A weekly report prepared by the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). If you require further information, regarding this report, call the Elora Resource Centre at 519-846-0941. Office hours: 8:30am to 4:30pm. For technical information, call the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300 or visit the OMAFRA website: www.ontario.ca/omafra.
GLOBAL FOOD SAFETY INITIATIVE (GFSI) WEBINARS
Join the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ new webinars to learn what GFSI food safety schemes work best for your business. Learn first-hand from GFSI representatives and scheme owners about the key aspects of featured schemes.
What will you learn?
– Key requirements/aspects of the major benchmarked GFSI food safety schemes in Ontario;
– similarities and differences between GFSI schemes; and
– information to help you decide which scheme best meets your needs.
WEBINAR TOPICS
Webinar 1, introduction and GFSI overview will be held on March 7 from 11am to 12pm. Speakers include OMAFRA staff and Karil Kochenderfer, North American representative of GFSI.
Webinar 2, CanadaGAP, will be held on March 9 from 11am to 12pm. The speaker will be Heather Gale executive director of CanadaGAP.
Webinar 3, Safe Quality Food (SQF) code, will be held on March 23 from 11am to 12pm. Speakers include LeAnn Cheboff, senior technical director of SQF, and Frank Schreurs, regional SQF Canadian representative.
Registration is free but space is limited. Register by March 1 for individual or all three topics by calling 1-877-424-1300 or visiting www.ontario.ca/foodsafety.
CANADIAN ORGANIC GROWERS’ ORGANIC FIELD CROP HANDBOOK
The updated Organic Field Crop Handbook is now available for purchase ($45) on the Canadian Organic Growers’ website – http://cog-shop.myshopify.com/products/organic-field-crop-handbook-3rd-edition.
The Organic Field Crop Handbook – 3rd Edition (448 pages), provides a road map to field crop producers who aspire to improve the environmental sustainability and profitability of their farming operations.
It is intended for organic farmers as well as for producers who want to reduce their reliance on external inputs while improving knowledge of non-chemical weed management and natural methods to enhance soil fertility.
Academics and extension workers will find these pages packed with the latest science (at the time of writing) and best management practices for organic field crop production.
The handbook provides the theoretical foundation as well as practical production guidance for the cultivation of the key organic field crops grown in North America.
This handbook is divided into five sections. Section one covers the principles upon which organic management practices are based along with an overview of the organic certification process.
Section two focuses on soil management. Section three discusses weed and pest management, while section four is written to help producers to understand how to design an effective organic field crop rotation.
Section five provides practical tips for growing the key organic field crops of North America.
