At competitions hosted by the Atlantic Canada OYF committee and held in Fredericton, N.B., the Roger’s mixed farming operation on Prince Edward Island called Picturesque Farms and Michaud and Bourque’s dairy operation, Ferme Règika Inc., on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, east of Quebec City, won the nod of judges for national award honours following three days of interviews and presentations.

In the 39-year history of the Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmer program, often two farm couples from across Canada, usually (but not always) representing Eastern and Western Canadian regions are selected each year from the group of seven regional finalists.

At Picturesque Farms, the Rogers produce pedigreed seed, forages and beef cattle. Justin’s love for agriculture began when he purchased his first heifer at age eight and his first tractor at 13. Picturesque Farms requires feasibility studies and business plans for all major projects or investments while their pedigreed seed business relies on ongoing communication with local customers. In 2020, thanks to Dairy Farmers PEI New Entrant Program, they will be converting their 75-head beef cattle sector to a dairy operation.

Simon Michaud considered different career paths before returning after college to the family’s fifth generation dairy farm. Mylène Bourque, who was raised on a farm as well, always knew she loved agriculture, so it was an easy decision to follow her heart and join Simon in Ferme Règika Inc. After a freestall barn built in 2005 didn’t perform as well as expected, the couple remodeled again to develop a tie-stall dairy barn, which improved cow comfort and led to improved herd performance, increasing their average milk production from 9,500 to 10,600 kg per cow.

The scale of farming operation isn’t a factor in who wins awards says Steve Cooper, incoming chair of COYF program. “It’s so easy in Canadian agriculture to have the ‘wow’ factor revolve around size and scale of operations,” says Cooper.

“In our program it’s way down the list and our chosen honorees have proven that once again this year. Incredible passion, business acumen, the ability to change on a dime, and taking really tough scenarios and not only surviving them but turning them into real successes. This is the real ‘wow.’ This is what makes our farmers ‘outstanding.’”

The other regional finalists for 2019 were: Dallas Vert and Natasha Pospisil, Conquest Agro Services Ltd., Kirriemuir, Alta.; Will and Jen Bergmann, Bergmann Bros., Glenlea, Man.; James and Cammy Lockwood, Lockwood Farms, Cobble Hill, B.C.; Jason Ranger, Jaran Farms Ltd., Shellbrook, Sask.; and Jan and Jony Roos, Roos Dairy Goats Ltd.-Brownsville, Ont.

The search is underway for the 2020 regional finalists.

COYF is sponsored by CIBC, John Deere, Bayer, Sollio Agriculture and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The program is supported nationally by BDO and Farm Management Canada.

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Seven farm couples, selected as regional winners from across the country earlier this year, will be vying for recognition of the national title, as they are joined by 150 OYF alumni and guests from Dec. 4 to 8 at the Delta Hotel in Fredericton, overlooking the St. John River.

As usual, there is a very diversified crop of farm enterprises among the regional finalists.

From Vancouver Island, B.C. representatives James and Cammy Lockwood of Cobble Hill produce eggs from about 5,000 laying hens and also have a natural-grown market garden operation.

Alberta nominees Dallas Vert and Natasha Pospisil have developed an 11,000-acre grain farm, also operate farm input supply companies and also own and operate the general store in their home community of Kirriemuir, a hamlet in east-central Alberta named after a Scottish burgh.

Jason and Jenna Ranger from Shellbrook, just west of Prince Albert, Sask., crop about 11,000 acres of grains and oilseeds on deeded as well as 65 per cent of their landbase in rented land, working with about 20 different landlords.

Near Glenlea, just south of Winnipeg, nominees Will and Jen Bergman are part of a family hog operation but they also produce corn, canola, wheat, oats and soybeans. The Bergmans also added organic fruit and vegetable production to supply a Community Supported Agriculture market; and partnered with a restaurant in Winnipeg to provide them with produce and meat products.

South east of London, Ont., Jan and Jony Roos have developed a thriving goat dairy which involves milking about 2,500 head of goats daily. They also developed an app to help them manage the growing flock.

Simon Michaud and Mylene Bourque of Kamoursaka, Que., east of Quebec City are the fifth generation on the family dairy farm, having gone through a difficult learning curve to develop the right facilities for a high-producing dairy herd.

