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Ontario Grain Farmer Magazine is the flagship publication of Grain Farmers of Ontario and a source of information for our province’s grain farmers. 

GFO Newsletter for February 2012

GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM GRAIN FARMERS OF ONTARIO

GFO March Classic
Join us for our annual conference on March 19, 2012 at the London Convention Centre. More information is available at www.gfo.ca/marchclassic
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January District Grain Committee Meetings
Last month, Grain Farmers of Ontario took to the road for the annual January District Grain Committee Meetings. Each district held a meeting to receive reports and elect the District Voting Delegates and GFO Directors for the coming year. A full list of elected delegates and directors will be made available online at www.gfo.ca and in print in the March issue of the Ontario Grain Farmer.

The meetings provided an important opportunity for GFO staff and directors to report on their activities for the past year while getting feedback on important issues for the upcoming year. One important issue that was discussed was the use of the corn, soybean and wheat performance trials. Each year, these trials are conducted and distributed to farmers to provide an unbiased report on variety performance across the province. Grain Farmers of Ontario asked for feedback on how farmers use these reports over the course of each meeting. The results from this portion of the meetings will be gathered and used to provide the individual committees responsible for the performance trials with suggestions.

Your Grain Farmers of Ontario Team
In our continuing effort to introduce you to our GFO team, here is our next installment of staff profiles. 


Meghan Moran, Research Coordinator
Meghan Moran works in the research and market development department at Grain Farmers of Ontario as the research coordinator. 

In this role, Meghan is responsible for all on-going research projects funded and supported by Grain Farmers of Ontario. She works closely with researchers and other funding partners to ensure all finances are on track and she is responsible for reviewing the reports from each project.

Meghan also collaborates closely with the communications department at GFO to ensure that results from completed research projects and updates from ongoing projects are appropriately communicated with our farmer-members. 

Meghan is well fitted for this position as she comes from an academic background. Prior to working at Grain Farmers of Ontario, Meghan completed her masters in plant agriculture at the University of Guelph. Studying under Drs. Clarence Swanton and Peter Sikkema, Meghan’s research focused on weed control in corn. Specifically, Meghan studied the effectiveness of the herbicide Integrity in corn and herbicide safeners – products that reduce herbicide induced crop injury. 

In her spare time, Meghan enjoys playing baseball with her team from Lynden, Ontario and camping. •

Samuel Chan, Junior Accountant
Samuel Chan works in the finance department as junior accountant. He is responsible for processing accounts payable and receivables at Grain Farmers of Ontario. He helps with the general accounting needs of the organization and also helps with some of the wheat marketing accounts.

Recently, Sam has been taking on more responsibility in the finance department. He is now assisting with bank reconciliation – ensuring monthly budget statements are appropriately balanced.

Prior to this position, Sam worked in retail while he pursued the professional designation of Certified Management Accountant. Sam’s education is on-going as he is currently taking classes and building the required experience for the CMA designation.

In addition to his on-going studies, Sam holds a degree in marketing management from the University of Guelph.

In his spare time, Sam enjoys staying active with rock climbing at a local gym in Guelph and biking.

Membership and Readership Survey a Success
Grain Farmers of Ontario and the Ontario Grain Farmer magazine would like to thank all of the farmers who completed our survey over the past few months. The results are all in and we are currently analyzing the responses.

The survey asked for insight into Grain Farmers of Ontario’s activities and the magazine’s editorial content. The results provided by farmers across the province will be used to help drive the direction of the organization and its flagship publication. 

As promised, one lucky farmer who filled out the survey has won coffee for a year in the form of a $500 Tim Horton’s gift card. Three additional farmers have also won free coffee in the form of $200 gift cards to Tim Horton’s. Winners were chosen through a draw and will be contacted with their prize. •

Research Call for Proposals
Grain Farmers of Ontario recently completed a call for research proposals. The call invited researchers and scientists to submit proposals for Grain Farmers of Ontario funding. The emphasis of this year’s call for proposals was on insect, disease and agronomy research but exceptional proposals from other focus areas are also
being considered.

Last year, Grain Farmers of Ontario invested $1.2 million in research projects focused on four key areas:

• Agronomy
• Insects and Disease
• Crop Utilization and Quality
• Breeding and Genetics

The decision to focus on agronomy, insect and disease research was made in response from farmers’ requests and identified gaps in Grain Farmers of Ontario’s currently funded research programs. Farmers attending the Annual General Meeting last September filled out a Research Priorities survey asking them to identify the areas of agricultural research that are most important. The results of this survey provide important information for choosing the focus of a call for proposals. 

Forty research proposals were received during the call for proposals. Each proposal will be reviewed by Grain Farmers of Ontario’s Research Committee and researchers will be notified in mid-February about funding. •

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