In This Issue

• Happy New Year from FFCO!
• Canada's Agriculture Day: February 13, 2024
• Registration open for agricultural media training: March 26 or April 3, 2024
• Save the date: FFCO's annual meeting and speakers' conference, April 11, 2024
• Nominate a Food & Farming Champion
• Berry and dairy virtual reality tours added to FarmFood360.ca
• FarmFood360 - Agricultural Adaptation Council support
• The 2023 edition of The Real Dirt on Farming is available now
• Call for Breakfast on the Farm hosts
• Member Accolades
• Breakfast on the Farm guest testimonial
• FFCO welcomes new members

Happy New Year from FFCO!

Happy New Year from the Board of Directors and staff at Farm & Food Care Ontario.

We hope you and your loved ones had a chance to celebrate the season safely. Let's take a moment to look back at what we achieved in 2023 and look ahead to the possibilities for 2024. Wishing you all the best for a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.

Registration open for agricultural media training: March 26 or April 3, 2024

Farm & Food Care will offer two day-long agricultural media training sessions on Tuesday, March 26 or April 3, 2024 in Guelph.

This day-long, interactive session will give the participants the understanding of the media, the tools needed to prepare to face the media and an interview process that will give each person real life interview experience using cameras and interviewers.

The cost is $400 per person (FFCO member rate) or $500 per person (non-member rate) and includes coffee breaks, lunch and workshop materials.

The program is useful for board members and staff at commodity associations who speak regularly about issues related to their sectors or any primary producer who is asked to give farm tours or speak on behalf of agriculture at municipal council meetings or other events.

The day will cover learnings on:

• Understanding the media
• Media tips and techniques
• Key messages - what are you saying, who are you saying it to and why?
• Interview/public speaking techniques
• Dealing with difficult questions 
• Key Message – story development

To register, email [email protected] and indicate which date you would prefer.

FFCO's annual general meeting and speakers' program will be held at the Grandway Events Centre in Elora on Thursday, April 11, 2024.

The members-only business meeting will start early in the morning with the full program to follow afterwards.

Keynote speaker: Renowned Motivational Speaker Chris Koch

Koch doesn’t let limitations or obstacles stand in his way. Despite being born without arms and legs, Koch grew up like any other small-town kid — playing road hockey, causing mischief at school, and helping out on his family farm. Neither he or his family treated his disability like a tragedy, and instead used it to fuel his dreams. Today, Koch is a motivational speaker who inspires his audiences to continually challenge themselves and build the life they dream of. 

Born in Lethbridge, Alberta, Koch was raised in the small farming and ranching community of Nanton, Alberta. Koch loves sharing his story and spreading his message of, “If I Can…” An avid traveler, marathoner, and farmer, his presentation reflects his full life. Simply put, Koch says, if I can do what I’ve done so far in my life, what’s stopping others from doing the same?

More details on speakers and tickets will be announced in late January.

FFCO is accepting nominations for its annual Champion Award. The award is presented to individuals, organizations or businesses who have taken initiative to help engage consumers about agriculture in our province. Nominees have used their skills to help inform consumers or correct misinformation about production practices, and done a measurable job of promoting our industry.

Nominations are to be submitted by March 8, 2024. If you know someone you think should be honoured, please review the nomination form.

Pictured here is 2023 Food & Farming Champion Award winner Jean Sullivan.

Berry and dairy virtual reality tours added to FarmFood360.ca

Two new Virtual Reality tours, filmed throughout 2023 on Ontario berry and dairy farms, have been added to the popular FarmFood360 website that attracts over one million visitors each year, joining the 26 farm and food processing tours already filmed and available for viewing. 

The tours were developed by Farm & Food Care Ontario (FFCO) in partnership with Berry Growers of Ontario (BGO), the Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC) and Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO). The project was also funded, in part, through the AgriCompetitiveness program of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal, provincial, territorial initiative.

Thank you to Nelson Dunk and the team at Skylight Productions and Project Manager Jess Campbell of Fresh Air Media for all their work on this year's 360 tours. 

FarmFood360 Program - AAC support

The Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC) and FFCO are pleased to open the 2024 applications for the FarmFood360 program to support AAC members with their public outreach activities.

The AAC FarmFood360° Program will assist AAC member organizations in creating Virtual Reality tour projects of their commodity association or agribusiness. The project will be funded through AAC’s Strategic Initiatives Fund and will support up to 50 percent of the cost (approximately a $17,000 savings) to create a series of five videos to be housed at www.FarmFood360.ca. Funds will be available for up to three members to participate.

