User:Louise Livingstone

If we lose the ability to grow our own food (and fuel) we become vulnerable as we can't ensure food safety or quarentee supply. Many farmers in eastern Ontario, especially beef farmers, are finding it difficult to make a living as input costs go up and prices go down. The average age of farmers is 53 years and unless agriculture is attractive and land is available young people won't want to become farmers.

Harvest Hastings is a partnersip project  aimed at increasing awareness about agriculture and the variety of food available in Hastings County. Check www.harvesthastings.ca. We have over 100 producers listed on the site and people can search their pages to find about the farmers and what they produce. As much of Hastigns County is without high speed internet we are producing a booklet with maps.

Hastings County is very diverse in its variety of soils and micro climates and this is reflected in what is grown here. There used to be a number of processing plants from canning factories for peas and tomatoes, to breweries, distilleries anad evaporators for apples.  We still have small abattoirs, three traditional cheese factories and industrial cheese processors, a large dairy and a creamery making butter. We are working to see if there is potential for more processing to preserve the summer harvest. There is interest in setting up a community kitchen so farmers and others can process smaller batches fo crops like corn or soft fruit.

A growing number of  people, especially teenagers, have difficulty getting enough food  and the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, Learning Foundation runs a Food for Learning program getting food into the schools. Harvest Hastings will link producers with schools to provide more local food for students.

There is a big move to raise awareness of the importance of agriculture. The Hastings County Museum of Agricultral Heritage with the Learning Foundation, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs, the local agricultural organizations and farmers hosted Agribition at the agricultural Museum in Stirling <www.agmuseum.ca> for 800 grade three students from Bancroft to Picton in October 2008.

Nowadays, farming is not just about producing food, it is about protecting the environment and about education/farm tourism. Prince Edward County and the south and central part of Hastings County were settled nearly 200 years ago with United Empire Loyalists from the United States and yeoman farmers from Ireland  with smaller numbers of Scots, English and French Canadians. We have a unique and important cultural landscape with great bio-diversity.

The challenge is how to farm sustainably. There are a growing number of certified organic farms in Hastings County, and others using techniques like no till to protect light sandy soils. We have an Amish community and other farmers who work with horses. There are some large very progressive dairy farms working to get energy from biomass. Others are experimenting with crops like hemp. The challenge is how to we can maintain this variety and maintain the flexibility to adapt to changes coming with climate change and peak oil.