Upcoming events in Ontario
Check back often as new events will be added regularly
Interconnected - 11th Annual EFAO Conference
Dec. 3-5, 2024, Kingston
EFAO’s annual conference draws farmers, growers, and food producers from across the food system for two days of intensive learning, idea-sharing, networking and celebration with good food and friends. With over 300 attendees, the EFAO Conference connects you with people who care passionately about farming and food.
Regenerative Leadership Course
Oct. 25 - Dec. 6, 2024, online
Do you work in regenerative agriculture? Are you struggling with how to effectively make change? Do you want more understanding of how to help others navigate a transition to regenerative agriculture? Are you looking for professional development in this space? This course is for you.
A course for mentors, coaches, supporters, peers, managers, coordinators, and leaders.
Tending to the Fires of Managing Holistically: A Digital Campfire
December 3, 5, 10 & 12, 2025 on Zoom, 8 pm Atlantic, 7 pm Eastern, 6 pm Central, 5 pm Mountain and 4 pm Pacific
Holistic Management Canada organizes an annual online gathering to bring together people who care for the land who are looking for inspirational ideas and practical tools to apply in their own lives. Join us to share the triumphs and challenges of the year with like-minded farmers and ranchers. Or, just come to listen and get out of your own head and think about ideas you’ve never thought of before. Each evening, our speakers will start with a 15-minute talk on the tools they’ve used to manage their farms holistically, followed by an open group discussion.
Text-a-Mentor with Ken Laing!
Are you interested in learning more about cover crops and working with Ken? Ken Laing of Orchard Hill Farm is a longtime EFAO member and farmer-mentor in the Cover Cropping Category. He is now available to consult with you for FREE in this role until August 31, 2024. You can reach out to him via text at 519 775 2670 or email him at [email protected].
Text a Mentor now available!
FaRM Mentor Katrina McQuail has made herself available via text message for any and all your livestock questions. Katrina has implemented many Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) on her livestock operation in Ontario where she raises pigs, cattle and poultry using regenerative agriculture techniques. There are no dumb questions. Send her a text when you need a quick response! You can also meet her in person at upcoming FaRM events.
Meet your Mentors
Jennifer Doelman
Cover Crop and Nitrogen Mentor - ON
[email protected]
Jennifer farms with her husband and children on their first-generation farm in Douglas, ON. They are beekeepers as well as grain and oilseed producers, growing a diverse crop rotation which includes corn, wheat, and soybeans as well as barley, canola, flax, oats, triticale, peas, forages and sunflowers. Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Guelph, an independent Ontario Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) with a 4R Nutrient Management Specialty and an alumna of the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP).
Jennifer is heavily involved in local and provincial organizations that emphasize environmental stewardship, community, and agricultural development. Currently, she is a professor at the Algonquin College Agricultural Business Diploma Program and; serves in a supportive capacity to the Ontario Canola Growers, Grain Farmers of Ontario, the Ontario Soil Network, Renfrew County 4-H Association, Renfrew County Soil and Crop Improvement Association, the Renfrew County Agricultural Economic Development Committee, the Renfrew County Bonnechere River Watershed Project, the Upper Ottawa Valley Beekeepers Association.
Charlene Whattam
Nitrogen Mentor - ON
[email protected]
Charlene Whattam is a grains, oilseeds & goat farmer from Douglas, ON working alongside her family to leave the land better than they found it. Charlene uses technology and precision techniques to put nutrients where they need to be. They use crop rotation to maximize yields and keep their soils healthy and productive. Charlene has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Guelph and is a Certified Crop Advisor.
Patrick Verkley
Cover Crop Mentor - ON
[email protected]
Patrick Verkley raises broiler chickens and grows grain and oilseed crops in Middlesex County.
In 2018 he bought a farm from his parents, built a broiler barn, and started raising chickens and field crops under a new operation, Kleijdale Farms. Patrick graduated with Bachelor of Architectural Studies from the University of Waterloo. Since returning home, Patrick has been focused on how to reimagine agriculture in a fiscally prudent yet compelling way. Patrick started an agricultural design firm, Verkley Design and Modelling, which works with farmers to help create farm buildings which elevate the importance of process, workflow, labour efficiency, as well as creating a design aesthetic which conveys the pride and dedication that farmers have to their work. Patrick also became a director on the board of the Middlesex Federation of Agriculture and sits on the Policy Advisory Committee of the OFA. On his own farm, Patrick designed his broiler barn to include natural light for the chickens. Patrick has also been experimenting with multi-species cropping methods such as relay wheat and soybeans, as well as 60” corn within season cover crops.
David Cousens
Cover Crop and Nitrogen Mentor - ON
[email protected]
David Cousens farms alongside his wife in Kinburn, ON. They produce corn, soybeans and wheat using reduced tillage and crop rotation. David utilizes soil tests and precision technology on their equipment as he believes that you can’t fix what you can’t measure.
