sugar. Bake in a hot oven (450°F) for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat (350°F); continue baking until done (evenly browned) 10-12 minutes. Yield 24 squares. ◊

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Gardening Rhea Hamilton­ Seeger is a skilled cook and gardener who lives in Goderich.

Growing a food forest This month is a really hard month for gardeners. We had January and February to rest, dream and plan. By the time March rolls around we are more than ready to get outside and start poking around and get our projects underway. I know some of you are particularly busy with seedlings and still looking forward to warmer days.

Here is another plan to consider, a Food Forest. Just the name conjures up a tropical paradise with ripe fruit within reach, interesting veggies tucked into clearings and heady fragrances. Okay too much time spent in nosing around tropical garden sites! But this dream is not too far off. A food forest is a food production system that uses layers of compatible perennial plants combined with annuals in a multistory cropping design. If you live on an urban lot it could be landscaping that covers the whole lot.

Pre-1900 people would have had dooryard gardens, where food plants were never separated from the ornamental. Your wee yard was filled with plants you harvested or nibbled on. New landscape ideas took over and we changed from eating from our backyard to buying groceries from large supermarkets. We are now slowly moving back to buying again from local growers and markets, and planting more in our own yards, even in pots on the balcony.

So think about native plants that give us food and provide food and shelter for our native pollinators. The early concept of foraging from the wild has morphed into something far more adaptable for most of us and a 40 The Rural Voice

double win for the environment. We midst of this would be herbs like are not stressing our few remaining Monarda, Virginia mountain mint wild areas by over-foraging, and we and Canadian violets which have can increase native habitat. edible flowers. I am excited to see Like any new garden idea, you how my Virginia mountain mint have to have a good understanding of does. At first I was hesitant to plant, your site. Soil, shade and sunny but was encouraged by a spots, water, whether from knowledgeable grower that it would downspouts and run off from be fine and I would be very excited buildings or simply a natural wet with the results. area, all these factors affect your We have unwittingly embarked on choices. And don’t forget the wind. If this forest garden with the planting of you have a particular corner of your three red oaks in the back yard; not yard where the wind scours through, formidable yet, but 15 feet is nothing you may want to plant something that to sniff at. Along the drive in a sunny can withstand the buffeting, extra spot, we have nanny berry, choke dryness and cold while providing cherry, choke berry as well as birch, shelter to that part of the garden. tulip tree, witch hazel, red osier, When you walk through a forest you service berry and an assortment of can easily see the layers; the large native plants that include golden rod trees, shorter trees and shrubs, shadeand wild indigo. loving plants and sunnier ones along I found a couple of really the fringe. Using this idea you can informative websites, Homesteading plot out what will work in your yard Family, and Permaculture or garden. This is what you want to emulate, permanent agriculture on a natural scale, or permaculture.

Using larger fruit or nut bearing trees like native oak, paw paw and plum, with an understory layer of larger shrubs like service berry, elderberry, and hazelnut, scaling down to choke cherries, choke berries, nanny berry. I think popping in a few high bush blueberries and raspberries would not be amiss. Your bottom layer would be greens like wild ginger, wild leeks, false Solomon seal, and ostrich fern in the shadier spots.

I think I am going to seek out hog peanuts, a woodland ground vine which offers edible tubers. While these are all wonderful pollinator food sources, we could add blooming native A service berry tree, 15 feet tall with wonderful tasty fruit plants to draw more that most of the birds enjoy before we manage to grab a pollinators in. In the handful. The start of our food forest.

Apprentice. The Apprentice offers courses but I suspect you may be able to figure out most of what you need to know from the generous information the site offers. After reading all the great info my first thought was, “I need more land!”

I went down a rabbit hole looking to see what other communities are doing in the area of urban food forests. The Peterborough GreenUp initiative commissioned a report Urban Food Forest, Planting For Our Future. It was written by Taylor Mackey as part of his Sustainability Studies at Trent University in 2014!

It is still available online. The paper covers the planting of different species of native trees, in light of the plight of the ash trees, to 1) build resilience with higher biodiversity; 2) improve water quality, stop and eliminate invasive species; 3) improve the health of citizens with a place to feel more relaxed and experience less stress; and 4) develop food security programs that include community gardens and pubic orchards. It is a well-written report, with reference to other community food forests and the challenges each faced. I thought it interesting that in one neighborhood, residents objected to fruiting trees as they were fearful of the bees. Today, Peterborough has 40 community gardens and most of these are traditional fruit and annual vegetable plantings with some native plantings and a few fruit trees depending on the location.

In my town of Goderich there is a traditional community garden with a large number of volunteers that offers fresh produce to the community. I wonder how much more could happen with a food forest on site.

If you want to do a bit of exploring on edible native plants, Lorraine Johnson made a couple of wonderful presentations to the North American Native Plant Society. They were taped in Toronto and are still available with a quick search of “Growing Edible Native Plants” on their website. She is a wonderful wealth of knowledge and I am always diving into her books when I am seeking info on native plants and pollinators. ◊

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Markets familiar with. That risk is the potential tariff risks from the U.S. The U.S. has threatened broad and wide-scale tariffs against many countries around the world, including Canada. This tariff threat as we discussed is new to us here. It has been a long time now that Canada and the U.S. have had free trade.

Both nations have enjoyed success in the trading relationship and have seen economic growth as a result. It is because of this mutually beneficial free-trading relationship that our economies and businesses have become very intertwined. Essentially, to businesses that trade freely, the border was one that distinguished national territory, but did not disturb the free flow of goods. A Canadian business could sell to a U.S. consumer as freely as they did at home, and the U.S. producer could do the same.

Canada and the U.S. would often champion this fact, that mutual trade was considered a key pillar of our relationship and most were glad to

Scott Krakar is a Grain Merchandiser with LAC Inc., Hyde Park, 519­473­9333

Risks of tariffs In business there are many risks, and in agricultural businesses, risks abound.

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see trade volumes grow. But this positive narrative is now seemingly under attack by the U.S. administration. The U.S. appears to be moving to the opinion that products not made at home result in lost jobs and less prosperity to the American people.

Their potential solution is to bring tariffs.Tariffs would hamper the free trading of goods, adding costs to the shipper of goods as it flowed across the border. No longer would businesses and consumers, buyers and sellers, be able to decide independently what products they would buy, but the government would have more control in pricing.

Tariffs prevent market forces from making trade decisions, yielding to government-affected movement through financial controls.

From this, we recognize that the word tariff is one that just doesn’t go away easily. The reason for this is, of course, that the U.S. President Trump is very active in announcing tariffs and potential tariffs to many countries around the world. President Trump is on record multiple times saying that, “Tariff, is the most beautiful word in the dictionary.”

And while this may be his favourite word, it leads many business leaders to their least favorite word, which is uncertainty.

To date, we have seen Canada and Mexico threatened with tariffs proposed to be effective at 25 per cent on all products February 1, 2025, to be postponed until March of this year. As of this writing, it is uncertain as to whether these tariffs will indeed be introduced.

Consequently business and consumers are left with trade uncertainty. The results of the tariffs are massive for some industries and consumers alike. Canada, a trading nation, needs exports of the vast materials that we produce for economic success, and most especially the U.S., who is our biggest buyer.

But the U.S. consumer and business rely on products from Canada too. Canada is a major shipper of goods that the U.S. needs.

Consider the importance of our

exports to the U.S., in that Canada ships approximately 50 per cent of the oil that the U.S. imports, along with, 40 per cent of the wood, 20 per cent of the minerals, 20 per cent of animals and animal products and just under 20 per cent of metals.

It is not only in direct Canada – U.S. trade that we, as a nation, and even more specifically as agricultural producers, may be affected; we will also be impacted by escalating trade wars beyond our borders. We must remember that the Canadian agricultural marketplace is essentially a regional market in the greater U.S. marketplace. This is because of our proximity to this large producer/consumer and our traditional free trading relationship.

From this geographic and trading reality, our prices are currently discovered through the U.S. futures market, traded at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. If the U.S. trade war expanded with China and resulted in less U.S. agricultural products exported, valuations in the U.S. futures market would be under pressure, as the market would look for greater demand through lower prices.