And near Coleman on the northern end of Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada representatives Justin and Laura Rogers are the seventh generation involved in transitioning the farm from livestock, to certified grain seed production with now plans to make it a dairy farm.

Two of these farm operations, usually representing Eastern and Western Canada will take over the national honours from the 2018 winners, brothers Alex and Jordan McKay of Port Perry, Ont., and Craig and Jinel Ference from Kirriemuir, Alta.

While the regional nominees competed to win the local honours, they have one more round of competition involving interviews and presentations before a panel of judges before the winning couples are announced at the awards banquet Dec. 6.

The OYF Atlantic Canada committee has organized a full agenda of tours and activities for the nominees and other attendees over the four days of the national program. For details visit the program website at: www.oyfcanada.com.

With the first Canadian awards program in 1980, Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers Program recognizes young farmers who exemplify excellence in their profession. Eligible nominees must be farm operators between 18 and 39 who derive a minimum of two-thirds of their income from their farm operations.

Each year one farming couple is selected from each of the program’s seven Regional Recognition Events to represent their respective region at the National Recognition Event. At the National Event, the seven honourees are recognized for their achievements and judged panel.

Two of the seven honourees are chosen by the judges as Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers. The national OYF program is sponsored by Agriculture and AgriFood Canada, Bayer, CIBC, John Deere Canada ULC and Sollio Agriculture.

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Organised by DLG, the German Agricultural Society, the show runs from November 10 to 16, and takes place across nearly 100 acres, which are fully laden with equipment. While trends suggest there will be a slowdown in farm machinery sales in some regions in the coming year, manufacturers know having a presence at Agritechnica is vital. Also, as the industry clambers to find solutions to replace diesel engines, the show will keep farmers up to speed on what power developments are likely to come to market — or not.

Over 1,700 of the exhibitors come from abroad, mostly Italy, which will have 366 companies there. The remainder come from as far afield as China, Great Britain and Finland. The U.S. will be represented by 50 firms, and Canada will have 37 brands in attendance.

The event is truly the premier international showcase for the global agricultural machinery industry, and a forum for discussing important questions about the future of plant production.

A sneak peek from Agritechnica

Swedish manufacturer Vaderstad is planning a big stand at Agritechnica this year, where it plans to introduce the NZ Extreme 1250-1425 tine harrow (see photo at top of page). It will offer working widths from 12.5 metres (41 feet) to 14.25 metres (47 feet). Built on a five-section frame, it uses an innovative weight transfer and a heavy design. After the world premiere at Agritechnica 2019, a limited number of NZ Extreme machines will be tested in selected markets throughout 2020 before being fully introduced to the market. After the final field testing is completed, production of the NZ Extreme 1250-1425 is expected to start in 2021.

Kubota will launch its third generation M7 Series at Agritechnica. Available for purchase in the first quarter of 2020 (in Europe), the new M7 tractors (see below) will arrive in the market much earlier than expected. They will have three power levels, 130, 150 and 170 horsepower at 1900 RPM and an additional 5 to 20 horsepower power boost. The new models will feature a longer regeneration interval for the DPF, which jumps from 3,000 to 6,000 hours. As usual these new models will be available with two transmissions, Kubota’s CVT and a powershift. Additionally, the M7003 series will house a hydraulic power steering system with Multi Speed Steering Control, which can be set according to tractor application and speed requirement.

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“The show just continues to grow,” says Show Director Rob O’Connor. “We’re up to 552 exhibitors – that’s 20 per cent growth compared to last year, and almost three times bigger than in year one. And, we’ve really been able to establish the site. There are more roads, more infrastructure, internet and a strong cellular network.”

Ag in Motion was proud to recognize its founding exhibitors who have been coming to the show since the beginning. “We had 200 total vendors in our first year and from that 200 there’s still 150 here,” says O’Connor.

Thousands of attendees watched field demonstrations of fertilizer spreaders and air seeders, visited 32 acres of company crop plots to view the latest in seed and crop protection, witnessed livestock handling and equipment demonstrations, attended a number of industry expert talks, and more. Plus, attendees were able to witness autonomous farming live during the Dot Demonstration, featuring the fully autonomous power platform.

Ag in Motion also welcomed a number of international visitors to the site, including Australian, Brazilian, Ukrainian and African groups. “It’s amazing,” says O’Connor. “The message about Ag in Motion is being spread through social media, through television and through word of mouth, and I think all the reports are so strong that it’s helping us continue to grow the show internationally.”

