August 13, 2014

Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance Receives Growing Forward 2 Funding

The GHFFA have received approval and funding for their project "Data Collection and Analysis of Food and Farming Assets in the Golden Horseshoe. The project is a collaboration between the 7 cities and regions of the Alliance and will collect data to ultimately map farms, food businesses and agri-food operations that support the food and farming value chain.
This information will be used by the partners to assess the economic impact of food and farming on the regional economy. Matching dollars for the project have been provided by the participating municipalities.

New Date for Workshop

Streamlining Processes and

Approaches to Agricultural Applications

Due to the labour disruption in Durham Region in June, our Streamlining Processes and Approaches to Agricultural Applications Workshop designed for planners, building department and conservation authority staff was postponed to a later date.

The workshop will now be held Friday, September 26, 2014 at the Scugog Library in Port Perry. Speakers are being reconfirmed. If you had already registered, you will receive a new invitation by email.

Feel free to circulate this invitation. If you would like to register for the workshop, please do so by email to janet@whitfieldfarms.com.

Farm to Fork University

Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

Take yourself to Food University this season with the hands-on workshops designed for producers that are involved in value added activities on their farms. Learn some tricks of the trade from those who have "been there - done that". Workshops include:

Food Photography - August 19th - Pontypool

Packing Line Tour - September 16 - Waterloo

Preserving Your Bounty - October 22 - Milton

Creating Soups - November 13 - Waterdown

The cost to register is $10/workshop for OFFMA members and $20/workshop for non-members. Registration deadline is 10 days before the workshop date. Space is limited, so book your spot today! For more information or to register, contact info@ontariofarmfresh.com or 905-841-9278.

Alliance of Ontario Food Processors Rebranded to Food and Beverage Ontario

At the Annual meeting of the Alliance of Ontario Food Processors, membership voted for a new look and name for their not-for-profit organization. The new name was unveiled by Board Chair Norm Beal of Pennisula Ridge Winery and Steve Peters, Executive Director.

In their strategy "The Ontario Food and Beverage Processing Industry Strategy" by the year 2020, the processing sector will be the largest manufacturing employer in the province for professionals, young people and new Canadians. Food and beverage processors will be the number one customer of Ontario farmers, will be a driver of local economies and will be a critical part of ensuring a continued supply of healthy and safe food for Canadians. See Industry Strategy

Family-owned Loewith Dairy Farm in the City of Hamilton Featured on CBC

If you didn't catch CBC's Steven and Chris visiting Joe Loewith and Sons' 800-acre Dairy Farm in Lynden, Ontario, you can fortunately watch the entertaining (yet educational) segment online.

Check them out on YouTube

Steven and Chris met with dairy farmer Ben Loewith on his family's farm earlier this year in April. Now with his own young son and daughter, Ben is the third generation working on the farm - a farm with clear strong family roots.

We are always thrilled to see when our hard-working Ontario farmers get the opportunity to showcase these important messages, so it's quite hopeful to see that not only the show got airtime on CBC, but also that the clip has been viewed thousands of times online.

Contact:

Janet Horner, Executive Director, Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance email:janet@whitfieldfarms.com