FFCO is seeking staff for CNE booth

Farm & Food Care Ontario is seeking enthusiastic and outgoing individuals to join our team at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) Farm Building.

This is a unique opportunity to connect with non-farming Ontarians and educate them about the importance of agriculture and food production.

Huron County Breakfast on the Farm 

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for the return to Breakfast on the Farm on June 17. Thank you to the Prior and Hallahan families for collaborating with FFCO to welcome over 1,000 guests and 150 volunteers across the two-stop farm crawl event. This first Breakfast on the Farm in 2023 marks a complete return to an on-farm format.

Guests enjoyed touring two working Ontario farms, interactive educational displays, and an all-Ontario breakfast featuring pork, turkey, eggs, cheese, apples and milk. The two-stop event allowed activation between farms and challenged guests to “spot the crops” during their travels. Thank you to the Huron County Federation of Agriculture for working with local farms to include educational signage on the local crops grown. 

Thank you to the following partners for their support: https://www.farmfoodcareon.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Sponsor-Graphic_Huron_updated-May-30.pdf

FFCO Member Forum meeting summary

 At our June 14 meeting, industry topics/speakers included:

• Industry crisis preparation and response: Threats to the greenhouse sector: Aaron Coristine, Manager of Science, Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs for Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Grower
• Avian Influenza preparedness: Kathryn Goodish, Chicken Farmers of Ontario and Maggy Watson, Feather Board Command Centre
• Member public trust initiative: Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s Homegrown Outreach Campaign, Peggy Brekveld, OFA President

Our Member Forum Co-Chairs were re-elected: Frank Hoftyzer, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario & Alice VanVught, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Company.

The next FFCO Member Forum meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 27.

In case you missed it: Farm & Food Care hosts Canadian culinary professionals

FFCO in partnership with Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan ran a successful farm tour activation as part of the Canadian Culinary Conference in Niagara Falls on June 8. 54 culinary professionals participated in the day-long tour, which included a stop at Summitholm Holsteins (the Loewith family at Copetown) and its new dairy processing facility, Summit Station Dairy. The new dairy and creamery is set to open this fall and is the only family-run, on-farm dairy in Hamilton. The livestock component and the tour of the soon-to-open facility were huge highlights for guests.

The day's second stop was Ravine Vineyard for lunch, a garden tour and an opportunity to learn about the vineyards. The day was rounded off with a visit to Thwaites Farms Ltd., to learn about growing asparagus, peaches, nectarines, seedless grapes, European pears, and Asian pears. Thwaites Farms Ltd. offers fruit grading in a state-of-the-art packaging facility and a GPS planting service. 

Thanks so much to Canadian Food Focus and Culinary Federation for having us!

Culinary student tours kick off with four stops in Middlesex County

Student tours for 2023 kicked off on June 29 in Middlesex County with first-year students from Fanshawe College’s culinary arts program. Hosted in partnership with the Middlesex Federation of Agriculture, the day-long tour started at Slegers Living Organic Greens, where the students learned about micro greens and had the opportunity to taste-test many of the products the Sleger family grows. 

Jessica and Andrew Campbell from Bellson Dairy Farm hosted stop two of the day with an eye-opening tour of a brand-new dairy barn. Students had the opportunity to watch robots milking the cows and were impressed with the innovation in the dairy industry. 

Stop three took the group to Crooked Creek Acres, which is home to a soybean plant receiving and processing conventional and organic beans with a recent addition of a new segregated plant focusing on dry beans, such as Azuki, Dark Red kidneys, White kidneys, Otebos, and Black turtle beans. 

The day was rounded off with a visit with beef farmer Mike Earley, who walked the students through what it takes from birth to market to raise healthy cattle. 

FFCO Board of Directors and Council Chairs

Election of Farm & Food Care Ontario’s (FFCO) 2023-2024 board and executive took place on June 12 in a member-wide annual meeting and subsequent board meeting.

Newly elected or re-elected directors in the board’s Livestock, Crop/Horticultural and At Large categories include:



• Janelle Cardiff, Egg Farmers of Ontario (Vice Chair)
• Crispin Colvin, Ontario Federation of Agriculture (Chair)
• Bonnie den Haan, Sheldon Creek Dairy (Past Chair)
• Kelly Gubesch, Wallenstein Feed & Supply
• Joe Hickson, Ontario Seed Growers’ Association
• Mark Hamel, Dairy Farmers of Ontario
• Steve Lake, Grain Farmers of Ontario
• Jason Leblond, Beef Farmers of Ontario (Ex Officio)
• Quintin McEwen, Ontario Sheep Farmers
• Jennifer Mitchell, Ontario Canola Growers (Second Vice Chair)
• Nicki Scott, Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers' Association, and Ontario Potato Board
• John Taylor, Ontario Mutual Insurance Association (Treasurer)
• Andrea Veldhuizen, Chicken Farmers of Ontario

FFCO Member Forum Co-Chairs:

• Frank Hoftyzer, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario
• Alice Van Vught, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Company

Resources and lending library

Do you have an event coming up this fall? FFCO has Ag Ambassador resources for those promoting agricultural awareness through events, fairs, etc.

Information sheets cover topics ranging from educational livestock displays to making sure important messages are displayed.

A library of lendable or custom resources is available for FFCO members at a supporter level or above. These include Farm Fact Signs, Speech bubbles, Ag education signage, FarmFood360 kiosk and access to FarmFood360 videos.