China has been very effective in lessening its reliance on the U.S., primarily through the growing production from South America.

And while the U.S. is still a heavyweight in agricultural production, its importance to the world marketplace has significantly diminished over the last few decades.

It is reported that around 1980 over 60 per cent of the world grain and agricultural trade came from the U.S. Today, it is in a less dominant position with only about 12 per cent.

World food demands have grown, and agricultural areas around the globe have met this need.

To say that agricultural production has many risks seems to be an understatement. Agriculture is full of hazards well beyond the control of the grower. Just as weather can be a risk here at home in our own fields but also on the other side of the world, impacting markets, so are tariffs and ensuing trade wars around the world going to impact us here. To what extent, we have yet to see. ◊

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March 2025 43

Woodlots Donna Lacey is a forester with the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority

Snowfall levels impact wildlife and tree survival I went to Sir Sandford Fleming College in Lindsay in the early 1990’s. While it really doesn’t seem like it was that long ago, some of the changes in technology make it hard to believe it wasn’t 100 years ago.

At that time, Geographic Information System (GIS) programming was limited to a small group of students, many of whom were sent by their employers to gain further education. For those that are not aware, GIS is most simply described as computerized mapping.

I didn’t do GIS, however, I made maps by hand! When my cartography class was given the assignment of drawing contour lines, the map we were to draw was a map of snowfall accumulation that extended from the east side of Georgian Bay to Lake Huron and south to the Huron County area. I felt pretty awesome, this was my home area, a place no one at college seemed to know existed. It was the first time that I had heard that I lived in an area that got a significantly greater amount of snow than the surrounding countryside I might add that we were learning map making by using fountain pens, stencils, and French curves on velum.

As a left-handed person that has great difficulty printing legibly, working with fountain pens was a bit of a nightmare. No smudges were permitted, and any mistakes required the entire map to be recreated. I was very grateful that my professor understood that I needed to pass and had no intention of pursuing a career as a cartographer, and as a result, he let me pass. From the time I left college to the present day, I have

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never used a fountain pen again.

Many thanks to the creators of the ball point pen and markers.

And I’m happy to report that all the maps I make are now on the computer, taking away my sloppiness issues. With the swing to GIS and on-line mapping, I have noticed that many basic mapping rules have been forgotten. Often, I see printed maps without a north arrow or compass rose, legend, and scale. Now, I am aware that one can assume that in the absence of a north arrow, north is to the top of the page, but why not just take the extra step and include the arrow. Hand drawing a compass rose or proper north arrow was quite difficult and time consuming, remember one error or smudge required starting the entire map over.

I digress. Let’s go back to the snow belt. This amazing winter we have been seeing snow accumulation that rivals that of my childhood.

But, as a person that thinks about trees often, this significant snowfall raises many concerns. All of the creatures that like to feed on trees have a great advantage this year.

Moles, voles, and mice that travel under the safety of snow cover will be feeding on the lower portions of trees and shrubs. Predators will have a tougher time catching these little critters due to the depth of snow.

This could mean a lot more damage to our growing stock than in other years. These little critters may even be feeding above any rodent guards that have been thoughtfully put on trees.

And how about those adorable bunnies? These destructive (but fuzzy) little creatures will girdle a tree in very little time. Truthfully, I love to see these cute bunnies. They look really nice and are fun to watch hopping, to watch chewing even, if I’m honest. But, I have lost many trees due to rabbits. It seems that they thoughtlessly move from one tree to another without finishing the removal of the bark on the first one before moving on. It appears that many trees could be saved if they would just finish one off completely, bellies full, and find another location tomorrow, sparing other trees in this location.

With most vegetation completely covered in a heavy blanket of snow, our white-tailed deer population are

feeding on tree branches and young tree regeneration. This feeding happens every year regardless of snow depth. However, deeper snow elevates the deer, allowing them to reach even higher branches. Deer will stand on their hind legs, with front legs on the tree trunk and their heads in the lower crown feeding. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I probably wouldn’t believe it. When completing a forest inventory deep in the Greenock Swamp, a colleague and I got close enough to see two deer feeding on cedar, stretching as far up into the tree as they could.

This snow may make it difficult for many species, as food will be scarce and travelling will be tough with a snow depth that has buried many habitat opportunities. With this being said, I am still not looking to sacrifice any of my trees for their survival. I expect that there will be an unusually high amount of damage to regeneration, and maybe the loss of some nursery trees as my guards will not have been high enough to protect stock.

Still, isn’t it great to have a ‘normal’ amount of snow? ◊

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Agrilaw John D. Goudy is a partner in Scott Petrie LLP Law Firm, and also farms north of London.

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of a 25 per cent tariff on most imports from Canada including grain and other food products (still just a threat as of the time of writing) has caused a fair bit of consternation in Ontario’s agriculture and agri-food sector. Maybe “consternation” is an understatement. According to Global Agricultural Trade System data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2024, Canada exported $26.2 billion of agricultural products to the U.S. and imported $37.7 billion from the U.S. This trade of more than $60 billion was conducted under the “free” trade USMCA. Throwing significant tariffs into the mix virtually out of the blue (notwithstanding President Trump’s months of campaigning on tariffs) will disrupt and possibly destabilize the enormous agricultural trade economy.

For Ontario farmers, though, this would not be the first time that tariffs have played havoc with their industry. If you go back to early 19th Century Upper Canada, grain producers faced a bit of a roller coaster of trade laws and policies. In 1815, the British Parliament passed the Importation Act, 1815 – “An Act to amend the Laws now in force for regulating the Importation of Corn” (“corn” being the term for cereal grain generally) – which set restrictions on grain imports into Britain to protect British agriculture from outside competition. For a number of years, import tariffs had

been applied when grain prices in Britain fell below a certain level. With the 1815 legislation, though, imported grain could not be used for domestic consumption at all where the price for homegrown grain had fallen below the set minimum price.

However, between 1815 and 1820, grain grown in British North America (including Upper Canada) was given a privileged position and treated the same as domestically grown grain within the British market. In 1820, this privilege was removed and for the next several years, Canadian wheat remained subject to British import tariffs and restrictions. In the late1820s, privileged status for grain imported from British North America was restored. Preferential lower duties were applied to imports from British colonies, promoting an “imperial grain supply”. Exports of wheat from Upper Canada to Britain rose steadily in the succeeding years, with reduced tariffs helping to offset the cost of transporting grain across the Atlantic.

In 1843, the British Parliament even passed a special “Canada Corn Act” – “An Act for reducing the Duty on Wheat and Wheat Flour, the Produce of the Province of Canada, imported thence into the United Kingdom” – designed to provide specific relief to grain farmers in Upper Canada by lowering the duty on imported Canadian wheat and wheat flour to a nominal amount. Speaking in favour of the “Canada Wheat Bill” in debate in the House of Lords on July 4, 1843, the Earl of Dalhousie made reference to the challenges faced by Canada, situated next door to an already powerful United States. The report of Dalhousie’s speech includes the following: … the colonial Legislature of Canada … had passed an act, imposing a duty of 3s. on American wheat, in a confident expectation, that having secured the interests of the home [British] growers, their Lordships would relieve them (the Canadians) from the disadvantages under which they had so long laboured. [Lord Dalhousie] trusted their Lordships would not disappoint the expectations formed by the Colonial Legislature. In Canada a vast field presented itself for an extensive emigration, calculated to relieve this country of much of the

pressure of population, that was weighing upon it, and a great navigable river and chain of lakes were opened there to receive for that province, and the mighty power which was growing up at its side, almost any amount of commerce which this country could pour into them. The circumstances of the province, at the present moment, were such as justified the carrying out of the proposed plan. … [Dalhousie] did not mean to say, that the measure now submitted to their Lordships was of such importance as to produce a very great effect; but it would show on the part of this country a desire, at least, to foster the interest of that colony: and a general impression that such a desire existed would be certain to lead to the best effects in a country which at no very remote time was likely to become a wide market to the commerce, and a vast bulwark to the strength of England. At the same time, while the measure was calculated to give great satisfaction to the colony, it would not diminish one tittle [sic] of that protection which British agriculture now possessed, and ought to possess.

