Ontario ag project could receive provincial funding

Jan 23, 2018

The government sets $5 million aside for five projects in the next budget

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

An ag-related project designed to help communities in northern Ontario could receive $1 million in provincial funding.

The Ontario Government is setting aside a $5 million to fund five projects in the upcoming budget. Ontarians are encouraged to vote for initiatives until Jan. 26 through Budget Talks.

One of the proposals is designed to develop a youth-driven greenhouse to address food security and poverty in northern Ontario.

Youth in the James and Hudson Bay communities would work together to start a greenhouse business. They would grow, sell and distribute fruit and vegetables to surrounding neighbourhoods, according to the project description.

Accessing healthy food can be a challenge for many individuals in remote parts of Ontario. Government funding could go a long way towards ensuring residents can enjoy fresh and local produce.

“The quality of the fruit and vegetables that we get isn’t all that great,” Rubin McNeely, founder of the James Bay Eeyou School Greenhouse Program, told Farms.com today. “This (funding) would allow people to learn about agriculture and produce some of their own food.”

A greenhouse project can be a good way to promote sustainability within northern, rural communities.

Several factors, including transportation and cost, have hindered the availability of food in these areas.

Building a greenhouse can help develop an agricultural infrastructure, said Neil Currie, general manager of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

“Accessing healthy, nutritional food and developing the habits for a nutritious diet is critical,” he told Farms.com today. “The greenhouse technology exists now to be able to grow produce year-round, so why not take advantage of it? And a greenhouse is a permanent building that can provide full-time jobs in the community.”

Photo: alexemanuel/iStock/Getty Images Plus

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.