Ontario AgCast

When talking to consumers about ag, be prepared to answer two questions: Who Cares and So What? Owen Roberts is the Urban Cowboy and he has turned story telling into a science. Literally.

Karen Dallimore has a serious addiction…. To horses. Whether it’s writing about horses, competing in extreme cowboy racing, being a horse midwife or equine personality classification, we cover it all. Also, some fun horse trivia – what part of a horse’s anatomy is the largest of any land mammal? You’ll have to listen all the way to the end to find out.

Larry Miller, Member of Parliament for Bruce, Grey, Owen Sound, will proudly tell you that his Federal Riding boasts the second largest number of cattle in Canada. What would it take to make someone trade their overalls for a suit and tie to fight for agriculture as a career politician? We may use expressions such as "Keen as a cut cat" and "an Arse as wide as two axe handles"

Check out The Larry and Darlene Miller Agricultural Bursary

http://www.payforschoolgreybruce.com/listing/larry-darlene-miller-agricultural-endowment-fund/

Autism Awareness is a cause close to Brianne Brown’s heart. She shares why having a special needs child is a blessing for the whole family. If you’re interested in International perspectives on the Future of Farming, you can catch Brianne on this panel at the Arrell Food Summit. Finally, we find out if this 6th generation dairy farmer could only milk one breed of cows for the rest of her life, is it Holsteins or Jerseys….

https://arrellfoodinstitute.ca/food-summit/

https://ontarioautismcoalition.com/

My guest this week is Ashely (Captain) Knapton. She loves agriculture and wants to try ALL the jobs before she eventually realizes her dream and takes over her family’s dairy farm.

How would you like a pig farm 10 minutes from Ontario’s hottest summer beach destination? Most farmers hate fighting cottage traffic, but Teresa Van Ray and her family are firm believers in “If you can’t beat em, join em.” Their on-farm store, The Whole Pig, sparks some interesting conversations with their customers and adding 30 acres of garlic to their operation leads to some fairly obvious honey, garlic ribs jokes. Well, obvious to Wendell…

www.thewholepig.ca

Farming in the UK sounds a lot like farming in Canada, but with a better accent. We talk about tenancy, subsidy and agvocacy. See what I did there? In the Social Jungle, Simon Haley is Tarzan. You should be following these accounts he started:

@FarmersOfTheUK

@FarmersOfTheWorld

@AgriChatUK

Who would want to live in downtown Toronto, not own a car and choose almond milk over dairy? I learned a lot from 21 year old, urban planner, Kiana Simmons, but some of what she shared challenged point of view. If you want to know what an urban millennial thinks about food and farming you will want to listen to this.

Dr. Jude Capper is a passionate supporter of the dairy industry both in her native UK and around the word. With a PHD in Ruminant Nutrition, she is something of an expert in dairy production, however that doesn’t stop on-line trolls from vegansplaining to her why dairy is bad. They have gone so far as to suggest that the reason she got breast cancer at 26 years of age is karma from eating meat and dairy. If she can keep her cool on Twitter, anyone can. We talk about her #Februdairy campaign. Also, she claims Will Evans is way cooler than me and Jerseys are better than Holsteins….

What happens when you return from a successful off farm job to the family and things go badly? Robert Larmer talks about his passion for silage, struggling through stray voltage issues and the mental toll it took. He’s also got stones – curling stones and has competed against Olympic champions.