Glacier FarmMedia, parent company of Ag in Motion, announced a new initiative for the site, revealing the new name Glacier FarmMedia Discovery Farm Langham. This extends the show site from a three-day event to a yearlong innovation hub for Western Canadian agriculture. This property will be home to Ag in Motion, applied research trials, season-long demonstrations, farmer clinics, training and field tours.

“Glacier FarmMedia Discovery Farm Langham is a new initiative for our show site and the industry. Not only do we have the three-day event, but now we can use this property in the spring, summer and fall to do more applied research, share more knowledge and try more products,” says Bob Willcox, President, Glacier FarmMedia.

For the first time, Ag in Motion welcomed Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe to the show grounds. The Premier stood by to watch the exciting new Dot Demonstration and took part in field demonstrations. “It’s fantastic,” says O’Connor. “Over the course of its five years, the show has continued to grow and attract more people, and now it’s being recognized at a higher level. Having the Premier here just demonstrates that.”

In BMO Livestock Central, farmers were able to visit the new ProFarm Teaching Parlour, where the company showcased a portable milking parlour. Dr. Roger Thomson, a dairy veterinarian and the man behind the teaching parlour, was on-hand for questions and discussion.

The Field of STARS fundraising event returned for its second year and raised over $470,000 for the STARS Air Ambulance service. This brings the total raised at Ag in Motion to over $1 million. The event featured dinner, live and silent auctions, and entertainment by Hunter Brothers.

This year’s Innovations Program was again run in partnership with Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA), and attracted multiple entries across five categories. Winners were announced on Monday, July 15 at a reception in Saskatoon hosted by SREDA and Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada (AMC). The winners are as follows:

– Plant and Soil Science Category: Xarvio Scouting App, from Xarvio – Digital Farming Solutions
– Animal & Livestock Category: Accumix 1000S Self-Propelled Feed Mixer, from Highline Manufacturing
– Agriculture Equipment Category: Bin Safe System – Grain Bin Fall Protection, from Northern Strands
– Agribusiness Services Category: Q-Protect App, from Quantum Genetix
– Ingenuity Category: Sabre Clamp, from Airguard.

The entire Ag in Motion team would like to thank the companies, farmers, partners and other stakeholders who have contributed to this year’s success. Planning has already begun for 2020, including new demonstrations, events and more infrastructure improvements.

Ag in Motion was held in Langham, Saskatchewan on July 16-18, 2019. Next year’s expo will be held July 21-23, 2020. For more information, visit aginmotion.ca.

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More exhibitors, more field demonstrations, more crop and livestock production and management information, more food, more entertainment. The outdoor farm show that began as a good idea in 2015 and has exceeded all expectations in just five years is expanding in all categories as it prepares to welcome an estimated 35,000 visitors this year to the Ag in Motion site near Langham, about 30 minutes from Saskatoon, along Highway 16.

For a general admission price of $20 per day (free parking included) visitors have unlimited access to kick as many tires as they can over acres of displays of the latest in farm machinery, new technology, crop demonstration plots, livestock demonstrations and just about every farm service imaginable presented by more than 500 exhibitors.

More field demos

While there are seemingly endless stationary exhibits, the real feature of the three-day event is the live field-scale demonstrations, says Rob O’Connor, show director. “Ag in Motion is an opportunity for producers to actually see how equipment works in the field,” says O’Connor. “They not only get a close up look at equipment that can be used in various field operations, they also have the chance to see how it operates in the field and compare performance of machines demonstrated by different manufacturers.”

Field demonstrations in 2019 will include air seeding, field sprayers, fertilizer spreading and tillage systems. And while it is always important to apply conservation farming practices to keep soil in place, when dirt needs to be moved for specific applications the show again for 2019 will also feature earth moving and trenching demonstrations.

Crop diversity showcased

While the colourful rainbow of iron needed to produce crops is always dazzling, the show also features acres of crop plots demonstrating not only the latest varieties of a wide range of western Canadian crops, but also the effects of a wide range of crop production inputs.