The Canada Corn Act was passed, but only three years later it was repealed as part of a general move in Britain toward free trade. Upper Canada again lost its privileged position vis-à-vis Britain and its growing grain trade suffered for the next few years before recovering during a period of relative prosperity in the 1850s. One consolation for Canada from the removal of the privileged status for its grain: the lifting of British imperial controls on the Canadian economy brought with it a reduction in political control and the establishment of “responsible government” in the colonies of British North America.

What consolation might be taken from President Trump’s threatened tariffs? ◊ John D. Goudy’s law practice includes real property and environmental litigation, expropriation law, energy regulation, and regulatory offences.

Agrilaw provides information of interest to the farming community, not legal advice. Readers should consult a legal professional about their particular circumstance.

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Another succesful year at Stratford’s Winterfest

By Gary West

What would Winterfest be without an ice sculpture, from artist Danielle O’Rourke and HUR Ice & Wood Design from Centralia. She grew up in nearby Seaforth.

Stratford‘s “Winterfest” organizers had reason to celebrate on January 25 as conditions were ideal with cold, snowy weather, and lots of great hot food and winter fun happening in the city’s Upper Queens Park.

Perennial organizers like Cary’s Wyn Hughes and Jamie Cottle, along with many other volunteers said this year’s festivities were bigger and better than ever. From ice sculpting to an animal petting area, kids and parents of all ages said the day was one they won’t soon forget, with a day full of winter activities and great entertainment. ◊

48 The Rural Voice

Sophia Suliatytslka, who recently moved to Stratford from the Ukraine, was adoring her cuddly little rabbit, owned by Charmaine from Little Tracks Petting Zoo, Woodstock.

Above: the “Great Canadian Lumberjacks” entertained the crowd throughout the day. Below left: Alpacas and goats from Fritz and Faye Glauser of R.R.# 5 Mitchell, Below right: Blacksmithing demo from John Walker, Fallen Willow Forge in Mount Forest.

People

OFA VP Sara Wood overcomes obstacles

By Gary West Most farmers in Ontario of every province-wide “Ontario Queen of the “Everyone had said it had to be a stripe, have to consider themselves Furrow” for 2012-2013, and false positive because I was so very lucky to have an organization represented the Ontario Plowmen’s young”, says Wood, who was 33 at that represents them and their farming Association. the time. Her son Logan was 4 years neighbours, while they themselves With her interest in farming and old when she was first diagnosed. get to look after their Sara will admit farming operations and that a cancer make a living on the diagnosis can be a home front, no matter devastating setback where that might be in for young busy Ontario. farmers, but with The Ontario personal grit and Federation of support from family, Agriculture is one such friends, and organization made up empathetic members of 51 County and of the agricultural Regional Federations, community, they 18 board directors and cannot only survive 38,000 farm family but thrive. members and growing, Sara has done just from across Ontario. that. Through it all, One of those she kept up with her dynamic directors is running schedule, Sara Wood from the and her fellow Mitchell area of Perth members of the County. She is a fourth PCFA supported her Sara Wood with her husband Chris and son Logan enjoy some time generation farmer, who with meals through the together in the tractor. works alongside her worst of it. She never husband, Chris, taking tried to hide her cancer diagnosis. over from her parents Don and Deb agriculture, Sara joined the Perth When treatment caused her hair loss, Little.

County Federation of Agriculture as a it would be rare to see her wearing a She keeps busy farming with her director in 2013 and then became a hat or a wig or a scarf to hide. family, raising broiler chickens along Director-at-Large for the Ontario She always had a smile on her face with cropping corn, wheat, soybeans, Federation of Agriculture board in and was so positive about everything and cover crops in a well-organized 2021. that she was involved in, especially rotation.

Two years later she was voted by farming.

After graduating St. Michael’s her peers to be an executive member When not busy on the farm, Sara high school in Stratford, she attended and took on the role of Vice-President now travels the province and sees the University of Guelph for her four of the Ontario Federation of farm operators that are struggling, but year degree, while also being a Agriculture Board in November she always encourages them that the varsity competitor in swimming.

2023. wins can always outnumber the She swam competitively for years, During that time, her life had taken losses. and in her youth, she also took part in a dramatic turn. For a young farmer “I know that Ontario farmers are many 4-H projects and was also who always strived to do her best for part of a strong, vibrant agriculture involved in later years. She graduated her family and farming neighbours, it future” says Sara. Farmers will help from the Advanced Agriculture was quite a blow. feed the people of Ontario, and build Leadership Program (AALP) in class She had her first cancer diagnosis the trust that their food is safe and number 15. in September 2022. secure, she adds.

Sara had a very busy teenage life It was a nurse, during a routine Sara is now healthy and remains as being named the Mitchell Fall Fair exam, who first found a suspicious optimistic.

She is looking forward to Ambassador in 2006-07, and was lump in her breast. She then had a the year ahead on the OFA Executive crowned “Queen of the Furrow” for series of mammograms, blood tests, and continuing to lobby for Ontario Perth County for 2011 and 2012. and several biopsies before agriculture. ◊ The following year she became the confirmation could be given.

March 2025 49

OFT Farmland Forum March 20, Elora ON Guelph, ON – The Ontario Farmland Trust (OFT) is set to host its annual Farmland Forum on March 20, 2025, bringing together experts and advocates to explore the vital connection between watershed protection and the future of Ontario’s farmlands. Taking place in Elora, Ontario, at The GrandWay Events Centre, this full-day hybrid event will offer both in-person and online participation.

This year’s theme, Watershed Wisdom: Water Protection’s Role in Farmland Conservation, marks OFT’s 21st anniversary by returning to the collaborative discussions that laid the foundation for the organization’s work. With farmland loss accelerating, climate change intensifying, and unpredictable weather events becoming more frequent, this forum is a timely call to action. The event will bring together farmers, conservationists, planners, and policymakers to tackle the pressing challenge of protecting Ontario’s watersheds, which is a critical step in ensuring agricultural prosperity for generations to come.

The Farmland Forum will feature keynotes and panel discussions led by leaders in agriculture, conservation, and land use planning.

A special plenary session will be delivered by Eli Enns, co-founder and CEO of the IISAAK OLAM Foundation, offering insights on Indigenous-led conservation.

Attendees, both in-person and virtual, will have opportunities to participate in interactive roundtable discussions and breakout sessions, making this a unique space for collaboration and action.

For over two decades, the Ontario Farmland Trust has been dedicated to protecting farmlands and associated agricultural, natural, and cultural features through land securement, stewardship, policy research, and education.

Tickets and event details are at: ontariofarmlandtrust.ca/forum ◊

50 The Rural Voice

Press Releases

Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing Launches the National Farmer Crisis Line Regina, Saskatchewan February 4, 2025 — The Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing (CCAW) is proud to announce the launch of the National Farmer Wellness Network (NFWN) Crisis Line, 1-866FARMS01 (1-866-327-6701), a transformative initiative designed to address the unique mental health challenges faced by Canada’s farmers, farm families, and agricultural workers. This program, made possible through an investment of $1.5 million over three years from Farm Credit Canada (FCC), provides tailored mental health support delivered by licensed professionals trained in the Canadian Agricultural Literacy Program (CALP).

Farming is one of the most demanding and high-stress occupations. The financial pressures, isolation, and emotional demands of caring for livestock and crops can take a toll on mental health. The National Farmer Wellness Network Crisis Line bridges the gap by offering accessible, culturally informed, and confidential crisis services, ensuring farmers receive care tailored to their needs in moments of crisis.

Says Dr. Briana Hagen, Chief Executive Officer and Lead Scientist, Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing, “The National Farmer Wellness Network ensures farmers have access to vital, farm-tailored mental health support. With FCC’s backing, it tackles industry-specific stressors and strengthens resilience in Canada’s agricultural communities.

