Ontario Farmland Trust 2023 Forum Registration Now Open
Posted: January 31, 2023
Categories: Events / GoodFoodBites
Registration is now open for the Ontario Farmland Trust‘s (OFT) 2023 Farmland Forum, taking place online and in person in Guelph on Thursday, March 23rd. Early bird rates are available until March 1st.
The theme for this year’s forum, Planning to Save the Soil, will focus on the social, economic and environmental considerations for protecting the foundation of our farmland and agri-food sector – Ontario’s soil.
Join planners, farmers, conservation organizations and more from across Ontario and Canada to discuss the most pressing issues in farmland protection:
- The Hon. Rob Black, Senator (ON) and Chair of the Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee, will kick off the day with a brief introduction to the exciting national soil health survey being undertaken by the Senate.
- The opening keynote, Dr. Kari Dunfield, from the University of Guelph will introduce the dynamic and living entity that is soil, exploring the services that soil microbial communities can provide and how those are impacted by agricultural and environmental practices.
- The first panel, The Right to Soil: Reimagining Complete Communities, will explore the idea of adding agricultural land as a defining feature of complete communities. What could this mean for planning just and sustainable communities? How can planning processes recognize the many services provided by soil, like climate change mitigation, and water filtration?
- The second panel, Nourishing the Land, invites stewards of soil health from all corners of the agricultural landscape, from larger scale to small scale farmers, from grain croppers to pastured livestock farmers, to discuss ways they are protecting and enhancing our local soils and how farmers can be supported in their work.
Visit the Ontario Farmland Trust website for more details and registration.