An Ottawa high-tech company and an Ottawa-area wheat farmer are celebrating their part in Italy’s Ferrari team victory in Sunday’s Grand Prix race in the middle eastern Kingdom of Bahrain.

Iogen Corporation produces a type of ethanol in Ottawa, using straw from a farm in Mountain, Ont., just 60 kilometres south of Ottawa. It’s that ethanol that was used in the Ferrari cars.

You can now buy fresh maple syrup made in Hastings County. The first run was good but as the weather warmed up so quickly the run of sap slowed down. Producers are waiting for temperatures to fall, but the quality of the sap changes the long they have to wait as the sap gets bitter and is no longer suitable for making syrup. So get your new maple syrup while supplies last. Use Search on the right hand side of the page and type in Maple Syrup to get a list of maple syrup producers.

by Adrian Higgins The Washington Post, Monday, March 15, 2010

In normal times, David Hackenberg would begin trucking his 20 million honeybees from the almond orchards of California to the orange groves of Florida this week.

Instead, after a month working the almond blossoms on the West Coast, his exhausted pollinators will get some rest and relaxation in the Georgia woods before the East Coast apple blossoms summon them to work once more next month.

These are not normal times for bees, or for commercial beekeepers, so Hackenberg’s pollinators will skip the citrus gig to reduce their exposure to pesticides and get some rest. “Everybody is seeing [bee] losses this winter,” said Hackenberg, of Lewisburg, Pa. “This was probably the worst year ever.”

Sharon Oostoek Saturday’s Globe and Mail Monday, Mar. 15,

Like a fickle god, phosphorus gives life and takes it away. If too much leaches into lakes and streams, algal blooms suck oxygen from the water and choke off life. But if too little exists, we are all in trouble: Phosphorus is a dwindling, and non-renewable, component of agricultural fertilizers, essential to growing food for Earth’s burgeoning population, says the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a Winnipeg-based environmental think tank, which recently released a report on phosphorus spills in Manitoba’s waterways.

Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) in the News October 2009

Toronto, March 4

Local, sustainable and organic food choices top the list of what’s hot in Canada’s restaurant kitchens. The trends are revealed in a new survey of professional chefs conducted for the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA).

by jdhypes

EMC News - Hastings County- The agricultural community in our area is thriving, yet many students remain disconnected from this industry. In an effort to make connections between students and the food they eat, Food for Learning was successful in obtaining a $5,000 grant from Trenval’s Local Initiatives Development Program.

“A very special thank-you to Harvest Hastings who assisted greatly with identifying suppliers and establishing connections throughout Hastings County’s agricultural community.”

Frank Huizenga shows Trenton High Schools student this two week old lamb at his farm near Roslin.

Darren Neill’s amazing pictures capture much of the beauty and fascination of Hastings County. His family has been connected to the remote hamlet of Shannick, north of Marmora for generation. Music is by Dale Clark of Orange Cap.

Posted By INTELLIGENCER STAFF

Two local secondary schools initiated a project this year to bring more locally grown and produced food to their nutrition programs. The program is being funded through a $5,000 grant from Trenval’s Local Initiatives Development Program to Food For Learning.

“The agricultural community in our area is thriving, yet many students remain disconnected from this industry,” said Food For Learning co-ordinator Kellie Brace.