Nos présentateurs du samedi
Plénière
Steve et Tim Beauchesne
Steve Beauchesne, co-fondateur de Beau's All Natural Brewing Company nous fera part de la croissance de sa brasserie familiale ayant bâti une marque modèle dans le contexte d’un marché très dur en fixant les yeux sur leurs objectifs de créer une bière bio, d’appuyer leur communauté et de poursuivre des pratiques renouvelables. Steve nous parlera de l’importance d’établir des objectifs non-financiers pour créer une culture autour de son enterprise et de tourner ses clients en ‘mordus’ et de rendre ses employées des associés. Il discutera des sacrifices qu’un propriétaire d’entreprise doit faire pour créer une histoire vraiment motivante. Au lieu d’être une enterprise de produits, elle deviendra un centre de ralliement pour d’autres croyants.
A: Producing garlic for pleasure & profit
Connie Horbas
Rainbow Farm
Connie owns and operates Rainbow Farm on Paragon Road just east of Cornwall. She has been on this property for the past 19 years, and has tried her hand at many different farming activities. She now has a mixed farm,with sheep, goats, milking cows, plus a variety of small animals, ducks, chickens for eggs and meat and rabbits. She also makes butter, cheese, and sausages. She also has an acre garden of vegetables which makes for sustainable living on the farm. In addition to her farm she and her partner Don Conroy put in between 5 and 10 thousand garlic a year which is sold very quickly at the door, and to a brisk Montreal market. She has been growing garlic for market for the past 10 years.
Connie will be giving a talk on growing garlic, both for pleasure, and for profit. She will take you through the steps of growing great garlic. Growing garlic is not without it problems, as she spent one year plowing under 10 thousand garlic, so she has learned some of the pitfalls of growing garlic and hopes to share some of her good and bad experiences with you.
B: Equipment Selection
and Planning for New
Market Gardeners
Reid Allaway
Tourne-Sol Co-operative Farm
www.fermetournesol.qc.ca/eng/welcome.html
Reid Allaway is a full time organic vegetable farmer and machinery geek in les Cèdres, QC. One of five founding members of Tourne-Sol Co-operative Farm, he has been responsible for the farm's machinery and infrastructure, green manures, and even a few vegetable crops since 2005. Tourne-Sol is a certified organic medium-scale CSA and market garden operation which also produces and markets seed, herbs, and cut flowers.
A self taught mechanic and generally inquisitive type Reid relishes the chance to dismantle something new or chat about improving or modifying something old. Thanks to Tourne-Sol's apprenticeship program and various speaking engagements, Reid gets lots of exposure to the enthusiasm of young and future farmers while hopefully passing on some useful advice. Reid is a strong proponent of organic farming and the metric system.
C: Co-operating for Success - Bringing Farmers and Consumers
Together
Russ Christianson
CoopZone Developer
For twenty-seven years, Russ has worked with farmers, consumers, retailers, distributors, processors, co-operatives, governments, and environmental organizations to increase the market share for local organic food. As the General Manager of the Ontario Federation of Food Co-ops and Clubs, he led the organization’s re-positioning as a premier organic food distributor. In the late 1980s, he worked with Kagiwiosa Manomin, an Ojibway owned wild rice processor, to develop Canada’s first domestic fair trade product – certified organic wild rice. Together with Mary Lou Morgan, Russ founded Origins Co-operative, creating a national label for organic foods. Russ was also instrumental in negotiating a separate pool for organic milk in Ontario. He was a member and Co-Chair of the Toronto Food Policy Council during its first four years of operation.
D: Using the Internet to Connect Farmers and Consumers
Andy Storm
The Farm E-Store
613-366-8678
andy@farmestore.com
http://farmestore.com/
Andy Storm earned his Masters Degree in the Science of Systems and Computers in 1997 and has embarked on a quest to discover ways to improve business operational processes by using the information technology. He has since found creative ways to deliver several multi-million dollar projects and, in the process, developed a keen interest in applying his knowledge to help improve our food system.
Andy Storm, Farm Products Promoter at Farm e-Store will introduce you to the world of online marketing summarizing an overwhelming amount of information into easy to digest bits. From building your own website using readily available free packages to creating an online store and promoting your products and services, he will help demystify such acronyms as SEO, SEF and CMS. Walk out from this [50-minutes] workshop with a clear understanding of the steps to take to put your operation on the cyberspace map and sell your goods. Practical examples and thoughtful suggestions will pave your way to starting up on your own and saving you money.
