Ontario Farm Families Recognized for Their Contribution to Agriculture

Jul 29, 2013

10 Farm Families Win BMO Farm Family Award

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Ten Ontario farm families are being honoured for their contribution to the province’s agricultural sector and their farming communities by the Ontario Plowmen’s Association (OPA) and the Bank of Montreal (BMO), to receive the 2013 BMO Farm Family Award.

Award recipients will be treated to a day at the 100th anniversary of the International Plowing Match and Rural Expo (IPM) in Mitchell, Ontario. Families will receive a complimentary lunch, professional photography session and have the opportunity to take in a number of IPM related events. The recognition program will take place on the final day of the IPM – Sat. Sept, 21.

Each plowmen association branch, had the opportunity to select a recipient to be in the running for the award. There were 35 families nominated and an OPA committee chose 10 winners. A full list of the 35 nominees can be found on OPA’s website.

"The BMO Ontario Farm Family Awards are dedicated to recognizing the tremendous contributions made by farmers across the province, and these 10 families wonderfully demonstrate how the ideals and traditions of the past are combined with today's advanced agri-business practices,” said Susan Brown, Senior Vice-President, Ontario Regional Division, BMO Bank of Montreal.

This is the second year of the BMO Family Farm Award, but BMO has been supporting the IPM since 2007. BMO has a similar award, which is given out to Southern Alberta families annually at the Calgary Stampede. BMO is a signed featured sponsor of the IPM until 2016.

2013 BMO Ontario Farm Family Award winners:

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

Farm Name                               Family                             Area

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
McIntosh                         The McIntosh Family               Bruce County
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Altona Lea Farms                 The Barkey Family                       Durham Region
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E.E. Bennett & Sons Farms Ltd.         The Bennett Family                       Frontenac County
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weblyn Farms                         The Weber Family                      Grey County - Normanby
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heather Holme Holsteins                 The McNeil Family                       Huron County
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Burnham Family Farm Market         The Burnham Family                       Northumberland County
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brander Farms                         The Brander Family                       Peel Dufferin County
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CMcB Holsteins                         The McBride Family                       Renfrew County
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fennema Holsteins                 The Ringelberg Family               Hamilton Wentworth (North)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cranston Farms                         The Cranston Family               Hamilton Wentworth (South)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.