LONDON, Ont. – Chicken producers may one day have a new perspective on the manure litter they remove from their barns. The smelly waste product could end up being more valuable than the meat. “There are more than 500 chemicals in chicken manure,” Agriculture Canada researcher Zakir Kazi told a recent Growing the Margins conference […] Read more
Stories by Jeffrey Carter
Vancouver Island beekeepers seek answers to colony deaths
LONDON, Ont. – Chicken producers may one day have a new perspective on the manure litter they remove from their barns. The smelly waste product could end up being more valuable than the meat. “There are more than 500 chemicals in chicken manure,” Agriculture Canada researcher Zakir Kazi told a recent Growing the Margins conference […] Read more
Big or small: organics contemplates future model
GUELPH, Ont. – Where now? The question appeared to divide speakers at the Guelph Organic Conference earlier this year. Toronto author Margaret Webb advocated a revolutionary “small is beautiful” approach that would replace the current marketplace with a new economy of “co-operation, justice and fair play.” She said food can be democratized with distribution alternatives […] Read more
Ont. farm realizes success through diversity
GUELPH, Ont. – It didn’t take long for Peter Johnson to discover he would need to do more than deliver organic salad greens to restaurants if he was to become a successful farmer. That’s how the Vermont native started his business on four acres of cleared ground. Little more than a decade later, Johnson and […] Read more
American hog producers see rainbow on horizon
RIDGETOWN, Ont. – American hog producers have become increasingly optimistic about prices in recent weeks, but production issues remain a worry. Minnesota veterinarian Mike Brumm told Ontario producers at a recent meeting in Ridgetown that hog farmers in his area have been paying as much as $52 for weanlings and $72 for 40 pound feeder […] Read more
Billy Bee thinks green
LONDON, Ont. – Billy Bee might be a honey company, but its owners hope to become a lot more than that. Representatives of the company’s new owners, who relocated the business to London from Toronto last year, are interested in solar energy, beeswax reclamation and biogas production from its honey-laced effluent. “We’re looking at those […] Read more
Info on planting intentions would benefit all spud growers
CAMBRIDGE, Ont. – North American potato growers are convinced they need to take the lid off their production plans if they hope to remain profitable. As a result, representatives from United Potato Growers of Canada, United Potato Growers of America and the Potato Marketing Association of North America meet once a month to share market […] Read more
Global Fruit founder plans apple revolution
DRESDEN, Ont. – Investors in an Ontario apple company have already demonstrated that European-style growing techniques can dramatically increase yields in the province. The next step is to demonstrate profitability. Hans Soer is confident Global Fruit, which he founded, will be a winner. “If you want to be innovative, you need money,” he said. “It’s […] Read more
Newly hatched ideas get help staying alive with incubator
SARNIA, Ont. – Food processing can be profitable, but success isn’t guaranteed. That’s where the Toronto Food Business Incubator comes in. The federally supported program helps budding entrepreneurs introduce their food to consumers while avoiding business pitfalls. Michael Wolfson, food and beverage specialist with Toronto Economic Development, says too many new businesses fail when they […] Read more
Ont. hog producers look at U.K. system
DRESDEN, Ont. – Ontario pork industry leaders are urged to consider a British model as they look for a way out of the hog price crisis. Steve Thomas, who now works as an animal health products representative in Ontario, sat on the National Pork Association’s (NPA) allied industry committee in the United Kingdom as it […] Read more