“Farm life comes with so many joys and celebrations. And yet, the challenges of farm life are often faced alone and without the needed supports. This partnership with CCAW is our commitment to Canadian farm families; to help provide access to critical mental health resources that reflect the realities of their daily lives. FCC is proud to stand alongside CCAW in making sure those who take care of Canadians, by feeding and sustaining

our country, can receive support when they need it most.” Justine Hendricks, President and Chief Executive Officer, FCC Farmers can access immediate, nocost mental health and crisis support specific to the agricultural community by calling the National Farmer Crisis Line at 1-866FARMS01. This helpline ensures secure, confidential assistance for farmers and those in the agricultural industry.

The National Farmer Wellness Network (NFWN) connects farmers, farm families, and agricultural workers with licensed mental health professionals who understand the realities of farming. All mental health professionals are trained in the Canadian Agricultural Literacy Program (CALP) to provide specialized support tailored to the agricultural sector. The program addresses barriers to mental health support such as geographic isolation, stigma, and lack of tailored resources.

The network collaborates with

provincial organizations to provide a resource list, ensuring access to highly skilled and culturally literate professionals for ongoing mental health support across every province.

The Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing (CCAW) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to making the mental health and wellbeing of Canadian farmers and agricultural communities a priority. CCAW leads the charge in providing culturally informed, evidence-based mental health programs, farm mental health research, advocacy, and education tailored to the unique challenges of agriculture. CCAW’s vision extends beyond fields and barns, calling on corporations, policymakers, researchers, educators, and mental health professionals to make mental wellbeing a shared priority.

Together, the CCAW and FCC are united in their commitment to ensuring Canada’s farmers and their families have access to the support they need to thrive on the farm.◊

North Perth signs on to 911/ Emily Project North Perth has endorsed a motion to sign on to the Farm 911/ Emily Project. It is a program that raises awareness about the importance of civic address signs on vacant field entrances.

In 2014, a young girl named Emily Trudeau needed emergency care in a field and her father wasn’t able to give dispatchers the 911 number of the field because it wasn’t marked. Sadly, Emily passed away, but her family and the agricultural community in Northumberland has rallied in hopes this tragedy can be avoided in the future.

Sometimes it takes a tragedy for us to realize a gap in our system, says former Belleville Fire Chief, Mark MacDonald. Since dispatch is GIS based, they need an address, and that can be a challenge for hunting camps

or farm fields. Having a 911 number on vacant properties can save crucial minutes for emergency responders.

Farmers are able to order secondary field entrance signs, but joining the project helps to bring more attention to the importance of doing it, says Tina Beirnes, who is the Chair of the North Perth Agricultural & Agri-Business Advisory Committee. For more information about the project and the municipalities that have signed on, go to www.farm911.ca/order-your-sign. ◊

March 2025 51

In the Shadows

Rural struggles we can’t ignore

By Mel Luymes

they move around the country.

In many ways, most of us lead happy, relatively According to reported cases, 96 per cent of victims are sheltered lives here in rural Ontario. But it's not the case female, 45 per cent of which are between 18 and 24 years for all of us. This occasional Rural Voice series will shed old, 30 percent older than that and 25 per cent younger than light on various issues in and around our communities, in that. As well, 91 per cent of victims said they knew their hopes that we can better support our community members trafficker beforehand. It is rare for people in North who may be struggling.

America to just be kidnapped off the street, although that is Are you sitting down? There is no easy way to start this not the case in other places around the world. column. The United Nations estimates that there are 50 Horton explains how victims can be slowly lured over million people around the world today that are trapped in time and, in rural areas, especially through online forums. slavery. This means that there are more people enslaved They develop a relationship with the trafficker who will today than any other time in history, even when slavery give them attention and gifts. The line becomes blurred for was legal. victims as they may be involved in a crime that would It is a staggering statistic. According to Global Estimates prevent them from seeking help from the police, they feel of Modern Slavery (2022), roughly a quarter of victims are they have found security with a new friend group, or they children, 22 million are in forced marriages and of the 27.6 believe they are indebted to million trapped in forced their trafficker, working labour, 17.3 million are in the whatever type of work is private economy (including required to pay their way. manufacturing, mining, and yes, In fact, most victims of sex in farming.), 6.3 million are in trafficking do not actually the sex trade and almost four know they are being million are in state-imposed trafficked; they feel that labour camps. they chose the lifestyle.

If you think this has nothing Those who are at the to do with us here, let’s highest risk in our consider where our clothing and communities are young our electronic devices come girls that have grown up in from or who we might be hiring homes with violence, for temporary farm work. We neglect and abuse, poverty, can’t be so sure that it doesn’t substance use, mental impact us here. health issues, instability due A term you may have heard to parental separation or is “human trafficking,” which incarcerated household refers to the coercion of people Pictured here, are (left) PC Jillian Johnson, Community members. into forced prostitution, labour, Mobilization and Mental Health Liaison Officer, and Perth Horton believes that crime or organ removal. education is the best thing a Well over 100 people County OPP Inspector Wendy Burrow (right) at the Human community can do to attended an information event Trafficking information event in Mitchell. combat sex trafficking. There is educating young people hosted by the Perth County Ontario Provincial Police about healthy vs. unhealthy relationships and reducing their (OPP) and the Avon Maitland District School Board about exposure online. As well, there is educating the community human trafficking for the sex trade in the Municipality of and caregivers about the signs that could indicate a person West Perth at the Mitchell District High School last was being, or in danger of being, trafficked: suddenly October. Attendees heard from a person with lived having money or high-priced gifts, having multiple experience being trafficked as a sex worker, and the cellphones or a tracking app on a cellphone, injuries from gymnasium was lined with information and staff of local abuse, and a potential “crown” tattoo or other branding support services. The same event was held in Listowel last could be clues. Seeing people who let others speak for March as well. them, or don’t have access to their own IDs could also “It is happening here,” said Detective Sergeant (DS) indicate someone is trapped.

Ashley Horton, with the OPP Anti-Human Trafficking It is heart-breaking to know that some people are stuck Unit, in response to an audience member’s question. in a nightmare, potentially right under our noses. If you “There are victims here who are being trafficked.” Not so even suspect that someone may be in danger, please call 1much that Perth County is a destination, she explained, but 833-900-1010 for the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline that traffickers are finding victims here and bringing them or online at canadianhumantraffickinghotline.ca.◊ to larger cities, or sometimes coming through rural areas as

52 The Rural Voice

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Financing and Extended Warranty Available On All Units Plus 13% Tax ~ UCDA - Buy With Confidence March 2025 55

-------------------------------------------COMING EVENTS -------------------------------------------PARTNER APPRECIATION EVENING and Conservationist of the Year Award on Thursday, March 20, 2025, Ironwood Golf Club, 2 km east of Exeter.

Fellowship, light supper. RSVP a week in advance at abca.ca or phone 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610.

-------------------------------------------CONSTRUCTION -------------------------------------------Liquid manure tanks, bunker silos, foundations and pads. All are 100% engineered. Serving Ontario since 1968. De Jong & Sons Ltd. 519-348-0523.

-------------------------------------------CUSTOM WORK -------------------------------------------Custom stone picking. Let us harvest rocks so you can harvest crops. Serving Grey, Bruce, Dufferin and Wellington counties.

Call Brendan Martin 519-503-1101. brendan.martin870@gmail.com -------------------------------------------DAIRY -------------------------------------------Screened bedding sand, delivered.

Call 519-625-8242 or 519-2741490.

-------------------------------------------FARM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE -------------------------------------------Assorted Small Equipment Eastern Ontario Farm Location.

Ditcher - Wings 7' Jawn Brand 3PH; Dumpbox - Heavy Steel By MK Martin 46" x 48" x 18" 3PH; Chain Harrows - 9' Drawbar x 4' By Mar-Bridge; 2 Augers - 24" and 30" For Bush Hog PHD 3PH; All equipment purchased new about 10 years ago - never used. Phone 416-879-2686.

-------------------------------------------FIELD CROP SEED -------------------------------------------Alfalfa hay mixtures, pasture mixtures, top dressing for pastures, and a selection of organic grass seeds. All mixed to your personal needs. Also red clover for plowdown. Contact Courtney Grain & Seed (2015) Ltd., 225 Hwy 21, Ripley. Phone 519-395-2972. Ask for Carmon, Mitch or Helen.

