Plant closings in Ontario

May 7, 2008 · Filed under Interesting News

Last week, the news that a plant is going to close in the area I’ve just moved to.  This type of news is appearing more and more lately, making many of us wonder how long it can continue for.  The latest is Campbell’s Soups in Listowel.  In a town of 2000-3000 people, the plant is one of two, and employs between 400 and 500 full time.  Listowel is the largest town in the area, and the plant and its workers are a large part of the community.  Many people are wondering what is going to happen now.  As much as the town says they are planning a job retraining centre for the employees and will be trying to attract another business of similar size to the plant, it’s hard to say how successful it will be.  With plants closing all over Ontario, why would one suddenly start up fresh in a different area?

While my husband and I were on our honeymoon, we saw some of the effects a plant closing could have.  We were touring around Ontario and decided to stop at Smiths Falls to see the Hershey factory.  As we walked through the tour pathway, we saw that only one line was running.  This plant, too, is pegged for closure, and will have all lines shut down shortly.  The store will stay open for another year or so.  Already you could see some of the effects on the town.  Houses for sale, no employees wanted signs in sight, and very empty streets.  I’m sure if we would have been there longer, we could have noticed many more effects, but it was just a quick stop on the way past. 

Larger centres are having plants closed too, and everyone seems to just be waiting to find out what plant is closing next, and how the workers will find a new job.  In the bigger cities, there is a better chance of finding another job, but here in the small rural communities, there are not many available jobs to start with.  To shut down one of the major employers will have dramatic consequences.

Also on our honeymoon, we went through Niagara-on-the-lake.  Suddenly the news is full of how, since the CanGro fruit canning plant was not purchased by the end of March, that plant will also be closing.  As a result, there are a large amount of peach trees being torn up, because they are processing varieties instead of varieties for eating fresh.  Farmers are trying to find ways to fill the void and think of what else they can plant, but at the same time, they are devastated about the loss and are still in shock.

What is happening to the Ontario I grew up in, where there were opportunities everywhere and business was booming?  Suddenly we see the impact a high Canadian dollar, high fuel prices, more imported goods, and many other factors, can have on an economy.  People think they are safe in their job, but suddenly, after years of work, find themselves with no job and no security.  I hope that soon we find a new balance, and the news about closings stops.  For right now, we are all just sitting tight and waiting, and everyone who does not work in a factory is breathing a little easier than the ones who are.

There can be opportunities in plant closings.  People can be given the chance to get job training they otherwise couldn’t afford, employers who had openings can get them filled, and a community can find another stable state, hopefully without loosing too much in the process.  However, the effects can also be devastating, and right now there are many places wondering which course time will take in their area.  I hope we find some niche that Ontario products can fill, where jobs will be created and communities built, but for right now, we all will just sit and wait to find out what the future holds.

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Settling into the life of a farmer’s wife

April 22, 2008 · Filed under Agriculture, My Life

At the start of the month I was married, despite all claims I made when I was younger, to a farmer.  After a perfect week-long honeymoon where no one could get a hold of us because no one knew where we were going, it has been back to reality for a week now.  I am also remembering why I said I would never marry a farmer when I was younger.  Because they are rarely in the house.  Things have been going very well since we were married, don’t get me wrong.  But, it is spring time and the fields are calling.  In the later part of last week, and especially over the weekend, I found myself having lots of time in the house to unpack wedding gifts, arrange where things would go, and get closer to being able to unpack all of my boxes from the move.  However, I did not see much of Daryl, because he was cultivating and chisel plowing.  Thankfully, his dad did the seeding and spread the manure, so Daryl didn’t spend as much time in the field as he would have if he was farming on his own.  Now that the fields are done until the corn goes in and the hay comes off, it is again time for me to be in the house while Daryl moves the cattle and heifers around for the summer. 

I know one day I will miss these days of having time to spend in the house all alone.  There is a lot of things for me to do right now, since I have just moved and the house needs to be unpacked, and that has been keeping me very busy.  Also, there is school work to do, and working at my full time job during the week.  It is hard to be bored.