One of the new features for 2019, on a nearby 320 acres bought last year for the ever-expanding AIM show, is a site called The Field of Excellence. It is designed as a field-scale applied research farm, which will support field scale plots of various crops and production treatments. It’s not just a showcase of crops for the three days of the show. It is intended to be a full-season research and demonstration site used by industry and crop research crop organizations. Developed and monitored with proper research protocols all crop performance will be monitored from seeding through to harvest, with a report on production results to be available at the 2019 Farm Forum conference being held in Saskatoon in early December.

It’s not just crop

The livestock component of the Ag In Motion farm show is biting off a bigger chunk of the three-day program in 2019 as well. Located on the southwest corner of the main exhibitor site, BMO Livestock Central will feature more demonstrations and more exhibitors for several classes of livestock.

Along with beef cattle, the site will offer demonstrations and information for dairy producers, bison producers and sheep producers. Demonstrations will include cattle handling, fencing, feed preparation and handling, and stock dog demonstrations. Saskatchewan Agriculture’s livestock and forage specialists are organizing a speaker series on a wide range of livestock production and management topics.

For full details on the Ag In Motion attractions and exhibitors visit the show website.

AIM grows up

Exhibitor support along with visitor support has been overwhelming and way ahead of early planning and predictions, says Rob O’Connor, show director.

“Where we are at as we organize our fifth annual show is where we expected to be in 10 years,” says O’Connor during an Ag in Motion media event, held at the show site in mid-May.

Ag In Motion is an event owned by Glacier FarmMedia and is the western counterpart to the long-running Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show held at Woodstock, Ontario, which celebrated 25 years of operation in 2018.

“When we first looked at this site as a location for a farm show there were basically two tree lines on either side of a large field of crop stubble,” says O’Connor, recognizing the time, effort and money that has been invested to develop the 320 acres into the home of what’s known as Western Canada’s Outdoor Farm Expo.

Noting the first AIM launched with 200 exhibitors, O’Connor says it is gratifying that 150 of those have continued to support the event every year since and remain as the core of the more than 500 exhibitors expected in 2019.

“That first year we were still basically a stubble field with a few tents,” he says. “Monsanto was the first company to sign on to establish plots on the site and Versatile was one of the first machinery companies to join with a large machinery display.”

As the show began to take root, Warman Home Centre built the first permanent structure for the 2016 show, followed by the Nutrien Integrity building in 2017. While the Nutrien building is used for exhibits during AIM, it is also used as a training and industry meeting facility at other times of the year and eventually may become a year-round meeting facility.

While many companies have showcased their newest equipment and technology at Ag In Motion, some of the notable product launches over the years included new equipment from Versatile, Morris Industries launching its Quantum air drill, Clean Seed smart seeder, and DOT with its autonomous seeding equipment.

Concert to benefit STARS

While looking at machinery, crop, livestock and farm production exhibits on 320 acres can be a lot of work for show attendees, Ag in Motion (AIM) will again this year feature some entertainment and for a good cause.

A steak dinner and concert, featuring Saskatchewan’s own Hunter Brothers country music recording artists is planned for the evening of Wednesday, July 17 with all proceeds going to support STARS Air Ambulance Service.

The inaugural 2018 fund raising concert was such a great success, raising more than $625,000 for STARS, AIM organizers are hoping for a repeat performance in 2019.

With farm safety being one of the important messages among exhibitors at Ag In Motion, it led to a STARS helicopter flying in for a guest appearance on the last day of the 2015 show, says Rob O’Connor, show manager. That eventually led to Ag in Motion creating a partnership with STARS.

“Ticket sales and an auction on behalf of STARS last year raised $525,000,” says O’Connor. “Those proceeds were topped up by a donation from the Canola Council of Canada for a total donation of $625,000.”

Last year’s event featured a concert and steak dinner for 1,200 attendees. This year AIM has reserved a 4.5-acre site for the concert with 2,000 tickets available.

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The two events, organized by Glacier FarmMedia have a symbiotic relationship this year, says Rob O’Connor, AIM show manager.

A good chunk of crop production information gathered at a new applied research farm that’s part of Ag in Motion will be delivered to producers during the annual Farm Forum conference that is returning to TUC Place in Saskatoon Dec. 3 to 5, 2019.

The Farm Forum may be a familiar name to many western Canadian producers as it was a conference organized by the former AgriTrend Agrology for more than 20 years. AgriTrend was sold to the Trimble Ag Software two years ago, with Glacier FarmMedia acquiring the Farm Forum conference in 2018.