--------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------FIELD CROP SEED -------------------------------------------Soybean seed for sale - Altitude R2, Ridley XF, Savage R2X and Orr R2X Roundup Ready varieties.

Treatments and inoculants available. Call Mitch at Courtney Grain & Seed (2015) Ltd. 519-4406712.

-------------------------------------------For prices on forage peas, forage pea mixtures, barley, oats, spring wheat and mixed grain seed.

Contact Courtney Grain & Seed (2015) Ltd., 225 Hwy 21, Ripley.

Phone 519-395-2972. Ask for Carmon, Mitch or Helen.

-------------------------------------------FOR SALE -------------------------------------------• Tree Seedlings • Nursery Stock • Shade Trees • Native Species Order for Spring 2025 Now

905-797-2801

www.hrichardsonfarms.com

-------------------------------------------Rosco grain bins for sale - 19' and 14' diameter. Parts available. Used grain bins wanted for parts or reuse. Closed Sundays, 519-3383920.

-------------------------------------------GARDEN SEEDS -------------------------------------------• Heirloom flowers • Vegetables • Herbs • Wildflowers • non-GMO, untreated seed Ph: 705-295-6440 www.florabundaseeds.com

------------------------------------------HELP WANTED -------------------------------------------Experienced A/Z licence driver, loader/ Excavator Operator - Fulltime position for A/Z driver, experience running heavy equipment an asset; position will include duties around yard/on job sites as needed. Competitive wages, benefit package.

Please email resume to rick@sittlergrinding.com. Office: 519-669-2456 cell 519-588-8400.

--------------------------------------------

Sell it quick in the classifieds!

56 The Rural Voice

-------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK BEDDING -------------------------------------------MIRACLE FIBRE Livestock Bedding.

Also, coarse wood mulch for horse and cattle walkways, wet areas around water troughs and bush lanes. Also available is dairy pack starter bedding. 519-669-2456.

Sittler Grinding Inc. Rick Sittler.

-------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK FOR SALE -------------------------------------------Limousin BULLS and Open and Bred FEMALES

27th Annual Open House & Private Treaty Sale ~ Sat., April 5, 2025 At the farm 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Please call to arrange a private viewing

Smart Limousin

137606 Grey Rd. 12 Meaford 519-372-7459 www.smartlimousin.com or Follow us on Facebook

-------------------------------------------LIMOUSIN breeding bulls, quiet, thick, semen tested, guaranteed breeders, delivery included. Select now for spring delivery.

OPEN HOUSE Saturday, March 29, 2025.

Quality breeding heifers available. Posthaven Limousin, John Post, 519-7667178; John Jr. 519-831-1869. www.posthavenlimousin.com -------------------------------------------McKague Purebred Charolais bulls.

Yearling, polled, semen-tested and quiet. Also, open heifers available.

Contact us for details, 519-357-3808.

-------------------------------------------Red Angus, Simmental and Red Angus Simmental bulls. Bred for calving ease, growth, temperament and muscle. Google Ontario bull evaluation to see how are bulls are doing at Silver Springs Farms this year. Come visit to select your bull or heifers early. James, Joan and Robert McKinlay 519-599-6236, 226-668-0775.

--------------------------------------------

Tile Installed, GPS Surveying, Excavator, Backhoe, Dozer Work, Weeping Beds Installed

FAMILY BUSINESS SINCE 1949 Mark Cook Main 519-393-5656 Cell 519-276-7402 4283 Line 42, Sebringville, ON N0K 1X0

-------------------------------------------PERSONALS --------------------------------------------

Find Your

“Perfect Match”

April issue

Deadline is March 10th Seeking single farmers, rural dwellers, and more from The Rural Voice readership area.

Submit your “personals” listing under our “Perfect Match” word classified heading FREE to run in our April issue.

Contact us to learn more or to include your ad!

The Rural Voice 405 Queen St PO Box 429 Blyth ON N0M 1H0 Phone: 519-523-4311 Email: info@northhuron.on.ca

-------------------------------------------SERVICES -------------------------------------------Cronin Poured Concrete Ltd. Since 1976. Liquid manure tanks to 200'.

Heights of 8'- 14' (1-pour).

All jobs engineer specifications/ inspections guaranteed.

Best firm quote in Ontario.

Mark Cronin. 519-274-5000. www.croninpouredconcrete.ca -------------------------------------------Tax Quest Certified Tax Preparation. Twenty plus years experience. Personal, farm, investment and business returns.

Flora Becker 177975 Grey Rd. 18 Owen Sound, ON N4K 5N5 519447-0922 -------------------------------------------Income tax filing for farms, small business, truckers and individuals.

Will make house calls in the North Huron, Perth and surrounding area.

Call Shirley in Wingham. Cell: 1705-434-8187

Find your Perfect Match today!

------------------------------------------RESTORATION -------------------------------------------The Olde Tyme Radio Centre antique radios, clocks, gramophones, telephones; sold/restored (vintage autoclock radio repairs). Golden Oldies Antiques For Sale. Belgrave 519357-4304, www.oldtymeradio.ca, oldetymeradiocentre@gmail.com -------------------------------------------RETAIL & GIFTS -------------------------------------------Little Falls Artisan Market - Over 100 Artisans to choose from! Large, varied selection of interesting gift ideas. Headquarters of popular 18 inch doll clothes. 83 Queen St. East, St Mary's; www.littlefallscraftersmarket.com -------------------------------------------Maple and Moose is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11am 4pm for January through March for your unique shopping experience.

398 Queen St Blyth (519) 5234276.

--------------------------------------------

RESISTS CRACKING & PEELING Water based, solvent free, Liquid Rubber Seal Roof creates an adhered, flexible membrane.

SURFACES

• Metal (inc. galvanized & aluminum) • Wood • Concrete • Manure Pits • UV Resistant

-------------------------------------------SERVICES -------------------------------------------Specializing in on Farm Pest Management Serving Southwestern ON, Golden Horseshoe, GTA Email: info@sgsltd.ca

519-692-4232 www.sgspestmanagement.ca

DONALD A ANDREW ACCOUNTING Accounting & Income Tax Services for FARMS, BUSINESSES & INDIVIDUALS 296 Ross St., Lucknow

Ph. 519-528-3019

-------------------------------------------WANTED -------------------------------------------Farmland - Long or short term. Cash rent, share crop. Contact Paul at Hill & Hill Farms, 519-233-3218 or 519-525-3137 or email: paul.hill@tcc.on.ca -------------------------------------------Young farmer looking for land rent, sharecrop, or custom work opportunities. Good environmental stewardship and professionalism.

Short and long term. 519-200-7845 or hundt.chris@outlook.com.

-------------------------------------------Scrap Cars Wanted. 20, 30, 40 yd. scrap metal bins available. We sell quality used auto parts. Wanted to buy - scrap cars, trucks, farm machinery, heavy equipment.

Kenilworth Auto Recyclers. 519323-1113.

-------------------------------------------Looking to rent organic farmland or land to transition to organic cropping in Huron and Bruce Counties. Contact Trevor at Triple T Farms, 519-357-8350.

-------------------------------------------Dion Threshing machine 22x32 or 22x38 with straw cutter.

Any condition. Phone evenings.

905-983-9331 --------------------------------------------

March 2025 57

National Farmers Union – Ontario NEWSLETTER ● Strong Communities ● Sound Policies ● Sustainable Farms

Phone: 1-888-832-9638 E-mail: office@nfuontario.ca Website: www.nfuontario.ca

Farmers’ Voices Matter: The NFU-O Wants to Hear from You! Join the National Farmers Union - Ontario (NFU-O) for its online Farmers’ Voices Matter March 2025 Series where we’ll be talking about agricultural policy barriers and solutions.

N F U-O policy is farmer-driven. While Local, Provincial, and National AGMs and Conventions are where resolutions are passed and policy debated, we also like to foster opportunities for members and non-members to share with each other the barriers and solutions to achieving economic dignity, advancing sustainable practices, and/or serving local communities.