Since I am finally in a farmhouse, instead of the student houses I lived in while I was at school, or the apartment I lived in between school and getting married, I have a lot of things to look forward to.  I can finally have a garden and flowerbeds, although they will have to be simple with all of my previous time commitments.  And I will also be able to have a nice big yard where we can set up the volleyball net and have people over during the summer.  I gained a cat and dog with the marriage, so I now have animals around me again, although I can’t be in the barn with the cattle at this point.  I can, however, go to the fence and see the cattle on pasture.  The house is always cool, so I can look forward to not being uncomfortably hot like I was in several of the places I’ve lived over the past 5 years.  I also will be able to know that the things in the house are ours, and don’t have to worry about using someone else’s ketchup or favourite dish when meal times come around.  At meal times, I find myself being able to cook a nice meal and try new recipies to fill the time between getting home from work, and Daryl getting in from the barn.  So far they’ve been going well, but I know at some point something will happen and the meal will not be perfect.  It’s a good thing I’ve cooked lots of meals for Daryl over the past two and a half years so he knows that every once in a while the food may be a little dark, or the rice may be a little dry.

All things considered, everything is going great, and I’m loving the married life.  My family has also been up to visit at least once each, if not twice, in the week since we’ve been back.  That is quite the feat when it’s a two and a half hour drive and they have farms to manage back home.  I know the frequency of their visits will drop off a little bit now until things are quiet on all of the farms again.  I am incredibly lucky to have such a great husband and great family, because the adjustment is going great.  Postings to my blog will be less frequent now, however, because while I was gone the internet filter at work was updated, and blogs are now blocked, so my lunchtime postings will have to stop.  But, since it is spring, life on the farm is getting busy, so postings would have slowed no matter what.  Here in Southwestern Ontario, the tractors are rolling and the livestock are going out on pasture, and we’re seeing great weather for spring now that the snow has finally melted.

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Agriculture in the Media

April 1, 2008 · Filed under Ag Communications, Agriculture

The University of Tennessee has an ag policy website which has an interesting article about the markets and pricing.  A large focus in the article is about the presence of agriculture in mainstream media.

An issue which has been recognized by many in agriculture is that unless something happens which will be seen as bad for the consumer, it is very hard to get the agriculture story out.  Currently, the high prices of grains are in the news and being blamed for rising food costs, but in many cases the reporters do not have the background information needed to know the full extent of the high prices, or how the market will be impacted as a whole.

The author states that there are very few times in history when the agricultural markets were supply driven instead of demand driven, so he cautions trusting people who say the prices have reached a new plateau and will not drop.

The article makes for a very interesting read, especially since one of the big issues we are facing in my agricultural communications course is just how to get mainstream media to publish more agricultural stories, and how to pitch the story so they can see the value in running it.  Also, we are hoping with the establishment and increasing knowledge of our courses the number of people in agriculture who are media trained will increase, allowing for more agricultural stories to be shared.  The course will be starting its second year September of 2008.

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Project SOY 2008

March 26, 2008 · Filed under Ag Communications, Agriculture, Interesting News

dsc01415-2.jpgThe 12th annual Project SOY was held at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food building in Guelph today.  The University of Guelph has hosted this event annually since Peter Hannam developed the idea.  Current students at the University of Guelph and its satelite campuses are asked to deveop new products out of soybeans or soybean products.  These items could range from food products to items such as ink or boards. 

Although the majority of students are in their final year of school, all are encouraged to participate.  Once students have decided to participate, they must create a product that is marketable, write a paper about the product, and create a display with samples to use for the presentation portion of the project.  Months of work culminate into one high-energy day. 

Students are required to be part of a juding process throughout the morning, where industry leaders speak with each group and question them about their product, what makes it special, and what they encountered while creating it.  At noon, the displays are opened to the public, where everyone interested can attend and see what the students have created.  At 2pm comes the time everyone has been waiting for, when the winners are announced. 

This year the quality of projects was very high, as in past years, and all who participated were glad for the opportunity it gave them to test themselves and combine knowledge from a variety of courses.  For the openhouse and awards segment, many people from the industry, including dignitaries such as Hon. Leona Dombrowsky and U of G president Alastair Summerlee, who are pictured above.

This year, as part of the Agricultural Communications program, the course students were asked to cover the event as photographers, which was a uniqe and rewarding experience.

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Canadian Dairy Innovation Funding

March 26, 2008 · Filed under Uncategorized

The Canadian government has decided to invest $925 000 for innovation in the dairy industry.  This money can be used for product development, allowing consumers to have a wider variety of high-quality dairy products. 

 The Canadian dairy industry has been creating many new products in the past few years, and this government support shows how important the innovation being shown is.  One application being considered for the money is the creation of nutraceutical dairy products such as probiotic cheeses.

This funding will be very helpful as dairy processors continue to search for ways to differentiate their products and develop new products.  It will also benefit producers and consumers for a variety of reasons.  The more products are made with milk, the more opportunity there is for producers to become involved and promote a variety of uses for their product.  If the products can be given nutraceutical value, it will also help producers because milk products will be able to be sold as health-based foods.  Consumers will always benefit by innovation in the food industry, as it provides them with a greater variety of high quality foods to choose from. 