E: Managing Soil Profile for Performance in Field Crops
Anne Weill
Centre d’expertise et de transfert en agriculture biologique et de proximité
475 Notre-Dame est; Victoriaville QC G6P 4B3
tel: 514-457-5147; 819-758-6401 poste 2773
anneweill@videotron.ca
This workshop will help a grower examine the soil and diagnose most impediments to proper crop development. The soil profile method consists of examining soil structure, colour, porosity, root development, and residue decay in order to evaluate and correct soil problems.
F: Scaling up organic market gardening
Colleen Ross
Waratah Downs Farm
613-652-1552
waratahdowns@gmail.com
www.waratahdowns.com
Colleen Ross and John Weatherhead have been farming together for almost 30 years. Together they began Waratah Downs Organic Farm in Iroquois Ontario. (www.waratahdowns.com) Waratah Downs is a highly bio-diverse, 200 acre certified organic farm. John and Colleen grow grains, soybeans, pasture, beef cattle, sheep, chickens and approximately 10 acres of vegetables. They employ up to 8 people throughout the growing season, as well as working the farm full time themselves.
Produce is marketed through a 80 member CSA, two large farmers markets in Ottawa, various wholesale locations and at the farmgate. Grains and oilseeds are marketed to local buyers whenever possible. Meat is sold directly to consumers.
Slowly, over the past 10 years, Colleen and John have built infrastructure and purchased equipment in order to reduce the high amount of manual labour required to maintain and keep up with the demands of organic farming, and so that the quality and quantity of produce being handled is of the highest standard.
Every season brings new challenges and victories--we can always do things better and work smarter. Sharing knowledge farmer to farmer is the best way to grow a sustainable farm.
Colleen is the Vice President (Policy) for the National Farmers Union. Colleen is a steering committee member for Food Secure Canada and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network. She has traveled extensively for La Via Campesina working with farmers around the world, advancing the concept of Food Sovereignty and sustainable food systems.
Colleen will share with you the complex nature of running a viable organic farm, including book keeping, hiring and managing staff, field and greenhouse organizing, retail and wholesale marketing, managing a CSA, deliveries, using appropriate technologies, selecting crops that work best for you and your market, etc. She will also discuss the ongoing struggle of how to find the balance between running a highly intensive organic farm, while maintaining a certain level of sanity.
G: Small-Scale and Home Dehydration of Fruits and Vegetables
Donald G. Mercer, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Food Science
University of Guelph Kemptville Campus
830 Prescott Street, P.O. Box 2003
Kemptville, Ontario, K0G 1J0
Phone: 613-258-8336 ext. 61626
Fax: 613-258-8483
Don Mercer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science, University of Guelph (Kemptville Campus). He has a Doctorate in Chemical Engineering and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario. His main area of interest is food process engineering, with particular emphasis on dehydration and drying.
Don spent fourteen years in the food industry as Senior Research Engineer with General Foods Canada, and ten years as a Special Advisor on Food and a Commercialization Officer with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Ottawa and Guelph before joining the Department of Food Science on a full-time basis in 2003.
Don has had considerable international experience, having worked on projects in Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Honduras, and India. He is currently working with the Distance Education Task Force of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) in the development of training courses for food industry workers in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is also a member of IUFoST’s Food Security Task Force. Don has designed and built several prototype solar and forced-air dryers for use in fruit and vegetable drying.
The drying of food pre-dates recorded history. It is easy to imagine early hunters and gatherers eating berries which had dried naturally on the vines. With the water removed by the warm sun and dry wind, the dried berries would have tasted much sweeter and lasted longer than their fresh counterparts. If we “fast-forward” to today, we can see the tremendous advances in food processing - especially in food drying. Home food dehydrators available at local hardware stores and on-line have brought the ability of produce high-quality dried foods into our homes at a very reasonable cost. In addition, solar drying has become a popular method of food dehydration in both developed and developing nations.
In this presentation, we will examine the “art” and the science involved in the dehydration of fruits and vegetables. The use of commercial home food dehydrators and home-made solar dryers will be discussed, along with the important aspects which must be considered.
H: Stilettos to Rubber Boots...a Lawyer from Country to City and Back Again. A Guide to Buying your Farm
Angela Coleman
Sand Road Maple Farm
Angela entered law school at the University of Ottawa in September 2006 following a 5-year environmental project management career. Angela graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa in 2009 and was admitted to the Bar of the Province of Ontario in 2010. Angela summered, articled, and practised with a large Ottawa firm, and returned to work with South Nation Conservation Authority in January 2011. Angela owns and operates Sand Road Maple Farm in Moose Creek Ontario with her husband Scott Coleman. Angela is a proud director of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers’ Association. With a background this diverse: you just never know where you might find her!
