A weekly report prepared by the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). For information, call 519-846-0941. Office hours: 8:30am to 4:30pm.
For technical information, call 1-877-424-1300 or visit www.ontario.ca/omafra.
Shakespeare swine seminar
The annual Shakespeare Swine Seminar for producers and allied industry personnel will be held at the Shakespeare Community Centre on Sept. 24 in Shakespeare. Sponsored by Ontario Pork, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs, and Ontario Swine Improvement, this year’s seminar focuses on topics of current and practical interest to swine producers.
Dr. Darwin Reicks from the Swine Veterinary Center in St. Peter, Minnesota will discuss methods to ensure maximum litter size and reproductive performance when using artificial insemination. Dr. Mark Rix from Swine Management Systems in Fremont, Nebraska will discuss on-farm factors associated with weaning 30 pigs per sow per year as well as providing production comparisons between farms with sows in gestation stalls and farms using group sow housing.
Dr. Tim McAllister from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will discuss the future of antibiotic use in livestock production and how to ensure antibiotics are used appropriately to ensure long term effectiveness. A panel on successful control and elimination of PED will discuss various approaches being used on Ontario farms at present to manage the disease. Registration begins at 9:30am with presentations starting at 10am. Lunch is provided and the meeting concludes at 3pm. The cost is $30 in advance or $40 at the door. To register please call 877-424-1300.
Business retention and expansion (BR+E)
Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) is a community-based economic development program with a focus on supporting existing businesses. It provides a systematic approach to assist communities in developing strategies to support businesses, retain and create new jobs and opportunities.
Since the launch of BR+E there have been over 230 projects undertaken across Ontario.
The BR+E program is based on Community Economic Development Principles:
– To develop practical, locally-driven strategies to build economic opportunities;
– To enable local organizations and work with local leaders to build capacity and inform their decision-making; and
– To integrate economic and community goals to bring about more far-reaching community revitalization.
Mitigating risk or seizing opportunity is largely a function of how well the business environment is understood and how early changes are anticipated. This is true for successful private-sector firms as well as successful non-profit or public-sector organizations. This understanding can be achieved through business retention and expansion activities. Routinely interacting with the existing customer base, listening to and learning from existing employers can provide clearer directives that impact all facets of an economic portfolio, including recruitment and entrepreneurship opportunities. The need to regularly interact with resident companies is underscored by a well-known statistic: up to 80 per cent of new jobs and capital investment in any community is generated by existing businesses. Successful private-sector companies know, it makes sense to stretch limited resources by focusing on existing customers – in fact, expert’s estimate that it is ten times cheaper to retain customers than it is to attract, recruit or market to potential new customers.
Business recruitment takes more time, and is labour and money intensive. Yet business retention and recruitment are not mutually exclusive disciplines. An effective customer retention program enhances a community’s business recruitment efforts. One of the main ways that business prospects evaluate a community for investment is by talking to the business owners already there. Local business leaders can be a community’s our biggest advocates, or adversaries, depending on the relationship that’s been built with them through an ongoing business retention program.
For more information on the BR+E program call 877-424-1300.
Practical farmers of Ontario Conference
The Practical Farmers of Ontario (PFO) is hosting a Small-farm Conference series in October. The series, ‘Practical Advice for Practical Farming’, will be held on Oct. 4 and Oct. 18 at the University of Guelph and the Arthur Community Centre, respectively. Greg Judy and Joel Salatin, two the most successful sustainable farmers, will be featured at the conference, presenting on planned grazing and planned sustainability. This is the first conference of its kind that will be hosted by PFO and will also feature experts from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the University of Guelph.
Coming events
Oct. 11 – 14: Erin Fall Fair.
Oct. 17 – 19: Walkerton Fall Fair.
