St. Clair Region – Krista Gladstone
The St. Clair Region Soil and Crop Improvement Association covers the southernmost part of Ontario and is comprised of Chatham-Kent, Essex and Lambton Counties which currently has a combined membership of approximately 300 people.
The Regional Communication Coordinator (RCC) for the St. Clair Region is Krista Gladstone, Program Coordinator with the Business Development Centre at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus located in Ridgetown, Ontario.
During 2022, some of the regional communication activities/accomplishments included the following:

- Timely publishing and distribution of four quality newsletters as part of OSCIA’s ‘The Innovator – News from the Grassroots’. This e-newsletter format includes an area for local/regional content on the St. Clair Landing Page, which was updated throughout the year;
- Annual promotion of newsletter sponsorship to help offset some of the rising costs associated with publishing and creating the quarterly newsletters;
- Distribution of extra newsletters to agribusinesses and other interested parties to promote our grassroots soil and crop organization;
- Providing Secretary-Treasurer duties to the St. Clair Region Executive Board and assisting the three local associations as required;
- Organizing, promoting, setting up and hosting Zoom meetings for St. Clair Region and its three local associations;
- Sending out various mailers and e-blasts to notify groups of upcoming events and also assisted in the membership renewal process and organization/promotion/planning of Local Events/Tours/AGMs/etc.;
- Attending Provincial and Regional Annual Meetings and RCC training sessions;
- Played an integral role in the organization of key regional events that partner with OSCIA including the Ontario Agricultural Conference (OAgC) which was held virtually in January 2022 which had approximately 1,400 people registered; time in 2022 was also spent planning for a hybrid version of OAgC in January 2023;
- Participation in regular RCC correspondence, conference calls, training sessions, and meetings to support OSCIA goals and activities;
- Working with the OSCIA News Team on a rotational basis to provide input and assemble the quarterly province-wide newsletter;
- Assisting and preparing OSCIA grant submissions, claims, invoicing and paperwork for St. Clair Region including Regional Communication Grants, Tier One Grants, and Tier Two Grants;
- Supporting the St. Clair Region Twitter account;
- Assisting with the planning, promotion, and organization of the region’s three Local Summer Twilight Tours and Local Annual General Meetings held throughout the St. Clair Region;
- Supporting the regions’ local membership mailing lists using OSCIA’s membership platform; also used this program for electronic distribution of newsletters and to notify members in a timely fashion of upcoming events, including local conservation authority events, etc.;
- For the eighth year in a row, St. Clair Region was pleased to continue its partnership with our local Conservation Authorities (Essex Region Conservation Authority, Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority and St. Clair Conservation Authority) to publish a regular ‘Crops & Conservation’ article in our quarterly newsletters. This provides an excellent opportunity for the exchange of information and sharing of ideas between the two organizations.
It has been a pleasure working with the St. Clair Region Soil and Crop Improvement Association in 2022. I feel that we were able to meet our organization’s business goals and keep our members informed of local, regional and provincial soil and crop activities in a timely and effective manner.
Krista Gladstone
Regional Communication Coordinator,
St. Clair Region Soil & Crop Improvement Association (Chatham-Kent, Essex, Lambton)
519-674-1500, ext. 63597
kgladsto@uoguelph.ca
Thames Valley Region – Cathy Dibble