“While the Farm Forum conference has been held in Calgary for the past few years we wanted to return it to Saskatchewan and build on its reputation as a valuable source of top notch crop production and management information,” says O’Connor.

The Farm Forum will feature a number of expert keynote speakers on a range of farm and crop management topics, as well as number of breakout sessions on the latest production information.

For more details visit the Farm Forum website.

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First, make sure you schedule time on your calendar to get to Ag in Motion. Ag in Motion is Western Canada’s (relatively) new, outdoor show run by Glacier Media (which owns Grainews). This summer, Ag in Motion runs from July 16 to 18. It’s just a short trip northeast of Saskatoon on Highway 16. Getting to Saskatoon is a relatively easy trip for most Grainews readers, especially in July when we can be reasonably certain of not running into a blizzard.

Ag in Motion is your chance to see machinery outside, where there’s space to put some pieces to work in the adjacent field. It’s also a great opportunity to see some crops growing right on site. Never seen hemp or fababeans? This could be your chance. Our outdoor site is big, but Glacier does have shuttles running around the grounds on a regular basis, so you don’t have to walk all day.

An outdoor farm show has a different vibe than an inside show. A bit too much sun and some dust on your shoes at the end of the day makes the experience more authentic. And, of course, you’ll have a chance to meet up with me, Scott Garvey, and Lee Hart to talk about Grainews.

Agritechnica

If getting outdoors isn’t enough for you, and you’re looking for an entirely different farm show vibe, why not try a trip to Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany? This is an indoor farm show, but it’s not like any farm show you’re going to see in Canada. It has a very international flavour, with exhibitors from 52 countries and visitors from 130 countries. Sure, not everything you’re going to see on display is going to be available in Canada or a good fit for a large-scale Prairie grain farm, but it’s still pretty exciting to see so much ag technology all in one place. (And don’t worry, everyone you’ll want to talk to will speak English.)

Agritechnica runs every second year. This year’s dates are November 10 to 16.

If making your way from the airport to the show on your own isn’t for you, come along with us. Scott Garvey and I have been working with Calgary-based Leader Tours to organize a tour that includes two days at the farm show, then a mix of touristy sightseeing and agricultural stops. We’ll have a comfortable bus to take us from Hanover to Munich, with a stop in Heidelberg. We’ll visit a BASF factory, and John Deere and Fendt factories. There will be two castles, and ample amounts of local food.

The photo at the top this page is from the 2017 tour — our first trip to Agritechnica with Leader Tours. The itinerary was a little different in 2017. In 2019 the trip will end in Munich, so we can spend some time in the Black Forest and spend most nights in smaller, picturesque German towns. This year’s tour runs from November 8 to 19.

For full details, visit leadertours.ca, or email me and I’ll send you a PDF.

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I was invited to attend and cover the Fortune Magazine’s Fortune Global Forum in Toronto in mid-October.

“This annual by-invitation-only meeting brings together the CEOs of the world’s biggest corporations — the Fortune Global 500 — with innovators, builders, and other selected experts to explore the key issues shaping global business,” reads the event’s website.

My invite came from Bayer.

Sidebar: As a writer, farmer and commodity-group representative who strives to be unbiased and objective, invites from private companies are not taken lightly. I wrestle with these things. Bayer is a large corporation. It just purchased Monsanto and is dealing with what that all means. I was invited as an advocate for agriculture and made it explicitly clear that me saying yes does not buy ink.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was there and spoke. He took questions on trade and Canadian competitiveness in the global marketplace The talk was brief and, as you’d expect, full of the kinds of words and sentences that politicians routinely use. The moderator did comment on his socks, to which Trudeau responded, “Let’s get back to the matter at hand.”

Members of Trudeau’s cabinet were there, as well. And Finance Minister Bill Morneau said a few words, as well, assuring conference attendees that Canada would be dealing with tax advantages to setting up a business in the U.S. versus Canada.

Sidebar 2: before being allowed to enter the same room as Trudeau, all members of the media had to meet in the press room (which is a small room when we’re all there at once), place our bags in the centre of that room and open up the pockets and zippers. We were then told to exit the area while a security dog sniffed our bags and equipment.

Bayer President Liam Condon flew across the pond to speak as a panellist at a session titled, “Feeding the World.”