- From people considering the purchase of a farm, to the day to day operations, this presentation offers an interesting perspective on farming.
- 1. So you want to purchase a farm (or you have a farm and are wondering how to maximize it)...
- 2. Understanding where you need the best help...hiring accountants, lawyers, and other professionals
- 3. Planning to succeed: Business plans, budgets (financial realities), communications plans, targets...evaluating successes and challenges
- 4. Stretching your dollars (building these ideas into your plans, getting grants etc.)
- 5. Balancing it all: off farm careers, knowing when to hire help, and automating work processes
- 6. New media and business...tapping into opportunities!
I: The ABCs of Organic Soil and Plant Fertility Inputs
Valérie Yoder
valerie@homesteadorganics.ca
Simon Neufeld
simon@homesteadorganics.ca
Homestead Organics
http://www.homesteadorganics.ca
613-984-0480
Valérie Yoder grew up on a conventional farm specialized in dairy, replacement calves, and cash crops. With a Master's degree in Agronomy and Environment, she immigrated from France to Canada in 2009. She joined Homestead Organics and assists organic farmers with advice and inputs for soils and crops, farm management, and fertility programs.
Simon Neufeld moved to eastern Ontario in 2011 from Manitoba, where he worked as agronomist for Kroeker Farms Ltd., a prominent grower of organic (and conventional) potatoes, onions, and other horticultural crops. Holding a B.Sc. in Agroecology (2000) and a Master’s in Plant Science (2008) from the University of Manitoba, Simon joined the Homestead Organics soils and crops team in the fall of 2011.
Learning the language of soil nutrition – soil test “grammar” and input “vocabulary” How can a farmer make sense of the many organic soil and plant fertility products available? How can a farmer decide which to use on his or her fields? Organic agriculture requires a systems approach to maintaining soil fertility. An organic farmer cannot “cover up” problems in the soil with chemical fertilizers, and so it is important to aim towards a long-term balance between fertility losses (harvest, leaching, erosion) and fertility additions (manure, green manure, mineral fertilizers).
This session will introduce participants to the “language” of soil fertility. Soil tests are the “grammar”: they tell the farmer how to put the parts of the farm system together effectively. They identify where things are going well, and where corrections are needed. The “vocabulary” of soil fertility is made up of the many soil and plant fertility inputs available to organic farmers such as fresh and composted manures, various green manure plow downs, mineral fertilizers, and biological fertilizers and inoculants. It also includes management inputs like crop rotations, erosion prevention, and drainage.
J: An Update on Eco Energy Production, Programs, Technology, and Economics
Chris Weissflog
EcoGen Energy Inc.
Chris is an environmentally minded entrepreneur with a strong educational and business management background. He founded EcoGen Energy in 2006, driven by the need to find ways to help people and businesses reduce their carbon footprint. Since 2006 he has been deeply involved with solar water heating, integrated solar water / hydronic heating applications, and grid-tied solar electric systems. His current work brings these clean energy technologies together with an ultra-efficient envelope to make a home that is not only carbon neutral but helps to pay itself off!
Renewable Energy Update - Renewable energies are increasingly showing up on our homes, farms and businesses. The rapid rate of market penetration is largely due to government incentive programs at the provincial and federal levels, but it is also due to global market forces. This presentation will review the technologies applicable to Eastern Ontario farmers and homeowners and the current status of market pricing and incentives that are driving uptake.
K: Organic Wine Production
Pauline Joicey & Gilbert Provost
Redtail Vineyard
http://www.redtailvineyard.com
Pauline Joicey is a Civil Engineer and Gilbert Provost holds a Viticulture and Oenology Certificate from Guelph University. Both are retired federal civil servants, having met when they worked for Transport Canada. Pauline has spent her career largely in air transportation planning and high technology while Gilbert was involved with the operation and management of airports.
Pauline Joicey and Gilbert Provost will talk about their small family-operated organic vineyard and off-grid winery. They will discuss how they got there as well as the challenges they are facing and how they developed a unique niche in the premium wine market. The presentation will be a simple two-way conversation with the audience, answering questions as they come. Pictures will complement the discussion.
L: Organic Health for Increasing Wellness and Energy
Katherine Willow ND
Carp Ridge EcoWellness Centre
www.ecowellness.com
Katherine Willow is a fourth generation naturopathic doctor with a passion for organic growing and environmental sustainability. She founded and directs the Carp Ridge EcoWellness Centre near Ottawa and has been in practice for 30 years.