11 Ontario producers helped local organizations receive funding from Monsanto

Nov 02, 2017

The grants are part of the Canada’s Farmers Grow Communities Program

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

A total of 66 rural charities across Canada, including 11 in Ontario, will each receive a grant of $2,500 from Monsanto’s Canada’s Farmers Grow Communities Program.

Farmers submitted applications to Monsanto, describing their favourite charities or non-profit organizations and how the funding would help the organizations.

Some of the winners will use their grants to educate their communities’ growing populations about agriculture.

“We try to have quite a large agricultural education areas for kids during the Kincardine Fall Fair,” Lindsay Dykeman, president of the Kincardine Agricultural Society and lamb and cash cropper, told Farms.com today. “Kincardine is a fairly small community but, with Bruce Power nearby, a lot of newcomers and urban people who may not be familiar with agriculture are moving into town.

“So we’ve made it a strong mandate to teach them about food and where it comes from.”

And some of the winners weren’t even aware their organizations won, or were even part of the contest, until today.

“I had no idea we were even nominated,” said Sara Melia, chairperson of the Hamilton-Wentworth 4-H Association. “I’m totally surprised by this, but it’s definitely great news.”

Aleta Klassen, who produces eggs and vegetables with her husband Nathan Klassen at Nith Valley Organics in Plattsville, Ont., nominated the Hamilton-Wentworth 4-H Association.

Aleta spent many hours in 4-H and it’s thoughtful that a former member wanted to give back, Melia said.

“Aleta was a member of our local 4-H association for a long time,” she said. “It was really nice of her to put our name forward.”

The other Ontario winners include:

Charity	Nominator, Location
Spenser’s Heart Children’s Charity	Brittany Ploogard, Orangeville
Kemptville Snowmobile Club	Gary Thompson, Kemptville
Care and Share Food Bank Trenton	Jim Harrison, Trenton
The Gathering Food Centre	Kim Smith, Simcoe
Blenheim & Community Senior Citizens Group	Taylor Lindsay, Blenheim
Gesstwood Camp & Outdoor Education Centre	David Vandenberg, Cottam
Addition Services of Thames Valley	Nicole Smith, Stratford
Middlesex Centre Archives	Al Kaiser, London

Farms.com extends its congratulations to all of the winners!

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.