ONTARIO Agricultural CONFERENCE – From Good to Great!

Sep 15, 2023

The ONTARIO Agricultural CONFERENCE is excited to bring you to the next level with our 2024 conference (#OAgC24). Using the excellent feedback from attendees over the past years, the conference is expanding to offer even more opportunities for in-person learning, while maintaining the excellent access to sessions with our virtual format as well.

The 2024 conference will offer attendees the opportunity to join the conference In-Person at 3 separate locations on 3 different dates in January! Ridgetown, Waterloo and Kemptville will all offer In-Person options, while those choosing the virtual conference will be able to access sessions from their home computer and mobile devices, anywhere they happen to be. Of course, In-Person attendees at any location will have access to all virtual sessions as well, right up to March 31, 2024.

January 3, 2024, the Virtual Kickoff gets the conference underway. All participants are invited to participate virtually, with 4 key sessions streamed to viewers, as well as many ON DEMAND sessions available that day.

January 4 & 5, 2024, the Southwestern Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown offers the first In-Person opportunity. There will be four consecutive sessions every hour offering attendees a much greater selection than the 2023 conference. New this year is a special 2-hour combine clinic offered twice each day.

Returning, of course, is the ever popular “Taste of Ontario” Social on January 4, and our traditional trade show with the latest in crop production technology.

January 16, 2024, the Eastern Ontario Crop Conference hosts the second In-Person day of the conference in Kemptville, with 2 exciting concurrent sessions every hour, a trade show for great discussions and more!

January 19, 2024, the Midwestern Agricultural Conference wraps up the In-Person days in Waterloo, with a deep dive into Managing Soils, one of the most critical components of farming. Of course, there will be a trade show, and lots of excellent discussion.

Sessions from all 3 In-Person events will be recorded and included as ON DEMAND sessions as they become available, to allow all conference attendees access to the incredible information that will be delivered. All recorded sessions will be available virtually until March 31, 2024.

As well, back by popular demand, TEC Talk Tuesdays will allow participants to join the discussion as conference speakers dig into selected topics in more detail on Tuesday evenings through January and February, 7:27 pm sharp.

Check our website www.ontarioagconference.ca or follow us on twitter @OAgC24 and stay tuned for more details on what promises to be our best conference ever!!

Mark your calendars! Registration opens November 1, and In-Person capacity is limited, so early registration for these events is essential.

Source : UO Guleph

Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

Today, through creative partnerships and a commitment to the five principles of regenerative agriculture, Will is reintroducing diversity, building soil health and extending living roots in the ground for as much of the year as possible. Whether it’s through intercropping, zero tillage (which he’s practiced since the 1980s) or managing forage for visiting cattle, Will’s approach is a testament to continuous learning and a willingness to challenge old norms.

Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.