It will be  very interesting to see what the results of this new funding are, and which new products will be developed because of it.

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Finding use for agricultural waste

March 14, 2008 · Filed under Uncategorized

Think Plastics, out of New Hamburg, is expanding product linesand plant sites.  This company takes bale wrap, greenhouse plastics and similar by-products, and turns them into plastic lumber products called Baleboard.

The latest change is that a new colour will be available at the start of April, but there are also new collection sites being created so more farmers can take advantage of Think Plastics technology. 

As helpful as baleage technology is for  farmers, it does generate waste.  It is great to see that innovative people have found a way to turn waste into a product with many uses.  This technology is becoming more and more well-known as time goes on and the industry expands. 

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OPA Convention 2008

March 4, 2008 · Filed under Uncategorized

Plowman’s Associations from across Ontario met from Feb. 29-March 2 at the Arden Park Hotel in Stratford, ON for their conference and annual meeting.

 The Ontario Plowman’s Association has one such meeting a year, and it is during the course of the weekend that all new executive is named and some key decisions for upcoming events are made.  Also present at the convention are Queens of the Furrow from the county and regional associations. 

This year there are 35 queens in Ontario, and all will be competing for the title of Ontario Queen of the Furrow at the 2008 International Plowing Match in Teeswater, ON.  The IPM will be held Sept. 16-20 this year, and will also have a rural expo filled with information and display booths.

The queen program at the conference consisted of telling the queens what to expect in the fall, how to prepare for the competition, and giving everyone a chance to get acquainted.  There was also a tour of Rheo Thompson Chocolates in Stratford, and time to explore downtown.

Everyone who attended the conference, no matter what level they attended at, left enthusiastic about the upcoming match, and looking forward to seeing each other again.

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Bombproof Seed Storage

February 27, 2008 · Filed under Uncategorized

There is a new way for countries to store native seeds.  A seed vault has been built into a mountain, where it will be surrounded by permafrost.  It has been claimed the vault can withstand any type of foreseeable disaster, from extreme global warming to nuclear war.  Countries will be able to store seeds in the vault free of charge, without changing the ownership rights.  The first seeds were put into the vault yesterday, making a total of approximately 100 million seeds from 268,000 varieties, including several samples from Canada.

As seeds near the end of their storage life, they will be sent back to the country they originated from for planting, so that new seeds can be cultivated for storage.  Some seeds will only survive for decades in storage, while other ones survive for centuries.

 Countries are currently storing seeds in domestic and international locations, but the advantage to the new vault is the ability to withstand so many disasters, and the fact that even if there is a power outage, the vault will not reach temperatures above -4 Celsius.

It is interesting to see how countries protect their native plants, making it possible for the genetics to be accessed for years.  This project has been designed to protect future generations from food shortages, since even if plants become extinct, they can still be grown from the seeds. 

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Chicken litter for lighting

February 18, 2008 · Filed under Agriculture, Interesting News

While reading my blog, a friend pointed me in the direction of an additional story concerning using animal byproducts for energy sources.  It seems that a company in North Carolina is in the process of starting plants which will burn dirty chicken litter, and in return, convert it to an energy source to power homes and businesses.

 People become more concerned about the environment every day, but with the level of technology we have achieved we cannot stop using electricity.  My feelings are that as time goes on, more and more of these initiatives to use waste products for energy will appear.  Currently, many seem to be focused on animal manure and bedding, but in the future, this could also expand to byproducts from industrial plants, or from the byproducts of processing agricultural crops or household waste.  Wouldn’t it be great if garbage could be turned into something useful, instead of something to fill numerous dumps and landfills, taking away from the beauty of the country areas surrounding cities?

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Hydro from manure

February 8, 2008 · Filed under Agriculture, Interesting News

Will energy of the future come from bio-solids such as manure?  It appears that in London, this will be reality sooner rather than later.  Methane gas, used from composting manure and food scraps, will provide an alternative energy for consumers who are environmentally conscious.

 A program for food banks will also be created, where retailers can give the company food that is good quality but not being sold, and it will be donated to local food banks.

 Projects like this have been undertaken in the past, but this will be a large scale operation.  This technology can be used on any scale, and is even in use in Costa Rica, where Earth University uses it to power the barns, at least in part.

 There are many different alternative energy initiatives out there…now the people producing them will just have to keep the public informed, and hopefully begin to change the public over to using alternative energy sources.

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