2022 saw the region finally hosting in-person events again, after holding a joint virtual annual meeting in February. We had a great speaker lineup, prizes for participating, and breakout rooms to run our local association business matters.
Elgin directors planned a tour around the Rodney area, touring the International Erosion Control Systems plant, tar spot research plots, sprayer comparison and fertilizer pricing discussions. Middlesex directors held their summer twilight meeting near Parkhill after an incredibly heavy downpour. Topics included the Delta Yield project, tar spot, soil cores with different cover crop root systems, and a plot looking at red clover stands with different seeding dates. Oxford was able to hold two information meetings, one in August at the Salford Equipment Manufacturing plant, and at the site of Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show in September. Oxford also resumed the summer tour event, with stops at Stubbe’s Precast, Carmeuse Lime, Titan Trailers and Rambling Road Brewery.
Members from across the region participated in various field research trials, both county and regionally based, and with OMAFRA Field Crop Staff projects. Regional updates were published throughout the year, including information about local activities, field trial results and updated rainfall and heat unit data from each county, distributed alongside OSCIA’s The Innovator newsletter both in electronic and paper formats as needed.
The regional website was revamped for easier navigation and visual appearance, and continues to be a popular source of information for coming local events, rain and heat unit data, local project reports, plot data and tour photos. One director representing each county association and one from the regional board sit on the Southwest Ag Conference steering committee, meeting several times over the past year to plan 2023 Ontario Agricultural Conference hybrid event in conjunction with the Eastern Crops Conference and the Golden Horseshoe/Heartland Region events.
Our regional Tier 2 project #RootsNotIron has come to an end and we will be planning our next regional project this winter. Look on our regional website for these reports as they become available.
Cathy Dibble
Thames Valley SCIA Regional Communication Coordinator
(Elgin, Middlesex and Oxford Counties)
cdibble@ontariosoilcrop.org
519-788-0985
http://tvrscia.wordpress.com
@TVRSCIA on Twitter
Heartland Region – Mary Feldskov
It was another busy year for Heartland Region of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association – including member county organizations Huron, Perth, Waterloo, and Wellington.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions and other extenuating circumstances, the Heartland AGM for fiscal year 2020-21 was postponed in the spring of 2022. An AGM, which covered fiscal year 2020-21 and 2021-22, was held on December 13. The Heartland executive is chair Kaye McLagan (Perth), vice-chair Jeff Strenzke (Waterloo), provincial director John Poel (Perth), and secretary-treasurer Mary Feldskov.

The year kicked off with the virtual Ontario Agricultural Conference in early January. Heartland continued to participate as a partner in this joint conference, which replaced the former Farm Smart. The event was virtual in 2022, but returned as a hybrid in-person/virtual event in 2023.
While still impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, especially earlier in the year, Soil & Crop activities started to pick up into the summer as the province’s Covid-19 mitigation policies eased and we returned to what can only be described as a “new normal.”
In Huron County, the annual meeting was held online in January and featured guest speakers Ralph Martin, Lauren Benoit, and Tuesday Kristiansen. Into the spring, work continued at the Huronview site, which included ongoing water, soil, and environmental remediation and research efforts. This year, soybeans were “planted green” into a cover crop planted last fall. Visitors got a chance to look at the growing crop at a pop-up summer meeting in August. You can follow the research and water quality monitoring results at huronview.net.
Perth SCIA held their AGM in February, in person, at the Sebringville Community Centre. They welcomed in-person and virtual guests, including Scott Shearer from Ohio State University, Lindsey Smith and Chris Moore, and Horst Bohner, who spoke about the ongoing plots and trials. In August, they hosted a “Compaction Day” in Rostock in August.
Waterloo SCIA held an online AGM in January, featuring Lee Briese and Peter Johnson. In the summer, they partnered with the Ontario Forage Expo to host the event in St. Jacobs. The event was well attended with lots of folks out to see forage equipment in action.
Wellington County had hosted their annual meeting in December 2021, in-person in Alma. Over the summer, they hosted an annual Twilight meeting, with OMAFRA staff Meghan Moran, Colin Elgie, and Sophie Krolikowski.
In August, Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, together with Heartland, hosted a “Harnessing the Power of Soil Health” day at the Grand River Raceway. This event showcased the new Mobile Soil Technology Suite.
After more than six years as RCC, I will be stepping down at the end of 2022 and a new RCC will take my place. Thank you to everyone who has supported me in the role, particularly in the past year, which was a particularly challenging year for me and my family.
Mary Feldskov
Regional Communication Coordinator, Heartland
Georgian Central Region – Lorie Smith
Grey Ag Services holds the RCC position for the Georgian Central Region Soil & Crop Improvement Association which is composed of four active counties including Bruce, Grey, Dufferin, and North Simcoe. Of note, the South Simcoe Association was disbanded in 2022.

