Notes from The Farmer’s Daughter – Celebrate Ontario Agriculture Week October 4th to 10th.
This week across Ontario, people are being encouraged to celebrate Ontario Agriculture Week.
If you research the Ontario Agriculture Week Act, you will soon discover that it is no coincidence that it is set each year for the week beginning on the Monday before Thanksgiving Day. The week-long celebration is designated to “celebrate and acknowledge gratefully the work of Ontario farm families” who provide us with the food we eat and the agricultural products we enjoy at Thanksgiving and throughout the year.
I encourage you to take the time or, better yet, make the time to show your appreciation to a local farmer or two. If you don’t know someone in agriculture personally, then try to get to know a farmer by shopping at a farm stand, browsing through a farmer’s market or searching up one nearby.
We are blessed to live in an area abundant with family farm operations still going strong, and getting to know these hardworking, dedicated individuals means learning so much more than where your food comes from.
Following is a sample of interesting facts that you could discover by taking an interest in the farming community that surrounds us and Ontario agriculture at large. For instance, did you know that Ontario farmers grow over 200 different commodities and employ almost 12% of Ontario’s workforce (861,000)?
We all know it is apple season, but did you know that 16,000 acres of apples are grown in Ontario? Did you know that the farm gate value of the Ontario apple crop is approximately $97 million? Impressive right!
Maybe you never considered eating bell peppers before and didn’t realize that red, yellow and orange bell peppers contain three to four times more vitamin C than an orange. Or perhaps you didn’t know that all bell peppers start off green then change colour based on the variety.
Perhaps you assume that dairy farming is the largest sector of Ontario agriculture, and you would be correct. Still, I bet you didn’t know that ornamental horticulture (think flowers) is Canada’s 9th largest agricultural sector and the 6th largest in Ontario.
There is so much more you can learn, like mohair and cashmere come from goats. And Angora goats will grow 2.5cm of mohair per month which explains why their long shaggy coats are usually clipped twice a year.
With so many farmers and great agricultural organizations around, you can find out all this and more by taking the time to listen, learn and show an interest. In 2019, the province estimated that Ontario’s agri-food value chain contributed 47.3 billion to the provincial economy; that fact alone, I would think, would be reason enough to show the sector some well-deserved respect, interest, and appreciation.
For a fun way to learn more 4-H Ontario has set up an Agricultural Scavenger hunt that runs until October 31st giving you a chance to win some cool ag swag from Farm & Food Care Ontario, AgScape & 4-H Ontario. Check out 4-hontario.ca/Ontario-agriculture-week-2021-scavengerhunt/.
Finally, remember to support Ontario farmers this Thanksgiving by filling your plate with fresh, locally grown food. For some timely recipes featuring farm-fresh food and Ontario Dairy, check out ontarioturkey.ca, www.onapples.com/recipes and new.milk.org/Discover-Dairy/Recipes and don’t forget to say thanks for the bountiful harvest you’re sitting down to enjoy.