Norm Lamothe
Cover Crop, Nitrogen, Rotational Grazing Mentor - ON
[email protected]
Norm Lamothe has been involved in the operation of Woodleigh Farms Ltd. which is a multi-generational family run business with a diverse set of offerings. These include maple syrup, a large vegetable market garden, greenhouse operation (plants, seedlings, perennials) as well as a diverse crop production including the harvest of firewood, corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, straw and hay.
Woodleigh Farms Ltd. is committed to ensuring that all environmental impacts are considered when making decisions in their operation, following organic and sustainable practices in their market garden, greenhouse, and maple syrup operations. In recent years the operation has shifted away from traditional methods of agriculture to what they feel are more sustainable practices including more diverse crop rotations, less commercial fertilizers, cover crops, managing inputs, no-till, and use of clean energies. At Woodleigh Farms Ltd. they are dedicated to soil health and ensuring both their owned and rented lands are in better shape than they received it for future generations.
Katrina McQuail
Advanced Grazing Systems - ON
[email protected]
Katrina McQuail, with assistance from her husband Ben and support from other family members, owns and operates Meeting Place Organic Farm. They raise certified organic pastured pigs, grass-fed cattle, meat chickens and laying hens. They farm with Suffolk-Punch draft horses, have a few quail, some ducks and an old apple orchard from which they make their apple butter. They also have a pet pig named Pickle. They are committed to experiential and practical education for prospective farmers. Katrina is excited to be raising animals and growing food, contributing to regenerative agriculture, providing more nutritious and local food for her community and creating less unnecessary plastic waste
Ken Laing
Cover Crop Mentor - ON
[email protected]
Ken Laing has farmed with his wife Martha near St.Thomas, Ontario
since 1979 when he graduated from the University of Guelph with a
BSc in Agriculture. He has grown a wide variety of organic crops
including strawberries, raspberries, vegetables and field crops. Cover
crops have been used extensively for all their different purposes such
as erosion control, weed control, preventing the loss of nutrients,
fixing N etc. Our farm enterprises have included PYO, CSA, cash crops
and custom grazing.
Birgit Martin
Advanced Grazing Systems - ON
[email protected]
Hello, I am Birgit Martin. I farm with my husband, Jim, and 2 sons, Nick and Alex, on western Manitoulin Island. We have a large cow-calf through-to-finish operation where we produce both grain-finished and grass-finished beef for our brand, Pure Island Beef. We also custom graze 300-400 steers each summer.
Grazing is integral to our entire operation whether it is for the cow herd, replacement heifers, grass finishers, our own stockers or the custom grazed steers. We have several different types of pastures, from extensive, shallow soiled ‘ranch’ land to highly managed improved pastures. So the management varies too.
Before farming full time with my family, I was a CCA in a crop inputs business for 20 years. My degree at the University of Guelph was with a major in Agronomy and a focus on forage management. I spent a co-op work semester on a dairy farm in New Zealand as well. And before all this, I grew up on a dairy farm that focused on intensive pasture management for the dairy herd.
Dean Cober
Advanced Grazing Systems - ON
[email protected]
I farm with my wife Carolyn and three children Levi(6), Grace(4), and Abigail(1), between Owen Sound and Meaford on hwy 26 in beautiful Grey County. We run a purebred Red Angus (and perhaps a few hereford) herd with a focus on producing seedstock females and a few bulls every year. Maximizing grass utilization and discovering how to graze with cropping systems are a journey we are on, every day is a potential learning experience. Along with grazing, we produce horse quality small squares, custom hay and dabble in cropping. I also work for the CAT dealer and travel to remote mine sites to finance the farming, with the goal of farming full time one day.
You can find us on twitter – @ cobercow, where we love to share what we are up to!
Anita O'Brien
Advanced Grazing Systems - ON
[email protected]
Along with my partner Al, I operate a pasture-based commercial sheep farm near Lansdowne, Ontario since 1993. The home farm is nestled on the edge of the Precambrian Shield, with a mix of heavy clay farmland and hardwood-covered granite ridges, providing a range of pasture types including shallow /rocky for early grazing and river bottoms for drought-proof grazing. We also practice silvopasture on 2 small pasture blocks. We utilize both permanent and temporary fencing with a combination of electric and solar-charged fence energizers to effectively manage pastures, sheep, Livestock Guardian Dogs, and predators. Our typical grazing season runs May 1st through December 10, with a few starting mid April and a few others finishing up closer to Christmas. When the flock was much larger, we used the sheep to reclaim nearby “unused / abandoned” farmland turning them into productive pastures. Our sheep are outwintered with dry round hay bales unrolled on selected pastures and hayland. Looking forward to sharing grazing knowledge I’ve gained on this farming journey and from my agriculture extension days.