In February, the NFU-O held a Farmers’ Voices Matter session where farmers shared their thoughts on Trump’s threatened tariffs and potential Canadian retaliatory measures. As the trade dispute continues, this discussion is helping the NFU develop collective actions to stand up for domestic and export market-oriented farmers.

The NFU-O will be hosting three more Farmers’ Voices Matter online meet-ups in March to share and gather policy challenges and solutions affecting Ontario farmers, including: Small-Scale Meat Production in Ontario: Policy Barriers & Solutions, Wednesday, March 12th, 2025, 7-9pm.

Come listen to Dorothy and Chad Coghlin of Integrated Farms share their story of being the first farmers to enter the Chicken Farmers of Ontario’s (CFO) Local Niche Market Program to expand their fully-pasture raised chicken operation. Stay and participate in an open-ended discussion on what policy supports would help you become a successful small-scale meat producer. Tell us about your experience in the CFO’s Artisanal Chicken Program, or what policy supports you need to be successful as a smallscale pork, beef, goat, or lamb producer.

Insuring Success: Let’s Talk Business Risk Management Programs, Wednesday, March 19th, 2025, 7-9pm.

Join NFU-O leaders and staff to share whether the federalprovincial Business Risk Management programs are working for you. Whether you are a vegetable, fruit, grain, or livestock producer we want to know whether you feel protected by the BRM suite of tools (AgriStability, AgrInsurance, AgriInvest, AgriRecovery, and/or Ontario’s

Risk Management Program). Never heard of them? Come learn more! Have a beef? We’re here to listen! We’ll discuss eligibility, contributions/premiums, etc. Tell us how these programs can better serve you.

Advancing Policy Changes for Non-Quota Egg Production, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 7-9pm.

Last June, aspiring and current non-quota egg producers met to discuss two policy changes they believe will make their businesses more viable without undermining supply management: a) increasing the number of legally-allowed non-quota laying hens beyond the current 100; and b) allowing for the sale of ungraded eggs beyond the farm gate (at farmers’ markets, farm storefronts, CSA drop-offs, etc.) Join us to discuss how other provinces succeeded in making these changes, identify allies, and strategize campaign messaging.

All farmers are welcome to attend. The NFU-O elected leadership and staff will draw upon your concerns and ideas to advance policies and campaigns to support your farm business.

If you are interested in participating, if you can’t attend but want to share your ideas on policy barriers & solutions, and/or if you’d like to recommend another topic to discuss under the NFU-O’s Farmers’ Voices Matter series, please contact Dave Thompson at david@nfuontario.ca. Register by going to https://nfuontario.ca/events/ where you can find a calendar with registration links for each event! ◊

Do you have any concerns you would like to discuss with us?

Call Dave Thompson: 705-738-3993 x102

Deadline is March 1st !

Choose the NFU-O on your FBR for 2025! Scan the QR code to renew your FBR online. Select the NFU-O and join thousands of passionate, innovative farmers across Ontario working for a food and farm system that is better for farmers, eaters, and the land.

A subscription to The Rural Voice is one of the benefits of being an NFU-O member 58 The Rural Voice

Henry Groenestege, President

Perth County

* The Rural Voice is provided to Perth County Pork Producers by the PCPPA perthcountyporkproducers@gmail.com

Pork Producers NEWSLETTER

Barns over 6000 square feet don't need sprinklers, but...

I've heard this rumour a couple of times in the past month … that any new farm building over 6000 square feet is going to require sprinklers. My wife is a Veld architect and she specializes in wedding barns, which is a building in which sprinklers might be required. Sprinklers are the S word in a rural setting. The sprinkler system itself costs $100,000 for something at that size. But when you don't have a municipal water supply, you need to buy a three-phase generator, fire pump, fuel reservoir, water reservoir, and build a fire-proof enclosure for it all. This level of infrastructure investment is enough to end most projects.

Luckily the updated Ontario Building Code has almost no intention of making you put sprinklers in your barn for fire suppression. The code makes a distinction between large and small farm buildings. Buildings less than 600 square meters (here is the kernel of truth in the rumour) or 6458 square feet are allowed to follow the National Farm Building Code of Canada from 1995. This code does not even mention sprinklers for fire suppression.

For reference, I used Google Earth to measure some modern barns in our area: ▪ Broiler barns: 2016 - 3120 m2 ▪ Dairy barns: 2485 - 9960 m2 ▪ Swine barns: 2200 - 3080 m2 In section 2.2.2.5 of the Ontario Building Code, a barn or shed can be built to any height, and be any area, as long as it is sprinklered. However Section 2.2.2.6 allows you to build a shed or barn of any area (without under floor liquid manure storage) up to three stories tall without being sprinklered. Section 2.2.2.4 allows you to build a barn of any area with below-floor manure storage without sprinklers, as long as it is a single story. So, barns over 6000 square feet do not need to be sprinklered, but if

you are planning on building a pig high-rise like they did in China, you will need sprinklers.

In barns and sheds over 600 square meters, there are now requirements to allow for safe exits from the building in case of fire. In rooms that are not especially hazardous such as livestock barns and storage sheds, a second way of leaving the room will be needed if the room is more than 200 square meters (2152 sq.ft.) or the travel distance out of the room is more than 15 meters. These rooms requiring two doors cannot have travel distances greater than 60 meters (196 ft) to get out of the room.

On the topic of below-floor manure storage, the code also requires ventilation for below-floor liquid manure storage. This ventilation needs to have backup power that will continue the ventilation for at least two hours in case of a power failure.

Alleys to exits need to be at least 750mm (29 17/32”) wide. Overhead doors cannot be used as an exit door.

Exit doors, and doors that provide access to exit from a room also need to be 750 mm wide. Exit paths cannot have fuel-fired appliances in them.

Exit doors will also require

illuminated exit signs.

There are also some common sense preventative measures. The new building code also requires fire separation between boiler rooms and the rest of the barn. Fuel-fired appliances that heat an individual room are still allowed without fire separation. Fire separation is also required between a workshop and the rest of the storage shed. Drywall is usually the solution in these situations. Of course, lanes or yards wide enough to allow fire trucks to access the facility are required.

These are my conclusions from a brief review of the latest version of the Ontario Building code and based on my knowledge of the current practices of barn and shed construction. The code is a complex document, so this is not an exhaustive list of new requirements, just major changes that our members should be aware of. For instance, there are also increased requirements for the roof structure, but I don’t have the expertise to comment on this. Consult a building code professional if you have further concerns.

Submitted by Craig Hulshof

LOCAL PORK PRODUCTS Fill your freezer with local pork products Order today from: Tanya and Darryl Terpstra (519-291-7603) or visit Leis Feeds in Milverton – Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon

Pork supplied by: Perth County Pork Producers BBQ services for large groups are also available, contact: perthcountyporkproducers@gmail.com for more details.

March 2025 59

Email: bruce@ofa.on.ca website: brucefederation.ca

NEWSLETTER

Farm Safety – Practice Everyday In Canada, Agriculture Safety Week is celebrated each March. This year it is March 16-22nd, although farm safety should be a priority everyday.

Safety isn’t just about knowing the hazards, its also about instituting changes to make everyday safer for everyone through conversation as well as your actions.

If we as farmers promote farm safety year round we can work toward ensuring no one gets hurt on our farms.

This Canadian Agriculture Safety Week, we celebrate Your Farm, Your Family, and Your Success.

If you would like more information regarding the Safety is our Heritage initiative from CASA please visit agsafetyweek.ca

AgSafe Ribbon Campaign CASA is asking all Canadians to join us in celebrating Your Farm, Your Family, Your Success! The AgSafe Ribbon Campaign is a celebration of Canadian Agricultural Safety Week and a way to declare your support and raise awareness about farm safety.

519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 * The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Bruce County by the BCFA

The Roots of Bruce committee is excited to bring back the open house portion of Roots of Bruce where the general public can come and learn about agriculture.

This will be on Thursday, April 3 from 3 pm to 5 pm at the Walkerton Agricultural Society buildings at 206 Durham St. W. No admission fee.

Meeting Dates March 24 (Zoom) April 28 May 26 June 23 August 25 September 22 October 3 (AGM) November 10

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Bruce County by the BCFA.