2022 started in the same manner as the last 56 years with Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week taking place from January 4 to 11, but because of the ongoing pandemic, it was presented virtually for a second year. Crops Day, with content directed by the Grey and Bruce SCIAs, was enjoyed by attendees from across Ontario. The ability to reach a broader audience, and the increased viewer flexibility that the virtual program delivers, are distinct benefits.
In April, the Georgian AGM was held virtually. Key action items included: exploring the idea of providing 4H members (aged 16-21), with free membership to county associations; and increasing regional sponsorship fees from $1000 (in effect for 14 years) to $1250.
As the spring opened up, so did opportunities for in-person events. However, three counties still had interest in continuing with the delivery of virtual Crops Walks, in addition to their in-person plans. The virtual events in 2020 and 2021 united the region, so counties wanted to continue to build on this virtual educational opportunity. There were three virtual events planned, but only the Grey County Winter Canola Webinar took place. The other two topics that did not get delivered were a strip till webinar and a virtual combine clinic. The region found that it is difficult for counties to plan two styles of Crop Walks with a small over-committed volunteer base.
The counties were excited to deliver in-person events in 2022. On July 5th, Bruce County hosted their Mystery Car Crop Tour, with eight stops and approx. 35 people in attendance. On July 15th, Grey County hosted an in-person Crop Walk. They toured crops at Silver Springs Farm, owned by the McKinlay family in the morning. In the afternoon the group of about 40 toured Bluebay Orchards, a high-density pedestrian style apple orchard. North Simcoe hosted an in-person Crop Walk on August 18, with three stops, including a drone demo. The attendance was close to 50 by the time they reached their last stop.
Communication and outreach continue to be particularly important for the Georgian Central Region. A paper version of The Innovator, and an eight-page Georgian bulletin are still being mailed out to a small number of members in the region who have indicated that they cannot access an on-line publication. In addition to the content on our landing page, a pdf copy of the content from the landing page is also emailed to everyone in the region about a week following the posting of the e-news content. We hope that this alternative viewing option will increase readership. Georgian Central would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the eight sponsors who have supported our region for many years. Their sponsorship is acknowledged on our landing page and in our paper bulletins.
December saw in-person annual meetings in North Simcoe and Grey County. North Simcoe had their AGM on December 2nd with 50 in attendance. Grey County’s meeting took place Dec. 16 with approximately 70 in attendance. The enthusiasm at both events displayed that there is great interest to get back to pre-pandemic activities. Members miss seeing other producers in-person, and really miss the food! Bruce County will hold their AGM in January 2023, followed by the Dufferin AGM in February 2023.
The region is looking forward to planning events and activities for 2023. Without in-person events during the pandemic, membership renewals have been suppressed. This is weighing heavy on each of the county boards, and they are evaluating future activities and events that will hopefully increase membership to pre-covid levels. In-person events are the glue needed to ensure that our counties remain viable, energetic associations.
Lorie Smith on behalf of Grey Ag Services
Regional Communication Coordinator, Georgian Central Region
Golden Horseshoe Region – Janice Janiec
The Golden Horseshoe Regional Soil and Crop Improvement Association (GHSCIA) is a large region, comprised of the counties/municipalities of Brant, Haldimand, Halton, Niagara North, Niagara South, Norfolk, Peel and Hamilton-Wentworth.

To appropriately represent the region, the GHSCIA Regional Board is a large group comprised of 18 members representing the local counties and agriculture businesses in the region. In 2022, Matt Beischlag of Haldimand served as regional President, Cathy Vitucci, Niagara North, as 1st Vice President and Holly Loucas, Brant, as 2nd Vice President. Peter Lambrick was re-appointed Treasurer, and the Board has significantly benefitted from Peter’s financial and governance expertise. Steve Sickle was reappointed Provincial Director, and Janice Janiec remained in the Regional Communication Coordinator role and covered the regional Secretary role through 2022. The region held its annual meeting in December in person, with almost full Board participation, and the Executive carried out business for the rest of year.
Seven counties in the Region held successful, virtual annual meetings over the 2022 winter months. Since this was the second year of virtual meetings, well-honed skills for organizing and delivering virtual meetings were applied, using creative ways to engage local membership while all remained safe at home.
Hamilton-Wentworth collaborated with Brant and the Ontario Compaction Team to organize and deliver a successful regional compaction event in August. Local farmers and agribusiness provided equipment and the audience of almost 200 witnessed the compaction effect of various set ups in real time, with commentary provided by Peter Johnson and Steve Sickle. Other stations at the event included tire information and cover crops. Tier One grants were utilized to offset the significant costs of the event, along with sponsorship, and the onsite tradeshow provided additional member value.
Brant and GHSCIA also organized and hosted the OSCIA Summer Meeting in August, drawing almost 200 folks to the Sickle Farm. The Sunday social event was delivered in collaboration with the Brant County Federation of Agriculture, a partnership benefiting both local organizations and ultimately Brant County farmers. A technical bus tour was organized for members and the provincial board on the final day.
Activity in other counties varied but most held local board meetings to plan and deliver activities, events and trials benefitting local members.
In January 2022, the second virtual Ontario Agricultural Conference (OAgC) was delivered, building on the successes of the first event in 2021. OAgC is a collaboration of the Southwest Agricultural Conference and the Eastern Ontario Crops Conference, along with the Heartland and Golden Horseshoe soil and crop regions. Attendance for the virtual event was very similar to traditional SWAC attendance, and sponsorship support continues to be strong. The collaboration continued for another successful event in January 2023, this time adding in person events in Ridgetown, Kemptville and Waterloo, where GHSCIA collaborated with Heartland SCIA to engage members with an in-person program titled ‘Winning with Nitrogen’.
After almost 9 years as RCC, Janice Janiec decided to step back from the role to focus on a full-time position with OFA. The GHSCIA Board hired Nancy Van Sas as RCC, and she has already hit the ground running. Many will know Nancy from her role as an OSCIA Workshop Leader or supporting local counties, and we are excited to welcome her to the role! Nancy will soon take over the GHSCIA email account or can be reached in the meantime at nvansas@ontariosoilcrop.org.
Submitted by:
Janice M. Janiec, CCA-ON
Regional Communication Coordinator, GHSCIA (outgoing)
(Brant, Haldimand, Halton, Peel, Niagara North, Niagara South, Norfolk, Wentworth)
E-mail: ghscia@hotmail.com
Website: www.ghscia.me
Twitter: @GHSCIA
East Central Region – Neil Moore