Today, the site features online tours of 28 Canadian farms and food processing facilities. A new educator resource was developed in 2022 by Agriculture in the Classroom Canada to augment the website, giving teachers suggestions on how to use the site in their classrooms and options for curriculum-based learning activities for each tour. Annually, the site and its tours receive more than one million visitors.

Review the Program Guidelines and the FarmFood360 backgrounder before completing the application. Completed applications must be emailed as a Word document to [email protected], no later February 16, 2024 at 4:30 p.m. (EST). If you have any questions, please reach out the AAC staff at [email protected] and we can assist you.

The 2023 edition of The Real Dirt on Farming is now available

The sixth edition of the Real Dirt on Farming is now available in English and French and covers big topics being talked about currently in Canadian agriculture – from farmer mental health to the critical work done by seasonal agricultural workers; sustainability, food inflation, food insecurity and food waste, climate change, plant breeding, animal welfare and more. It also features farmer and researcher profiles from across the country – from the Yukon to Newfoundland and all points in between.



A digest version will be available shortly as well a digital educator resource coming from Agriculture in the Classroom Canada and a new 4-H manual from 4-H Ontario. Distribution of the booklet is also underway with plans for mainstream media inserts and mailings to politicians across Canada.

Call for Breakfast on the Farm hosts

Are you interested in helping with one of Ontario's biggest agricultural outreach activities? Why not consider hosting a Breakfast on the Farm in 2024?

FFCO is looking for host farms (in different parts of Ontario) who would be willing to host. FFCO staff will take the lead, working with you and a local volunteer committee to ensure that the event is a success.  

Interested in knowing more? Feel free to contact the office to talk about your farm and what's required of a host family. Call 519-837-1326, extension 221 or email [email protected] with your questions. Applications can be downloaded and then submitted to Farm & Food Care.

2024 entries will be received until January 30, 2024.

Above: Breakfast on the Farm hosts from 2023 (L-R): Joanne and Kevin McLean from Napanee, Ontario; Jean and Lucille Laprise from Pain Court, Ontario; and Arletta and Steve Hallahan from Blyth, Ontario.

Member accolades:

Lactanet Canada and Semex win prestigious Innovation in Climate Action award 

Lactanet Canada and Semex have received a prestigious Dairy Innovation Award: “Innovation in Climate Action”, from the International Dairy Federation (IDF). Nominated by Dairy Farmers of Canada, Lactanet and Semex were recognized during the IDF World Dairy Summit in Chicago, Illinois, for developing Canada’s Methane Efficiency genetic evaluation.

Picture: Mike Lohuis, Vice President, Research & Innovation at Semex and Brian Van Doormaal, Chief Services Officer at Lactanet. (Photo from Lactanet Canada.)

Jim Campbell of AGRIS Co-operative named Agriculturalist of the Year

Jim Campbell, General Manager of Agris Co-operative for the past 25 years, was named Agriculturist of the Year at the Chatham-Kent Chamber of Commerce 77th Rural Urban Awards.

Picture above: Jim Campbell, General Manager of AGRIS Co-operative with Carson Burtwistle, Senior Agriculture Relationship Manager at RBC.

John Taylor, recipient of the Insurance Institute of Canada’s Established Leader Award for 2023

Congratulations to FFCO's board member and treasurer, John Taylor named 2023 recipient of the Insurance Institute of Canada’s Established Leader award.

John has been president of the Ontario Mutual Insurance Association (OMIA) since 2009.

Breakfast on the Farm guest testimonial

"Thank you for your time and energy. We loved the breakfast and talked to a number of farmers at the exhibit who were very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about teaching us more about farming. It was informative and even though a lot of the questions to them must have seemed a bit silly one never felt put down and came away satisfied."

- Breakfast on the Farm guest at Napanee in August, 2023.

FFCO welcomes new members

FFCO welcomes the following new members:

Silver member

• Maple Leaf Foods

Supporter member

• Jason Leblond

Individual members

• C&R Renwick Seeds
• Cornelissen Farms Inc.
• Jeff Harrison
• Henry Swierenga
• Andrea Veldhuizen

Thank you for your membership and support as we continue to educate and bring awareness of food and farming to consumers in Ontario and across Canada.

Renew your membership for 2024

It's time to renew your FFCO membership for 2023. Individual and supporter members can visit the link below to renew your membership. Continue your support of the important work for Farm & Food Care Ontario and help build public trust and shared understanding of agriculture in Ontario.