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By Laura Stortz Farmers markets are gradually reopening across Ontario. Farmers markets are considered essential workplaces so over the past few weeks many have been asking why farmers markets haven’t reopened. Farmers markets are often a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces but are often very crowded due to the large influx of customers in a shorter time period than stores that operate all days of the week. Additionally, farmers markets are a community hub where people gather to

The Ontario government has introduced a bill to protect farms from harassment by animal activists. We’ve seen groups of animal activists invade farms to demonstrate with little consideration for the safety of the owners or, frankly, the animals. There has been some news coverage criticizing the legislation as hiding animal abuse and preventing the exposure of bad practices on farms or in processing facilities. The proposed bill has provisions for significant fines for people

After impatiently waiting for an opportunity to make significant progress with this year’s planting, a window of dry weather in late June allowed most Ontario farmers the chance to finish planting. Still, there remain significant pockets throughout the province where planting is significantly delayed. Even after Agricorp extended the final planting date for corn in area A, B and C until June 17th, this still won’t allow for some producers to finish planting corn. Other areas

It has been an extremely wet and cool spring in Ontario this year. For those of us who don’t farm, that’s been inconvenient. The mosquitos are horrific. The grass gets too long before you can mow it. There have been fewer pleasant days to sit outside. We watch the weekend forecast to see if perhaps rain will wreck our plans. However, for those that do farm, this is extremely stressful and has the potential to at least reduce crop yields and at worst, to prevent the planting o