The ECSCIA began about 1964 and now includes Durham Region + Hope Township from Northumberland County, Peterborough, and Victoria (City of Kawartha Lakes) and Haliburton Counties, and York Region was added in 2001.
The Annual East Central Farm Show (41st) was held in the Commonwell Exhibition Building, Lindsay fairgrounds on April 6,7. Attendance was about 65% of usual. No show in 2021. The County Soil & Crop Improvement Association memberships were promoted, and 178 memberships sold (about the same as before Covid). Members get in free.
ECSCIA uses some of the Farm Show proceeds to provide $1000 Scholarships (6 for 2014 to 2016, 3 for 2017, 9 for 2018, 6 for 2019, 12 for 2020 and 2021), and up to $1100 for County SCIA and 4-H clubs in the East Central area to assist with projects. 42 4-H crop club members were supported $50 each.
4 newsletters were sent to about 400 ECSCIA members and previous members. Over 80% only by email.
The East Central SCIA web site hosts newsletters, coming events, project information, and links updated to new information online: https://regionalscia.org.
Weather data from co-operators in the member counties including some from Quinte Region. Presented the data in newsletters and online: https://regionalscia.org/weather-html/.
Attended County annual and director meetings via Zoom and in person, and presented updates. Victoria held the only in person AGM with good attendance.
Peterborough held a hay day with Trent U. Hay equipment was demonstrated and displayed. Trent U students outlined their garden scale projects. A drone demonstration completed the day. York held their annual corn BBQ summer meeting with excellent attendance.
Neil Moore, Secretary-Treasurer, and RCC
East Central Region Soil & Crop Improvement Association
705-324-2594
nmoore361@gmail.com
Quinte Region
Quinte Soil & Crop had a good year! Northumberland County held their annual dinner which is always a good event to get members out and talking. They also hosted a bus trip to the St Marys cement production facilities in Bowmanville. Part of this fascinating day was a presentation by Greg Haney, Agro-100, detailing the production of Ka-Lime fertilizer using by-products of the cement manufacturing process. Northumberland’s AGM featured several great speakers: Scott Shearer, The Ohio State University, discussed the promise and challenges of emerging technologies in agriculture. Steve Kell did his usual fantastic job of explaining what’s going on in the grain markets, and Greg Stewart, Maizex Seeds, led an informative and entertaining session on how farmers can best meet the nitrogen needs of their crops while reducing emissions.

