Third Breakfast on the Farm event coming up

Sep 24, 2014

Farm & Food Care Ontario announced that it will be hosting its third Breakfast on the Farm event next month, October 4th.

Just last month, the coalition group comprised of farmers, agriculture, and food partners held its second annual Breakfast on the Farm event at Stanlee Farms in Avonmore, Ont., where more than 2300 people attended. It was considered such a success that partners including, Foodland Ontario and L.H. Gray decided to put on a second event this year at Wilmot Orchards in Newcastle, Ont. There were over 125 volunteers present at last month`s event.

The farm is owned and operated by Charles and Judi Stevens, and is home to 83 acres of apples and 21 acres of blueberries. Visitors will be provided with a complimentary breakfast featuring Ontario products and will be invited to participate in an animated farm tour.

The interactive tour will allow guests to see a falconer display and learn how the farmer`s birds help keep pests (i.e. wild robins and waxwings) from destroying the blueberry crop. Attendees will be able to see the orchard’s giant fans and sound canons which help lessen the risk of certain weather factors like frost and hail. The tour will also include visiting a farm animal display.

Farm & Food Care is looking for volunteers for the October event. While 20 volunteers have already committed to assist with the event, they are still looking for about 80 more helpers. The Breakfast on the Farm event is a fairly new initiative that was launched in 2012.

The date is Oct 4, 2014 at 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will be held at Wilmot Farms located on Concession Road 3, Newcastle, ON. Breakfast tickets can be reserved by visiting www.farmfoodcare.org.

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.