Federal representatives tour local farming businesses, participate in roundtable meeting
GUELPH, ON— The successes, issues and priorities of Northern Ontario agriculture are in the spotlight today as Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Honorable Marie-Claude Bibeau tours farms and agri-businesses in northeastern Ontario and meets with local industry leaders.
Minister Bibeau will be joined by Marc Serré, Member of Parliament for Nickel Belt and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Official Languages, as well as well as senior staff from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The group will be hosted by OFA President Peggy Brekveld, a dairy farmer from Thunder Bay, and Madeleine Beaudry, President of the West Nipissing Sudbury East Federation of Agriculture.
The tour is centered around the Sudbury area and will be followed by a roundtable meeting with local farmers to discuss the challenges currently facing farmers in the North and potential solutions that the federal government could help with.
“We appreciate the willingness of senior policymakers and staff to visit Northern Ontario and experience the diversity and distinctive flavour of agriculture and food in this region,” says Brekveld. “Farmers and rural communities in the North have needs and challenges that are often quite different from other parts of Ontario and we welcome the opportunity to share those priorities with our visitors today.”
The visit will begin at the Co-op Régionale Verner Ag Centre with a tour of the grain elevator and a plastic compactor and recycling project, followed by a stop at the Sucrerie Séguin Sugarbush & Creekbend Farm at Lavigne, which produces honey and maple syrup.
In Sturgeon Falls, the group will visit Springer Animal Hospital, and the tour will end in West Nipissing with a stop at Leisure Farms, a cash crop and agri-tourism business with pick-your-own strawberries and raspberries and an on-farm bakery.
Throughout the event, discussions will focus on key issues in the region, many of which also impact farmers across the entire province, including fertilizer tariffs, emissions reduction strategies, access to rural and large animal veterinary services, labour shortages, and seasonal and temporary foreign workers.
“We are very grateful to be hosting the Minister and members of our federal government for an in-depth farm tour of our district,” says Beaudry. “We believe this tour will provide an opportunity for everyone to visually understand the unique issues and challenges we face in northern Ontario as well as showcase our local agriculture.”
Source : OFA