Prince Edward County held a field day with an informative presentation by Kristen Carberry, Pioneer Seeds, on identifying when a corn crop may have experienced stress throughout the growing season and how a farmer might reduce similar stresses in the future. The group was then treated to an in-field demonstration of DJI’s impressive T40 drone hosted by Wonderfull Inc.
The Quinte Farm Research & Stewardship Collaborative (QFRSC) project has officially ended but the relationships built therein remain. Much of the research performed as part of this initiative is at or nearing publication stage so we look forward to sharing more results from this great work soon. An article outlining the complexities of phosphorus dynamics in the Bay of Quinte watersheds was printed in the September issue of the Innovator newsletter. QFRSC collaborators were at the Hastings Plowing Match, which was a great opportunity to interact with farmers and share outcomes of their research. Special thanks to Sebastian Belliard and Peter Doris for representing OMAFRA at the event and doing such a great job with the soil pit demonstration. It was a hit with many passers-by!
Several Quinte-area farmers participated in trials to test the effectiveness of nitrogen-fixation products. Parallel trials across the province were organized by Ben Rosser, OMAFRA corn specialist. Ben, in cooperation with Thames Valley SCIA, put together protocols with the intent of producing quality data from many sites per season. Thanks to those farmers who participated. I hope our region can continue to help with similar efforts in the future and generate even better data that can help Ontario farmers collectively learn and apply new information to their operations.
2022 was a good year for Quinte but there’s lots more work to be done to further gain momentum and demonstrate to you, our members (current and those to be), the value of OSCIA.
Submitted by Gord Speksnijder
Acting Regional Communication Coordinator; Regional Director, Heartland
Eastern Valley Region – Tracy Myers
The Eastern Valley Soil and Crop Improvement Association is comprised of five counties: Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry, Prescott and Russell. Currently these counties have a combined membership of approximately 300 which includes those individuals who receive the quarterly newsletter The Innovator and bi-weekly Grassroots Matters, that is sent via email. While each of the five counties actively participate in their own activities there has been increased interest in moving forward with more regional activities which would ultimately involve a larger number of the membership.

During 2022, Eastern Valley local associations used hybrid communication strategies, using the Zoom and Teams platforms, along with some in-person local events in the latter part of the year. Our virtual Regional annual meeting, in 2022, included one guest speaker and common reports delivered to the group. Local associations, who participated in this event, then moved into their own local breakout rooms.
Eastern Valley directors are continually working closely with our OMAFRA Specialists, who are an important part of our regional team and support us in many ways. Our Provincial Director, Alan Kruszel, is a great asset to our region and provides us with much support as well.
During 2022, as Regional Communication Coordinator, I was also involved in the following:
- Communicating with the directorship of EVSCIA, to overview the past year’s successes and to continue with our mandate of creating a more visible regional association that will continue to work with the five counties.
- Promoted county annual meetings, and offered assistance to the local associations, where required and requested. This was valuable to aid in future planning.
- Supported our provincial newsletter, The Innovator, by writing articles of interest to the general membership
- Assisted with recruitment of membership as well as maintaining a master membership list from information provided by the local associations.
- Attended 2022 virtual Provincial Annual meeting as well as the Regional Communication Coordinator (RCC) training sessions.
- Participated in other communications as required by OSCIA.
- Worked closely with our regional EFP/GYFP coordinator to ensure that membership of Eastern Valley were aware of upcoming workshops.
- Investigated new sponsorship potential.

On behalf of the Eastern Valley Soil and Crop Improvement Association I would like to express my gratitude to the staff and directors of OSCIA and to OMAFRA staff who have assisted our region with their valuable input and support. We look forward to the ongoing communication in 2023.
Tracy Myers
Regional Communication Coordinator
Eastern Valley Soil and Crop Improvement Association
613-363-4119 (cell)
tracy.myers@live.com
Ottawa-Rideau – Kelsey Banks

2022 was a year of change for the Ottawa-Rideau region. At the 2022 Ottawa-Rideau Regional Annual General Meeting, the previous Ottawa-Rideau Communication Coordinator, Shirley Munro, resigned and I, Kelsey Banks, took over the role.
Almost every local association held a local event for their current, potential, and past members. Below are the local events held in 2022:
- Grenville SCIA hosted the ‘Back to Business Grenville Family Farm Day’ at a local grain farm with support from the Grenville county dairy association donation of milk and ice cream.
- Renfrew SCIA hosted a twilight meeting on a local director’s horticulture farm with supper.
- Lanark SCIA held the Lanark Seed Show.
- Ottawa-Carleton SCIA partnered with Dundas SCIA and hosted the ‘Tillage School’ with featured speaker Tim Ferrie, Crop Tech Inc.
All of these in-person events were successful and well attended.
For the Ottawa-Rideau region, we hosted the ‘Summer Tour’. The tour included visiting Ingredion, a corn crushing plant, in Cardinal followed by lunch at Dockside Restaurant in Johnstown, finishing the day with a tour of the Port of Johnstown. For safety reasons there was a 40-person limit for attendees at Ingredion. We had 38 people attend!
When the On-Farm Climate Action Fund (OFCAF) program was announced, members and non-members were looking to obtain their Knowledge Sharing Education (KSE) credit to apply to the program. Renfrew county held a successful KSE event.
For each The Innovator edition, I submitted an article that had generally good feedback from readers.
My goal for 2023 include and are not limited to: planning and hosting another successful summer meeting, attend all local SCIA main events and annual general meetings and continue to write articles for each edition of The Innovator.
Kelsey Banks, Secretary & Regional Communication Coordinator
Ottawa-Rideau Region Soil & Crop Improvement Association
613-295-9931
orrscia@gmail.com
Northeastern Ontario – Emily Seed
NOFIA has acted as the RCC for Northeastern Ontario since 2015. In this capacity, NOFIA has worked to improve awareness and access to OSCIA funding and modernize the development and release of Breaking Ground (and now The Innovator through the provincial office).

