5 www.SmallFarmCanada.ca LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BUYING CANADIAN! Good morning fellow Canadians! I am a small apple farmer in a region of Ontario known as the Blue Mountains near Collingwood. From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of my fellow apple growing friends and colleagues I would like to thank all Canadians that are choosing Canadian apples first...it is and will make a positive impact in what is an extremely difficult industry for all Canadian apple growers. For the past four or five years many farms including mine has been struggling with sustainability as our industry was seriously threatened by imported apples and apple products from other countries including the USA and countries such as China, Turkey, etc... In my situation due to the huge increase in the cost of production coupled with greedy corporate procurement structures I have had to quickly shrink my operation from a high of 140 acres to my now 96 acres of apple production and every year including the one before me, the 2025 apple crop, makes me wonder if I will be able to cover my cost of production and above that make a living wage...the apple farmer is always the one that absorbs the highest risk/liabilities, works the hardest and gets paid last with whatever dollars are leftover, if much at all! PLEASE, PLEASE continue to support Canadian Farmers your choices more than anything else means our survival and OUR food supply sustainability! I would also like to share a video that happened to pop up on my YouTube homepage this morning...This video describes the history behind the Ambrosia apple which is 100% Canadian...and note a Canadian born and bred apple variety is not a very common occurrence...the only other varieties I know that are truly Canadian are the McIntosh and Spartan apples. This said most popular varieties of apples can and are grown in Canada too so just watch that the sticker on the apple indicates that it in fact is from Canada! - Tim Robertson, ON Hi Julie, As it’s National Soil Conservation Week, I wanted to let you know about a land management issue by the Region of Waterloo that has significant implications for water quality. It’s another chapter in the Wilmot land assembly. Last year, the Region acquired 151 acres for the Wilmot land assembly. During the summer of 2024, healthy corn crops were destroyed. In November, the Region ignored a letter Anne Loeffler, an agrologist, sent to warn them of the negative effects. Yet the land was bare through the winter without any erosion control measures. This has led to multiple runoff events, raising concerns about soil erosion and its impact on water quality. Loeffler, a retired conservation specialist, worked with the Region and farmers in the past to keep sediment from runoffs out of our local water. Now the Region isn’t stopping it. “Q and A: The Region’s land management erodes confidence,” delves into the details of this issue. It discusses the potential threats to water quality and downstream ecosystems, which could ultimately affect the Grand River—a vital source of drinking water for Brantford and Six Nations of the Grand River. Thank you for considering this story. I have also included a photo of the effects from a drone fyi. Regards, Jodi S., Wilmot Civic Action Network TOP: GSDESIGN - ADOBE STOCK | WILMOT CIVIC ACTION NETWORK
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