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In This Issue: Charitable status Ontario's Harvest Gala Union Station event Fall tours Royal Agricultural Winter Fair Breakfast on the Farm seeking 2020 hosts FFCO is moving Member testimonial

FFCO is now a registered Canadian charity Farm & Food Care Ontario is pleased to announce that it has achieved status as a Registered Canadian Charity. This change in status, from non profit to a charity, will open up new opportunities for FFCO. Charitable status will enable this organization to recognize philanthropic support with charitable tax receipts, and will allow it to qualify as an applicant to more funding agencies. We look forward to seeing this natural progression take action. To read the press release, click here.

Ontario's Harvest Gala 2019 On October 24th, agriculture's finest gathered at the Delta Hotel in Guelph to celebrate Ontario's abundance and the people who make it happen. The 12th annual event hosted 225 farmers, agri-business people, volunteers and many other supporters of FFCO for an evening of dining and socializing. The heads and tails game, led by dairy farmer Andrew Campbell, raised $2500 for FFCO's outreach activities. Thank you to event sponsors, table sponsors and everyone who attended and supported Farm & Food Care.

Amanda King of Feed Ontario presents the 2019 Paul Mistele award to Ed Benjamins, Chair of Chicken Farmers of Ontario. To read the press release, click here

Heads and Tails winner Katie Kelly of RBC, with her prize donated by Sportswood Printing. She won two tickets to a Toronto Maple Leafs game.

Thank you to the following table sponsors: BDO Burnbrae Farms Chicken Farmers of Ontario Conestoga Meats Dairy Farmers of Ontario Egg Farmers of Ontario Farm Credit Canada Floradale Feed Mill Grain Farmers of Ontario Gray Ridge Farms Hendrix Genetics New Life Mills Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association Ontario Federation of Agriculture Ontario Pork SeCan Trouw Nutrition Wallenstein Feed and Supply LTD.

Union Station event On October 10th, in celebration of Ontario Agriculture Week, FFCO partnered with it's members and 40 volunteers and headed into the Go York Concourse. Building on the success of last years event, a pop-up activation was held where breakfast sandwiches were handed out in the morning, and beef pepperettes, greenhouse-grown tomatoes and strawberries were given to commuters for their trip home. The purpose was to wish commuters a happy Ontario Agriculture Week and thank them for supporting Ontario’s farm families.  The Toronto transportation hub services almost 300,000 visitors daily and commuters appeared grateful for the surprise and the opportunity to meet a real farmer! Thank you to supporters and volunteers who made this event possible.

Fall farm tours Farm & Food Care Ontario has hosted two tours this fall. The first was on October 1st with food influencers from the Ottawa Region. Stops included the Drouin family turkey farm at Plantagenet and Cedar Lodge grain farm (the Schneckenburger family) at Morrisburg. An all-Ontario lunch was catered by Take Another Bite.

The second tour was on October 23rd for Registered Dietitians from Toronto and area to Niagara region. They stopped at Devries family chicken farm and Vineland Growers Co-operative to discuss fruit packaging and processing. An all Ontario lunch was served at Vineland Estates and Winery. FFCO would like to thank CropLife Canada, Canola Eat Well, Chicken Farmers of Canada and Turkey Farmers of Ontario for partnering on these tours.

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair Farm & Food Care Ontario will be returning to The Royal November 1st-10th, partnering again with Ontario Federation of Agriculture to display the FarmFood360 virtual reality booth including the seven new tours that have been launched in 2019: Feed mill, free range and free run egg farms, egg processing, apple orchard and pig farm. Drop by the booth located in the Farm to Table Discovery Zone.

We are accepting applications to host two Breakfast on the Farm events in 2020. The application is available here. If you're considering it and want to talk over your ideas, please contact info@farmfoodcare.org or call 519-837-1326, extension 224. The deadline for applications is November 30, 2019.

Farm & Food Care is moving After 14 years in the Ontario AgriCentre, Farm & Food Care will be moving offices on December 1. Our new mailing address will be 660 Speedvale Avenue West, Unit #302, Guelph ON N1K 1E5. Appreciation goes to the Ontario AgriCentre and the Hannam family, specifically, for being outstanding landlords and supporters of this organization during our years on Stone Road in Guelph.

Member Testimonial: "Recognizing that Farm & Food Care is an agricultural industry influencer, becoming a member was an easy decision for us at Trillium Mutual Insurance. We respect and value the services that they provide to the farming community as well as the education they offer to those without an agricultural background. We have been fortunate to experience the ‘Breakfast on the Farm’ series both from a sponsor and from a volunteer position. Our focus is to understand the changing needs of today’s farmer whether it be driven by technology, regulations or weather. We use this information to strengthen our farm insurance products to mitigate/eliminate the financial risk associated with farming. Couple that with our Real Ontario Farm Brokers, accredited experts in farm insurance and you have a farming community that can focus on farming. Farm & Food Care provides a great networking environment for any business with ties to the Ag sector." Larry Holmes, Trillium Mutual Insurance

info@farmfoodcare.org  |  FarmFoodCareON.org

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