Mapleton resident is on the cover of the 10th anniversary edition of the Faces of Farming calendar, which was unveiled at Farm and Food Care’s Harvest Gala in Kitchener on Oct. 30.
The calendar annually highlights the diversity of Ontario’s farmers and farming families, and is designed to show the public “the kind of passion and hard work that goes into producing the food we all enjoy,” states a press release from the calendar sponsors.
Ryan Schill represents January in a winter scene with one of the sheep he keeps on the Wallenstein-area farm he runs with his wife Romy.
The Schills are raising two young sons, along with about 300 sheep that produce about 700 lambs annually on their farm. The couple volunteer as 4-H leaders and with their local sheep association and were active in the Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario.
In a video on the Farm and Food Care website, Schill describes how he ended up becoming a fourth-generation farmer.
“I grew up farming with my dad, we lived on a mixed farm, beef and pigs. It was just kind of always in my blood. I was looking at some off-farm jobs after college. Everything just took me back home to the farm. Every day is different. That’s what I like about it.”
Since its inception in 2006, the Faces of Farming calendar has showcased almost 140 different farmers and farm families (including Thelma Trask of Alma in 2014) from across the province; further information on all of them and their farms can be found on www.facesoffarming.ca.
Faces of Farming notes the farmers highlighted in the calendar are “hardworking individuals” who hail from different parts of the province, are different ages and come from different areas of the industry.
Annually, the calendar is sponsored by many Ontario agri-businesses and commodity groups. Once again, the photographs were taken by Kitchener photographer Terry Scott White, who has been with the project since its inception.
Romy Schill told the Advertiser she feels the calendar is a good way to raise awareness about various types of agricultural operations.
“It definitely lets everyone get their story out … just in the one calendar we have sheep, there’s a dairy farmer, there’s crop farmers … there’s the whole gamut of farmers so it’s a nice condensed version for consumers to get a little bit of information on everything.”
Politicians, grocery stores, butcher shops and media sources will be mailed copies of the calendar and the soon-to-be-released 2014 edition of the Real Dirt on Farming booklet in November. Copies can be ordered by filling out the online order form at www.farmfoodcare.org, or by calling 519-837-1326.
Retailers selling the calendar are listed on the website for Farm and Food Care Ontario, a coalition of farmers, agriculture and food partners pro actively working together to ensure public trust and confidence in food and farming.
For more information on the Schills’ operation go to: circle-r-livestock.webs.com.
