The weather and the provincial election campaign are heating up in Ontario. With just over two weeks to go before the vote, party leaders are looking to rural Ontario — and the agriculture and food sector — for votes to win power in Ontario's fractured and dysfunctional political landscape. Can Premier Kathleen Wynne relegate the... Read More
Category: Food
When it comes to nutrition, it’s safe to say modern farmers are diet conscious about their animals. Farm animals have a whole industry looking after their best interests. Professionals such as animal nutritionists make sure livestock don’t make bad nutrition decisions. How many humans can say the same? Granted, that option’s mostly taken away from... Read More
For people with celiac disease, avoiding gluten — a protein complex found in wheat, barley, rye and triticale — is a medical necessity. Even small amounts of the protein can trigger bloating, gas and diarrhea, and can lead to eventual weight-loss and fatigue. Yet diagnosed celiac disease accounts for only roughly 1% of the population.... Read More
Jimmy Kimmel, late night talk show host for ABC, took to the streets recently in its Pedestrian Question segment to gain insight into the hard-hitting issues affecting Americans. In this video, Jimmy takes to the streets to talk to people that choose a gluten-free diet and asks them the simple question, "What is Gluten?" Hilarity... Read More
On a warm evening last summer, I sat around a backyard barbeque with a number of people my wife works with. This group tends to be quite removed from the farm, naturally because many of them were raised in the city, and now live and work there as well. When discussing where the delicious watermelon... Read More
The devil is in the details of a new two-year pilot program in Ontario designed to bring local food and wine together in farmers’ markets. But if the agri-food sector has enough patience to see it through, I believe everyone involved – farmers, wineries and consumers – can come out on top. Starting tomorrow, Ontario’s... Read More
Do you have that very famous lyric in the Don McLean song "American Pie," running in your head? You should. Organic farming — as we know it — could be over. No, I am not an organic farmer, but if I was, I would be very concerned about a new pricing concept being pushed by... Read More
With new varieties readily available, growing tiny crab apples isn't your only option, prairie-dwellers! In 2008, the University of Saskatchewan released Prairie Sensation, an apple evolved to our prairie climate, and at roughly seven to nearly 8.5 cm in diameter, it's no crab. Though apple trees are largely grown as a hobby, with keen interest... Read More
A number of years ago, one of the first farm meetings I attended as a young radio reporter on the agriculture beat had a speaker talking on a subject that few farmers had considered. It was on what role activism would play in food production down the road, and how farmers could react. At the... Read More
Some of you reading this have likely either consumed unpasteurized milk, or know someone who has, and been perfectly fine for the experience. Ditto for University of Guelph food scientist Prof. Art Hill, a leading authority on milk safety. Some 50 years ago on the family dairy farm on Manitoulin Island, he drank unpasteurized milk... Read More