Activities:
- Assist in producing 4 issues of The Innovator and regional content for the Northeast landing page, meeting all applicable deadlines; issues included agricultural innovation and technology transfer, per OMAFRA/OSCIA agreement
- Completed the final year of NEOSCIA, Nipissing & Sudbury Districts’ Tier 2 project to assess the impacts of inoculant on soil & yields in potatoes and cereals
- Worked with local associations to develop Tier 1 projects & build local capacity (i.e. worked with Temiskaming on a project looking at plant growth regulators on barley and oat crops)
- Held the Northern Ontario Ag Conference virtually in February 2022 with support from local SCIAs to facilitate technology transfer and networking, featuring various research projects taking place in the north (an in-person conference is set for February 15 & 16 in Sudbury, ON)
- Attended some association events across the region, including AGMs and crop tours
- Maintained membership & mailing lists, updating upon receipt of district lists and assisting associations with the transition to the new membership platform.
During 2022, we completed the final year of the mycorrhizal inoculant project. Data was collected and compiled from the mycorrhizal inoculant plots. Preparations are underway for the final report of this project and farmers are interested to see the results. NOFIA and NEOSCIA thank OSCIA and OMAFRA for providing funding to support this project.
NOFIA and the NEOSCIA are looking forward to another year in 2023, further improving our membership databases, building and strengthening agricultural communities within Northern Ontario through the Northern Ontario Ag Conference, and providing tech transfer and educational opportunities to farmers in the north. Despite the challenges that 2022 presented, it has been a pleasure to work with the various associations over the last year and we look forward to 2023!
Emily Seed, NOFIA
RCC Northeastern Ontario
Northwestern Ontario – Rachel Kehoe
In 2022 the Northwestern Soil & Crop association locals of Thunder Bay, Rainy River and Kenora felt a much-needed sense of normalcy. With COVID-19 restrictions eased, in-person meetings and networking events were able to take place.
Thunder Bay purchased a new fertilizer spreader to be rented to members in addition to the land roller. The smaller size of the fertilizer spreader makes it more accessible to many of the smaller and start up members in the area.
In July, a crop tour was held beginning at the Lakehead University Agriculture Research Station, followed by lunch. The group went to two local farms: comparing canola varieties and corn under plastic at Jasper Dairy Farm, and oats & peas mix and sorghum Sudan grass at Kam River Farm. It was a great networking and knowledgeable event!

In September, the TBSCIA partnered with Beef Farmers of Thunder Bay to host a Pasture Walk. The event started out at the Thunder Bay Community Pasture and ended at Corbett Creek Farm with a tour of their pasture and lunch featuring local beef and vegetables. Dana Penrice joined us from Manitoba to share how producers can observe the impacts of different grazing management practices on farm. Participants learned about the signs of degradation and regeneration while discussing the potential outcomes of different grazing techniques and what producers might consider when making management decisions. Dana is an accredited professional with the Savory Institute and runs the Ecological Outcome Verification program in Manitoba that assesses ecosystem health on farms.
TBSCIA is excited to welcome back the Spring Farm Conference in March 2023 and is looking forward to a full year of networking events and education opportunities for members.
Rainy River Soil & Crop Association purchased a no-till drill to add to their collection of equipment available for rent by their members. Unfortunately, due to a wet spring in the area, the no-till drill did not get as much use as hoped for its first season. As we approach the spring, we look forward to more members having access. The local board has seen great success with their equipment rentals and being able to provide access to larger price tag pieces to their members.
In August, the local association had a successful crop tour with a great turn out, touring potatoes, various corn crops and various cereal crops. Despite the wet spring, there were a lot of nice crops to see.
The Rainy River board was able to have an information and engagement booth at the Agriculture Day in the Spring.
Kenora Soil & Crop Association looks forward to more engagement in the upcoming year.
Rachel Kehoe
Northwestern Ontario Regional Communication Coordinator
northwest.scia@gmail.com