60 The Rural Voice

519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 Grey County Federation Email: grey@ofa.on.ca Website: greyfederation.ca of Agriculture * The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA

2024 Tommy Cooper Award If you know someone deserving to receive the 2024 Tommy Cooper Award, please reach out to us and we will get you a nomination form. Let’s recognize those deserving individuals in our Agriculture community.

The Tommy Cooper Award has been presented since 1959 by Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation and the Owen Sound Sun Times in conjunction with the Grey and Bruce County Federations of Agriculture. Tommy Cooper died in 1981, but his legacy lives on. He is well remembered for his 39 years as a provincial government farm extension worker in Grey County. Cooper is credited for helping area farmers adapt to new scientific and mechanical innovations in the first half of the 20th Century. He was also instrumental in the founding of the Grey-Bruce Livestock Co-operative, and was active in many commodity organizations.

In the nomination forms, be certain to include any activity of the nominee you believe has contributed to the betterment of agriculture and rural living in Grey and Bruce Counties. Special, though not exclusive attention will be paid to those accomplishments made in the last five years. If the nominee is proposed for his/her accomplishments made through employment, please ensure those accomplishments are significantly above and beyond usual job duties. If you wish, you may include newspaper clippings, photographs, etc., for documentation.

Meeting dates 2025 March 12 - Zoom April 9 June 11 August 13 September 10 October 17 (AGM) November 12 December 10

Grown in Grey will be hosting an open house on the afternoon of April 1st from 2:00 – 5:00 pm for schools that are close to stay longer.

The committee invites parents and community members to participate in Grown in Grey.

Complete and accurate information is essential.

The deadline for entries is 12:00 p.m. (NOON), Friday March 31st, 2025 at which time completed applications will be distributed to the judging panel. There will be no exceptions to the deadline.

To ensure your nominee is judged as fairly as possible, you are asked to type your nomination, or print in ink.

Please fax entries to: (519) 371-4242, Attn: Kevin Brown Or mail or drop off your entry to:

Tommy Cooper Award Nominations Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation 270 9th St. East Owen Sound, ON N4K 1N7 Attn: Kevin Brown

They may also be emailed to:

grey@ofa.on.ca Subject line: Tommy Cooper Nomination

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA.

March 2025 61

Perth County Federation of Agriculture Office: 1-833-229-6834 Email: perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com Website: www.perthcountyfarmers.ca Derek Van De Walle, President

PCFA Welcomes Two New Directors at AGM The Perth County Federation of Agriculture held their Annual General Meeting at the Kinkora Hall on January 24, 2025.

President Derek Van De Walle welcomed all in attendance and went through the highlights of the year for the PCFA. These included the Spring Forum day with our MP and MPP, Zoom Kitchen Meeting, Municipal Education Day, participating in

Breakfast on the Farm, the PCFA’s work and submissions to the county’s new Official Plan and our resolution submission to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture AGM. We had an election with five nominees to fill four director positions.

Laura Good and Eric MacLagen were elected to return to their positions, and we welcomed two new directors: Laura Barker and Jayden Terpstra. Meet them

in their bios below!

After the business portion of the meeting, everyone in attendance thoroughly enjoyed a euchre tournament, socializing, and refreshments.

Submitted by Julie McIntosh PCFA Vice President

Laura Barker Laura grew up in Perth County on a pig, cash crop, and wholesale cut flower farm. She currently lives on her family’s home farm just west of Mitchell with her husband Adam and their two children. Laura has taken over the family business, Black Creek Flower Farm, where they cultivate a diverse range of flowers, pumpkins and sweetcorn which are sold at their farm retail store, farm stand, and through wholesale channels.

Her background and the business provide her with a unique perspective on the agricultural industry, encompassing both traditional farming and the retail/wholesale consumer market, as well as agri-tourism.

She joined the board to contribute positively to the agricultural community. Laura is dedicated to fostering a strong, healthy and informed connection between rural and urban areas, as well as advocating for farmland preservation, mental health in agriculture, and supporting the wellbeing of rural life in Perth County.

Jayden Terpstra Jayden grew up on a farrow-to-finish swine farm just outside of Atwood where he developed a passion for agriculture. Jayden attended the University of Guelph and graduated in 2022 with a degree in Food and Agricultural Business. Jayden currently farms with his family, as they work together to run 1200 acres and 3000 sows, farrow to finish, as well as selling early weans and feeder pigs. Jayden loves to spend time educating the public on all things agriculture. He can often be found at events such as the CNE in Toronto or the Western Fair in London at the Ontario Pork Pig Mobile discussing what modern farming looks like and where food comes from.

Jayden also enjoys spending time with his fiancée Amber, snowmobiling when he gets the chance, and loves watching sports, specifically the Leafs and the Blue Jays. Jayden is constantly trying to find new ways to contribute to and promote the agriculture community. * The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Perth County by the PCFA.

62 The Rural Voice

Index

Adam Lesperance ......................28 Ag Safety Week ....................24, 31 Armstrong’s Home Bakery..........63 Arnold Mathers ............................18 Bautec Industries Inc..........Cover 4 Beekeeping ..........................39, 41 Bentinck Packers Ltd ..................19 Bernie McGlynn Lumber ............45 Bervie Supply Energy ................34 Bridal/Wedding Showcase ........36 Britespan Building Systems Inc....7 Bushell’s Auto Sales ..................55 Chalmers Fuels............................45 Crafter’s Corner ..........................38 Creative China Decorating ........39 Crop Quest Inc ............................15 Cross County Eavestrough ........18 DeDell Seeds ................................3 Design & Build ......................32, 33 Easy Lift Doors ............................42 Elora Road Meats ........................19 Forests Canada ............................4

Gaia Organic Seeds ....................63 Green Valley Heating Inc ............32 Greenville Liquid Plant Food ......15 Grey Sauble Conservation Auth. ..6 Hanover Honda ..........................47 Hayden Water Wells....................38 Highland Fuels & Supply ............45 JJM Concrete Grooving ..............17 Kenpal Farm Products ................26 Kia of Owen Sound......................14 Kingwood Bins....................Cover 5 LAC ..............................................43 Lakeside Shelving & Racking ....24 Lambton Heritage Museum ........34 Legge Fitness ................Back Cover Maple Syrup ................................9, 11 Mark Cook Farm Drainage Inc ......56 Marquardt Farm Drainage Ltd ....46 Martin’s Nursery ..........................33 Marvin L Smith Forestry..............32 May Apple Financial ....................19 McLeod Water Wells Ltd ............45

Armstrong’s Home Bakery Made Fresh Daily • Honey baked bread • Assorted rolls • Assorted baked good trays • Cookies and squares • Soups and sandwiches • Pies • Cakes made-to-order • Gluten-free goods

Lucknow

Bulk Food Store • Baking supplies • Gluten-free products • Candy • Popcorn

Metzger Meat Products ..............18 MNP LLP......................................23 Morris Sachs Silo Construction ..33 Nature’s Wave Inc ......................50 Nutrient Management ................43 Ontario Forage Council ..............17 Ontario Mutual Ins Assoc ..Cover 7 Ontario Pesticide Training Prog ....21 Parker & Parker ................Cover 3 Pineview Cedar Products Inc ......12 RCS (Rushton Custom Services) .... ............................................Cover 4 Rural Voice Books ..............Cover 6 Saugeen Valley Cons Auth ........44 Schmidt’s Farm Drainage 1990 Ltd..29 Schweiss Doors ..........................50 Serval Canada..............................13 Silver Creek Nursery Ltd ............26 Small Homes................................38 St. Lawrence Cruise Lines ..........29 Steffen Well Drilling ....................63 Superior Barn Painting ......Cover 5 Syngenta ......................................13 The Smart Energy Company ......21 Townsley Barn Painting ................57 Usborne & Hibbert Mutual Ins ..........15 Varna Grain/Hill & Hill ..............Cover 2 Veg-Gro Markets................................18 W.D. Hopper & Sons Ltd ............46 West Coast Leisure Sales ............8

Take-out Available

519-528-2211 DEADLINE

STEFFEN WELL DRILLING

• Agricultural and Domestic Water Wells • Well Cleanouts • Pump Testing • Camera Inspection • Irrigation Wells

519-531-0355 TEESWATER, ON

mike@steffenwelldrilling.ca

for the April Rural Voice is March 10

• offering over 1,000 varieties of seeds • specializing in heirloom organic seeds • seeds for home gardeners & bulk seeds for market gardeners

613-219-8463 www.gaiaorganics.ca March 2025 63

HURON

42 First Avenue, Clinton, Ontario N0M 1L0 519-482-9642 or 1-800-511-1135

County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER

How you can support Ontario by buying local

By Ethan Wallace, Vice-President, OFA Buying local is an important part of our agriculture and food production system.

