Ontario’s Best in Agri-Food Excellence 2024

Nov 07, 2024
By Jean-Paul McDonald
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

Ontario celebrates excellence in agriculture and food sector achievements

The Government of Ontario is celebrating the achievements of outstanding contributors in the agriculture and food industry through the 2024 Excellence in Agriculture Awards.

This year’s awards recognize 13 winners and 16 honorable mentions in 11 categories, reflecting the innovative spirit and dedication of those in the province’s $50.7 billion agri-food sector.

Award winners that were celebrated include:

Research and Innovation Excellence: Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, Brock University – Niagara
Food Processing Excellence: Conestoga Meats – Waterloo
Education Excellence: Foodpreneur Lab – Toronto
Promotional Excellence: Bite of Brant – Brant; and Farm & Food Care Ontario – Guelph
Supply Chain Excellence: Second Harvest – Toronto
Workforce Excellence: Operation Grow – Simcoe
Urban Agriculture Excellence: ZipGrow Inc. – Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
Northern Business Excellence: Bujold Farms – Rainy River
Women’s Excellence: Jenny Carnaghan, Carncroft Farms – Durham
Youth Excellence: Beck’s Broth – Waterloo
Farm Family Excellence Award Winner – North: ELD Farms – Kenora
Farm Family Excellence Award Winner – West: Schooley Orchards Ltd. & Apple Hill Lavender – Norfolk

2024 Honourable Mentions that were celebrated include:

Research and Innovation Excellence: Croptracker – Kingston; and Dr. David Liscombe, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre - Niagara
Food Processing Excellence: Jakeman’s Maple Products – Oxford
Education Excellence: Dr. Amy Proulx, Niagara College – Niagara; and Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP) – Wellington
Promotional Excellence: Toronto Garlic Festival – Toronto
Supply Chain Excellence: Sheldon Creek Dairy – Simcoe
Workforce Excellence: CareersNOW!, Food and Beverage Ontario – Niagara
Urban Agriculture Excellence: Barrett Centre of Innovation in Sustainable Urban Agriculture, Durham College – Durham; and Wiijindamaan Indigenous Land Futurity and Gdoo-naaganinaa Garden, Conestoga College – Waterloo
Northern Business Excellence: Mattagami Heights Farm – Timmins
Women’s Excellence: Split Rail Brewing Co. – Manitoulin; and Energrow Inc. – Perth
Youth Excellence: Mighty Harvest Produce Inc. – Durham; and Remix Snacks Inc. – York
Farm Family Excellence: Sunningdale Farms – Simcoe

Rob Flack, Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Agribusiness, expressed his admiration for the recipients, noting that their passion and dedication set Ontario’s agri-food sector apart on a global stage.

“This year’s award winners inspire me and showcase the passion and talent that make Ontario agri-food competitive worldwide,” said Flack. He emphasized the government’s commitment to collaborating with industry leaders to foster an environment that supports sustained growth and innovation.

The centerpiece of the awards, the Minister’s Award, was presented to Farm & Food Care Ontario which is dedicated to fostering connections between farmers, food producers, and the public.

Known for its efforts in raising awareness about food origins and farming in Ontario, the organization hosts events such as Breakfast on the Farm and farm tours, where participants learn more about agricultural processes.

Farm & Food Care Ontario also runs educational campaigns, including The Real Dirt on Farming, which educates the public on local food sources. “Our work helps reinforce trust and confidence in local farming and food production,” said Crispin Colvin, Chair of Farm & Food Care Ontario, expressing gratitude for the award and the ongoing support of government partners.

The Excellence in Agriculture Awards are in alignment with Ontario’s Grow Ontario Strategy, a provincial plan aimed at boosting awareness of locally grown food and supporting the agri-food supply chain. This approach also encourages the consumption of high-quality, Ontario-produced food.

The agriculture and food industry in Ontario employs over 871,000 people, representing one in nine jobs across the province.

The Excellence in Agriculture Awards provide a platform to acknowledge the contributions of many agricultural employers and industry leaders who help strengthen Ontario’s food and farming sectors.

Through these awards, Ontario is spotlighting the leaders and innovators who contribute to a thriving, sustainable, and trusted local food industry.

Photo Credit: Food & Farm Care Ontario

Video: The 15-Year Bet Behind Every New Variety!

Canada is trying to decide how much agricultural research capacity it can afford to lose. Brian Rossnagel believes the better question is whether the country can afford to rebuild it.

The longtime barley and oat breeder makes the case with a simple fact about his profession: the consequences of today’s decisions may not become visible for 10 or 15 years.

“Pick the right parents. That’s the biggest thing,” Rossnagel says. “If you pick the wrong parents, you’re not going to get anywhere—and you don’t know that until 10 years, 15 years later.”

That warning carries particular weight as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada moves to reduce spending and streamline parts of its science operations. The department’s 2026–27 plan anticipates the loss of approximately 665 positions by 2028–29 and says some research will be reduced where capacity exists in academia or industry. AAFC says the changes will make its science operations more cost-effective over the long term.

For Canada’s seed industry, Rossnagel’s career illustrates what is at stake.

This fall, the retired University of Saskatchewan breeder will be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. During his 35-year career at the Crop Development Centre, he helped develop more than 100 barley and oat varieties, including CDC Austenson—one of Western Canada’s most widely grown feed barleys. His induction recognizes not only those varieties, but the collaboration and research system that made them possible.

Rossnagel is quick to emphasize that none of it was the work of one person.

“The first thing I thought about was all the other people who contributed to whatever success I and my program had over the years,” he says. “We know that it’s not an individual who does this. It’s a group—a team.”

That team extends well beyond the breeder whose name appears beside a variety. It includes technicians, pathologists, quality specialists, statisticians, regional testing sites, seed growers and industry partners. It also includes the breeders who came before and those who will carry the germplasm forward.

CDC Fraser barley, for example, moved through three breeding careers. Its parents came from Brian Harvey’s program. Rossnagel advanced the material after Harvey retired, and Aaron Beattie later guided it through registration and release.

That kind of handoff is normal in plant breeding. The person who makes the original cross may never see the resulting variety reach farmers.

It also explains why lost research capacity cannot simply be switched back on when budgets improve.

“If you shut it off, it’s very, very difficult—and particularly costly—to start it up again,” Rossnagel says. “If you have to start from scratch, it’s going to be at least 10 years before anybody notices whether you’re getting anything done or not.”

The concern is not simply how many experimental lines Canada can process. Modern equipment, statistical tools and genetic technologies allow today’s breeding programs to evaluate tens of thousands of lines—far more than Rossnagel could handle when he entered the field in the early 1970s.

But efficiency and automation do not generate every idea.

“If you pare back down, and instead of having six or seven individual scientists concentrating on wheat breeding, you go down and say three people could handle all this, well, that’s half the ideas gone,” he says. “Particularly if you happen to lose the three people who had the really neat and innovative ideas, boy, that’s a problem.”

It is a timely distinction for Canadian agriculture. Consolidating programs may preserve the volume of material moving through a system, at least initially. It may not preserve the diversity of thinking, regional knowledge or willingness to pursue unconventional crosses.

That regional knowledge matters because Canadian agriculture is not one uniform production environment. A variety suited to southern Alberta may face different disease, moisture and maturity pressures than one grown in Manitoba, Ontario or Atlantic Canada.

“Agriculture is applied biology,” Rossnagel says. “Biology, all around the Earth, moves from the poles to the equator. It does not move from Newfoundland to B.C. like politics do.”