This week the OFA Board of Directors congregated in the Niagara Region for the monthly board meeting. Prior to the two-day meeting, OFA staff coordinated a tour through the region. The first stop was at Andy Veenstra Farms where Andy and his three sons, Andrew, Brian and Jonathan, farm wheat, soybeans and a small herd of cattle. The farm is known for soybean roasting, holding 6,000 tonnes of storage in its grain elevator. Next, we ventured to CERES Global Ag Corp, a storage and transport facility that connects local customers with the global market. With 129 bins, this plant can hold nearly 63,000 tonnes, allowing a wide variety of grain crops for intake brought in via rail, ship and trucking. From there, the Board travelled to Pioneer Flower Farms Limited in Port Colborne. The warmer climate, level land, and access to natural gas, makes the Niagara Region ideal for greenhouse production. The last stop on this tour was at Greenlane Farms where Mike and Debbie Culp showed us their packaging facility and peach orchards, discussing some of the challenges and opportunities of growing this fruit.

To wrap up the day, Creekside Winery hosted the OFA Board for a local wine tasting and dinner with locally grown and raised food. OFA thanks the organizers of this tour and all the farmers and facilities for hosting our board. It was an excellent day to celebrate agriculture in the Niagara Region.

For a full library of photos and content from the board tour, check out our Twitter and Instagram channels.