By Lilian Schaer Source: AgInnovationOntario
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New Liskeard – There’s a world of difference between farming in northern and southern Ontario. The climate, soils, and available infrastructure in the north mean farmers have different innovation and research needs than their more southern neighbours.
The Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC) recognizes the unique challenges and opportunities of northern Ontario farmers. Through Growing Forward 2 (GF2), a federal-provincial-territorial initiative, AAC has secured cost-share funds for five northern-focused innovation projects headed by the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance (NOFIA).
“There is a major difference not only between northern Ontario and rest of the province, but also between the regions of northern Ontario, which is geographically huge,” explains NOFIA Administrator Steph Vanthof. “This is one of the reasons it is so important to maintain agricultural research and innovation for the north.”
NOFIA is a non-profit organization established in 2014 by northern farmers to advance agriculture in Northern Ontario. This includes applied research on-farm or at the agricultural research station in New Liskeard, innovation and commercialization of technologies, or technology transfer to ensure existing information gets to the farmers who need it to benefit their commercial operations.
“Because of the differences in conditions, there are things that need to be done in the north for the north, and NOFIA was created to bring a voice to that, to ensure northern Ontario could speak with one voice and get projects off the ground without duplication or repetition,” Vanthof adds.
Plant propagation protocols have been established to support the rapid development of northern Ontario-specific industrial hemp varieties. This is part of efforts to expand the diversity of crops that can be grown viably and competitively in the north and help bring products to market more quickly.
To help expand the growing agriculture sector in the north, NOFIA spearheaded the creation of FarmNorth.com, a one-stop online resource for agriculture in the region. It was designed to provide information both to farmers already in northern Ontario and those looking to relocate north.
“Land is available and affordable here but there are differences between farming in northern Ontario and other areas, so we want people to know those differences before they come here and learn them the hard way,” says Vanthof.
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