Consumer interest in shopping closer to home for their food products has risen over the last two decades.

In Ontario. our climate and soils let us grow and raise more than 200 different food and farm products on the nearly 50,000 farms. From fruits, vegetables, honey, plants and flowers to meat, dairy, eggs, fish and grains and whether fresh, frozen, processed, pickled or canned, we are proud of what we grow.

My family and I farm just outside of Seaforth. Every local food or farm product Ontarians buy supports farms and families like ours, as well as small businesses and rural communities across our province.

There is a wide range of locallyproduced food available. Apples, carrots, potatoes and root vegetables, for example, are kept fresh through innovative storage technologies so we can enjoy them all winter.

There is a plethora of Ontario meat and poultry in our grocery stores, butcher shops, farmers’ markets and independent retailers, as well as a variety of eggs, and milk, cheese, cream, butter, yogurt and ice cream made from 100% Canadian milk.

Ontario’s indoor produce sector provides produce like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and strawberries; and vertical farms produce leafy greens, microgreens and baby greens. Many frozen vegetables and fruit are also grown in Ontario, and many wineries, breweries, distilleries and cideries use locally grown ingredients like grapes, hops, grains and apples.

So, what’s the best way to buy local and how can we know whether what we’re buying is an Ontario or a Canadian product? Our food system isn’t always easy to navigate, but here are a few ways to find local products.

Shop at local stores, on-farm markets and farmers’ markets and ask the employees there if you’re not sure. Many

Ontario agricultural organizations, like Ontario Sheep Farmers, have product locators on their websites to identify shops, markets, farmers and even home delivery companies that carry local products.

Other examples include Farmers’ Markets Ontario’s online market locator and Pick Ontario’s florist finder to help you find locally grown flowers.

There are also a variety of logos that you can look out for when you’re shopping that will help identify locally grown or made food and farm products.

Fresh produce, dairy, meat and other Ontario foods often carry the iconic green and white Foodland Ontario logo.

A blue cow logo certifies 100% Canadian dairy. Look for the VQA medallion to ensure the wine is made entirely from Ontario-grown grapes or a product of Ontario or Canada designation on fruit wines. You’ll find Ontario or Canada Beef logos on locally produced beef, or the Ontario Corn Fed Beef logo at restaurants and stores.

Ontario-raised pork will often carry an Ontario Pork logo or the logo of Ontariobased meat processors like Conestoga Meats or Sofina. Egg cartons have a red maple leaf or the Egg Quality Assurance logo, and you’ll find an Ontario Turkey logo on some of those retail products.

For flowers and floral products, look for a Pick Ontario logo or the words “Grown in Canada”.

On processed foods, “Product of Canada” means made in Canada with Canadian ingredients, and “Made in Canada” means final processing took place in Canada – sometimes with local ingredients and sometimes with a mix of domestic and imported ingredients.

Ontario farmers encourage everyone to buy local, Ontario products.

When you do, you’re not just buying what we produce, you’re also supporting communities, families, and jobs here at home and we appreciate it.

Website: www.hcfa.on.ca Email: office@hcfa.on.ca

Upcoming Events March 1st - Farm Business Registration Deadline with Agricorp March 5-7 London Farm Show www.londonfarmshow.com March 18 Grain Farmers of Ontario March Classic gfo.ca/about/2025march-classic/ March 25th & 26th - Ontario Swine Conference details at ontariopork.on.ca

The HCFA Executive Committee President Rob VandenHengel Vice Presidents: Murray Workman & Shawn O'Rourke Additional Executive Members: Erica Murray & Ralph Deweerd HCFA Board Meeting

Monday, March 24 8:00 pm Vanastra Office

Huron Federation Office Hours Monday 9-12 and 1-4 Alternate Fridays 9-12 and 1-4

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

The Rural Voice is provided to all OFA members in Huron County by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture

64 The Rural Voice

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The Rural Reading Room Specializing in Rural Living & Local Authors

300 SENSATIONAL SOUPS A great soup nourishes the soul as well as the stomach.

This book offers an incredible variety from traditional comfort food to exotic taste sensations. Recipes for everything from stock to meat, fish and vegetable soups. $27.95

BIRDHOUSES BOXES & FEEDERS Whether you are a woodworker who loves birds - or a birdwatcher who wants to create a wildlife-friendly habitat-this book will show you environmentally sound ways to enhance any garden by attracting birds. $24.99

2000 STICKERS BUSY FARM Full of engaging activities including puzzles, mazes, connect the dots, matching, hidden objects, spot the difference, decorating pictures, and more! $11.95

EGGS & POULTRY MADE AT DECORATIVE MACRAME BREWING MADE EASY This book walks you through the Imagine offering guests your own HOME home brew. This book provides Tips on choosing and breeding process of creating your own information from brewing your chickens, ducks, geese and unique pieces, perfect for your space. Clear step-by-step first batch of beer to creating your turkeys, house small flocks, photographs show you how to own recipes. Information on hatch chicks, gather and use the create the four basic knots and equipment, instructions on eggs and process the adult birds apply simple macrame techniques, making beer and recipes for plus recipes on how to make the while detailed diagrams help you different beers and ales. $10.95 most of the eggs and meat. with things like measurements. $19.95 $19.95

300 SENSATIONAL SOUPS BIRDHOUSES BOXES & FEEDERS 2000 STICKERS BUSY FARM GRANNY GET YOUR GLUE GUN BREWING MADE EASY EGGS & POULTRY MADE AT HOME DECORATIVE MACRAME BREADMAKING

Qty.

$27.95 $24.99 $11.95 $14.95 $10.95 $19.95 $19.95 $11.99

Total

Total for Books Shipping & Handling $9.00 Canada Post Fuel Surcharge $4.00

Subtotal 5% GST on Subtotal Order Total

GRANNY GET YOUR GLUE GUN Don’t panic! This book is your guide to hours of creative fun with your grandchildren. You don’t have to be a grandmother to want to get started creating crafts and recipes with this amazing book. $14.95

BREADMAKING Essential Guide For Beginners ~ Self-Sufficiency This is an invaluable guide for anyone who’s always wanted to make warm, delicious bread while becoming less reliant on processed, pre-packaged food. $11.99

Send cheque or money order for full amount to: Books: North Huron Publishing P.O. Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 or call and pay by credit card 519-523-4311 MAIL BOOKS TO: Name:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Address: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ______________________ Code _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Phone: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Prices subject to change with increases in wholesale prices, postage, taxes, etc.

Please refer to current issue for correct figures. Incorrect payment will delay delivery.

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Have a seat. Rejuvenate.

For the wellness-seeker, meet the Human Touch® Gravis ZG Wave Massage Chair. Gravis combines the therapeutic benefits of zero gravity seating with air massage technology, multi-zone heat and powered positioning for every part of the chair, including the headrest. With crisp, clean lines and innovative design, Gravis delivers both soothing neutral posture pain relief and exceptional control of your seating comfort.

• Elevation of the legs above the heart helps improve blood flow • Zero gravity positioning allows for deeper, more relaxed breathing • Add soothing heat to the back, seat, and leg area individually, or simultaneously • Massage, Stretch and Lumbar air massage functions relieve tension, invigorate the back and glutes, and provide soothing relief for tight muscles • Visit our showrooms in Listowel or Fergus where we have a wide variety of Zero Gravity Wellness Chairs and choose the right chair for you!

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