It’s healthy to distrust large companies. Large companies don’t even trust large companies. So much so is this the case that a room full of Fortune 500 CEOs could joke about how they don’t really trust each other, believing that acknowledging this reality is a sign of self-reflection that somehow both vindicates and absolves a wide swath of actions. That is a telling example of the state of things.

The event itself and the sessions I attended were city-centric. Trade and economics were on the table. China was on the table. The new NAFTA deal, USMCA, was on the table. But the words ‘agriculture’ or ‘supply management’ were barely mentioned. The impact of USMCA was talked about in relation to the auto sector.

“Feeding the World” was one of the final sessions of the conference. I had enough time to take it in, interview Condon and catch my flight.

The panel was made up of AGT President Murad Al-Katib, President of General Mills’s natural and organic division Carla Vernón and Bayer’s Liam Condon.

The conversation remained quite cursory, exploring, as you would probably imagine, the basic premise that variety development, precision agriculture, chemistry and a sensitivity to what the consumer wants are all important factors when thinking of feeding a growing world. I’m sure everyone on that panel would have loved the opportunity to get deeper into the issues. I could sense it. But they were all happy for the time they got, I’m sure.

I could imagine it’s difficult for a company like Bayer to be beholden to a non-farming group that has a deep, genuine respect for the technological advancements made in the agricultural sector and a juxtaposing propensity to publicly rebuke such technologies by speaking out against pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified products in favour of non-GM and organic foods. And then there are the farmers, who are suspicious of monopolies and would like nothing more than to see the per-acre tech royalties go down instead of up.

Bayer had these weeds to walk through before it purchased Monsanto. Now, it has inherited a whole new set of roadblocks, stigmas and challenges.

I sat down with Condon following his panel discussion. I only had a few minutes before I needed to catch my flight home.

He assured me that the merger would not affect farmers, the products will still be available under the same names and that the company would move forward along a farmer-focused trajectory while being mindful of consumer wants and trends.

I interviewed him and have the tapes. I also have pages of notes to go through on trade with China. I think you’ll find it interesting.

I don’t like it when agriculture takes a backseat at “important” and globally-minded conferences. It’s great ag was represented. But we need to give the public the tools to make better sense of farmers and the ag sector.

Agriculture made the world a small place long before these Fortune 500 companies existed. That should always be reflected, but rarely is.

It was an honour to attend and be exposed to yet another segment of the population that needs to learn more about agriculture.

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Spearheaded by the year-round industry-backed initiative Agriculture More Than Ever, Canada’s Agriculture Day is set this year for Tuesday (Feb. 13).

“It’s a time to showcase all of the amazing things happening in Canadian agriculture and help consumers see the connection to where their food comes from and the people who produce it,” Candace Hill, manager of Agriculture More Than Ever, said in a recent release.

The organization, which launched the event last year, has produced materials such as graphics, logos, sample tweets and other items for farmers to share via social media “conversations” online, and has also connected the day to a series of events across the country. Attaching hashtags such as #CdnAgDay and #FarmLife to farm and food photos on social media is also encouraged.

“Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector contributes over $110 billion to our economy and Canada’s Agriculture Day is an excellent opportunity to take stock of our success and celebrate,” federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said in the same release.

The day’s marquee event, in Ottawa, is scheduled to include speakers “geared to building a better understanding and appreciation of the industry, as well as inspiring young people to consider the career opportunities in agriculture and agri-food.”

Among the speakers and panelists on deck for the Ottawa event are MacAulay, Quirks and Quarks host Bob McDonald, Save-On Foods president Darrell Jones, Richardson International CEO Curt Vossen, AGT CEO Murad Al-Katib, Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett and Farm Credit Canada CEO Michael Hoffort.

MacAulay on Tuesday afternoon is also scheduled to formally launch federal programs and activities under the Canadian Agriculture Partnership, the federal/provincial successor to the current Growing Forward 2 ag policy funding framework.

Crystal Mackay, president of the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity, noted in the same release that Canadians in a recent survey consider farmers among the most credible sources of information when making informed decisions about food.

“Farmers and the entire food system have a great story to tell which helps earn consumer trust and confidence in food,” Mackay said. “Consumers want to know
more, and Canada’s Agriculture Day is a great way to start the conversation in person and on social media.” — AGCanada.com Network

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