Farms
Farming everywhere is being linked to economic recovery
Guelph Mercury / Owen Roberts / 30 January 2012
Globally, farm subsidy cutbacks were all the rage before the financial crisis hit. Now, though, don’t expect to see them attacked with the same gusto — especially not this year, the 50th anniversary of the Common Agricultural Policy. Europe even has created a campaign to celebrate the policy, called CAP@50. Dacian Ciolos, Europe’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, says back in 1962, Europeans were mainly worried about food shortages. Food security is still important, he says, but so are new concerns such as climate change and sustainability.
Those additional concerns are reflected in policy reforms that bolster support for European farmers who take eco-measures on their land, such as setting aside part of their land for nature preserves and hedgerows. Waite says the commission wants farmers to dedicate seven per cent of their land for “ecological focus,” and will support them for doing so. He says Europe is also prepared to invest in research that saves the environment from creeping or chronic problems such as greenhouse gas emissions and water scarcity.
Individually, European countries are taking a similar tact. Troubled Hungary, for example, has declared itself primarily an agricultural country. Such a proclamation would have once been considered archaic. But Prime Minister Viktor Orban says an economic model based on agricultural production rather than on industry should not be dismissed. Future wars will be waged over soil and water, he predicts, adding that Hungarians should rely on their own farmers’ production rather than on imported “junk.”
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Limestone Organic Creamery pioneers farmgate milk sales
Eastern Ontario AgriNews / December 2011
Eastern Ontario's first organic dairy farm to legally process and sell its own milk direct from the farm is set to open in early 2012. Construction on the Limestone Organic Creamery began in late October on the third-generation farm operated by the Groenewegen family north of Kingston and is slated to be finished by the end of January.
The joint venture between the Dairy Farmers of Ontario and the Limestone Organic Creamery is one of five pilot projects announced earlier this year by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) to produce, market and gauge the demand for dairy products made with milk from specific herds of cattle.
Farming the benefits of biogas at Ledgecroft
Eastern Ontario AgriNews / December 2011
Two years ago, Ledgecroft Farms installed a biogas plant that generates methane gas from manure and off-farm source material, mainly fats, oils and greases (FOGs) from restaurant grease traps. Today it supplies enough electricity to the Hydro One grid to power 400 homes and provides heat to the farm and biogas system.
Not only does the process convert methane into electricity, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but it also results in a residual digested material that is virtually odour- and pathogen-free that can be used as an organic soil amendment.
It is this digestate that is spread on the fields at Ledgecroft Farms, on the over 800 acres used to produce grains for its herd. "We're spreading today and you can't smell it," says Glenn Green.
Video: The Economic Prospects for Food Localization
Plantagenet: OSP Installs FIT Compliant Solar Energy System at Drouin Farms
PRWeb / Press Release / 06 October 2011
Drouin Farms, a large family run egg producer who has made the commitment to move to organic farming, is now taking its operations solar with a 250 kW solar energy system. The solar energy system was installed by Ottawa Solar Power, the largest provider of solar solutions in Eastern Ontario. Leveraging Ontario’s FIT program, the new solar energy system will provide Drouin Farms an additional revenue stream to diversify its income and expands its operations. The Drouin Farms solar project will produce energy generation revenue that is expected to achieve up to 11% return on their investment and will reach its financial break even point in less than 8 years. Producing over 300,000 kWh per year, the project achieves significant environmental benefits by reducing CO2 emissions from non renewable power generation by 2,800 tons annually and produce the energy equivalent to the power consumption of 30 average homes.
Vancouver: Wallets will soon feel effect of climate change
Vancouver Sun / Gordon Hamilton / 19 October 2011
Higher costs for city water, rising home-insurance rates as sea levels rise, and programs to encourage people to leave their fossil-fuel-burning cars at home were cited Tuesday as ways that climate change is, or soon will be, hitting home for B.C. residents.
That was the message from a panel at the opening session of BC Hydro's 2011 Power Smart Forum speaking on how a changing climate is affecting the business environment. Business, government and residents need to begin adapting so that the province will be more resilient as climate-change effects become more obvious, panelists said.
