Members of Ontario’s ag community weigh in with suggestions
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
Many card stores and candy shops will be busy today as people pick out the perfect Valentine’s Day gifts for their significant others.
But what do you get a farmer to show your love?
Farms.com asked some members of Ontario’s ag community to suggest gifts they’d like to give or receive on Feb. 14.
And for some, the classic Valentine’s Day gifts are always an appropriate choice.
“Usually flowers are a nice gift,” Mark Ribey, a partner in Biermans Farms, a cash crop operation in Bruce County, told Farms.com today. “Maybe some chocolates, a card and a night out, too.”
For other farmers, material gifts are no match for quality time spent with family.
Good weather and a special visitor is all Dianne McComb, an egg producer and Egg Farmers of Ontario director from Middlesex County, needs for a happy Valentine’s Day.
“Another nice, sunny day like this is always good,” she said. “I have my grandson coming over to spend the day with me tomorrow so if we can spend some time outside that would be the best gift.”
Other producers have received practical gifts from their family and partners.
Sparkling diamonds would be a perfect gift for any wife at Valentine’s Day. And Kim Sytsma’s husband brought home something black but it wasn’t a diamond.
“My husband got me a bull last year,” said the beef producer and president of the Leeds Federation of Agriculture. “His gifts are quite unique. I don’t know how many wives would appreciate a shiny black bull but I do.”
And there’s always a few individuals who wait until the last minute to go shopping.
“I’m the worst person when it comes to Valentine’s Day,” Kevin Howe, a fruit and vegetable producer from Aylmer, Ont., told Farms.com today. “I still have to go get a gift so that’s on my to-do list today.”