A Mapleton resident earned a second place award in the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s (OFA) first ‘Reel’ Farm Video Challenge. Winners were announced at the organization’s annual general meeting and convention on Nov. 25.
Melisa Luymes placed second in the ag rant video category for her rant on Who Cares About Agriculture?
The video features Luymes walking by a field of corn, talking about the value of agriculture in Ontario and Canada.
“We should hug our farmers. We should make them into superhero action figures.
“On average, Canadian spend only 10 or 15 per cent of their disposable income on food. That’s half as much as they do in Mexico,” she states in her rant.
First place in the category went to Michelle Arsenault for her thoughts on Keepin’-it-local with Ontario Apples.
The video challenge was designed to promote Ontario agriculture and inspire pride in the province’s farmers, recognizing them for their contributions.
Open to OFA members and residents of Ontario, the video challenge received 19 entries.
OFA’s video challenge was divided into two categories – ag parody and ag rant.
Nith Valley Organics (Garlic Implosion) won first place for its ag parody Water and Sunshine, and Country Roads Quartet received second for its parody Wait ‘Till the Sun Shines Mikey.
First place in each category received $1,000 and second place received $300.
Minister of Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeff Leal also submitted a video to share his support for the challenge and the important contributions agriculture makes to Ontario.
All videos can be viewed on OFA’s YouTube channel.
The OFA is the largest general farm organization in Ontario, representing 37,000 farm families across the province.
As a farmer-led organization based in Guelph, the OFA works to represent and champion the interests of Ontario farmers through government relations, farm policy recommendations, research, lobby efforts, community representation, media relations and more.
OFA is the leading advocate for Ontario’s farmers and is Ontario’s voice of the farmer.
