| 2009 - AGCare, in partnership with the Ontario Farm Animal Council and funding from the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, launch the Agriculture Hits the Trails project. 56 signs are placed along hiking and walking trails throughout Ontario's Greenbelt. The signs highlight how farmers are protecting the environment and how farms are contributing to the many local communities in the Greenbelt. |
| 2009 - AGCare, in partntership with the Ontario Farm Animal Council, Ontario AgriBusiness Association, Onario Veterinary Medical Association, Canadian Animal Health Institute, CropLife Canada and OMAFRA, runs the successful CleanFARMS™ Ontario collection program. The program offered free disposal of obsolete and unwanted pesticides, animal health products and shaprs for farmers in Ontario. |
| 2008 - AGCare, in partnership with the Ontario Farm Animal Council, offers speak up team training for farmers across the province. To date, over 100 farmers have taken the training. |
| 2007 - AGCare, in partnership with the Ontario Farm Animal Council, has taken over 100 media and food writers, as well as over 350 culinary (chef) students on farm tours in three years. |
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2007 - AGcare helps train and provide support for farmers representing agriculture on Source Water Protection Committees throughout the province under the Clean Water Act.
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| 2007 - AGCare launches Caring for the Land , a report on the environmental achievements of Ontario's farmers over the past twenty years, to celebrate Canadian Environment Week. the launch includes a website and an information brochure for hte public. Media uptake is excellent, ranging from CBC radio to globeandmail.com and Harrowsmith magazine. |
| 2007 - OWL magazine's June edition includes a poster and activity insert on farmers and the environment, created by AGCare. |
| 2007 - AGCare helps organize the National Agriculture Awareness Conference (NAAC) in London, ON. |
| 2007 - AGCare partners with Ontario Agri-Food Education (OAFE) and CropLife Canada to create a module for Grade 10 students on The Great Pesticide Debate. |
| 2006 - AGCare and the Ontario Farm Animal Council receive funding from the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation for Agriculture Hits the Trails, a three year project that will result in approximately 100 signs about agriculture and the environment along trails throughout the Greenbelt. |
| 2005 - AGCare leaves leaves its office with the Agricultural Adaptation Council and moves to its own office space with the Ontario Farm Animal Council. AGCare's productivity increases drastically with the ability to share staff and resources with OFAC. With so many shared goals and responsibilities, an era of excellent collaboration and efficiency between AGCare and OFAC begins! |
| 2005 - The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA), who delivers the Ontario Environmental Farm Plan program on behalf of the Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition (OFEC), contracts AGCare to promote the Environmental Farm Plan program to farmers and the general public. |
| 2005 - AGCare is appointed to the Ontario Biodiversity Council. |
| 2005 - AGCare parnters with CropLife, Ontario AgriBusiness Association (OABA), Environment Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, with funding provided in part by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Adaptation Council, to operate the Ontario Waste Agricultural Pesticide Collection Program. This program resulted in the collection and safe disposal of almost 117,000 kilograms of pesticide materials. |
| 2005 - AGCare creates a Town and Country episode on agricultural pesticide use in Ontario. |
| 2004 - AGCare partners with Ontario Agri-Food Education (OAFE) and the Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario (LICO) to create a module for Grade 7 students on Food Production and Soil Management. |
| 2004 - AGCare partners with the Ontario Farm Animal Council on media tours and the development of the FarmIssues.com website. |
| 2004 - AGCare releases the results of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' (OMAFRA) 20 year study on agricultural pesticide use. Ontario's farmers reduced their pesticide use by 52% over this timespan, exceeding the goal of 50%. |
| 2003 - AGCare's chair, Greg Hannam, is appointed to the Nutrient Management Advisory Committee, representing the interests of the crop and horticulture sectors who use livestock manure to fertilize their crops and keep their soils healthy. |
| 2003 - The Canadian General Standards Board Committee on Voluntary Labelling of Foods Obtained or Not Obtained Through Genetic Modification reaches consensus approval on a voluntary labelling standard. AGCare represents farmers on this committee. |
| 2002 - AGCare is one of four steering committee members that develops IPM 2002, an international conference designed to highlight Ontario's successes achieved through Food Systems 2002, and position our agricultural sector as world leaders in Integrated Pest Management. |
| 1999 - AGCare continues to provide significant input to the Grower Pesticide Safety Course, through the develop of the Agricultural Assistant level of training being implemented. |
| 1998 - AGCare is invited to take part in the federal government's round table process to renew its Biotechnology Strategy and to provide a biotechnology product user's perspective to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture. |
| 1998 - AGCare and the Ontario Farm Animal Council team up to launch the Thank You campaign, funded by the National Soil and Water Conservation Program, and with the creative assistance from Foodland Ontario. The campaign features ad in 10 major daily newspapers across the province, and accompanying brochures, highlighting the many ways in which Ontario farmers are caring for the environment. |
| 1997 - AGCare and the Ontario Farm Animal Council, with funding assistance from CanAdapt, begin sponsorship of the University of Guelph Agri-Food Risk Management and Communications Program. This project, under the direction of Dr. Doug Powell, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, has been instrumental in providing AGCare and the Ontario farm community with background summary information on biotech and crop technology issues. |
| 1996 - AGCare's mandate expands to include respresentation of Ontario's crop producers' collective views on crop biotechnology developments, with the help of CanAdapt funding. Highlights of hte program included enhancement of AGCare's website to include information regarding biotechnology, development of communications materials and the establishment of media spokespeople on biotechnology related issues. |
| 1993 - The Ontario Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) is launched. |
| 1992 - The Ontario Pesticide Container Recycling program is launched at six sites and is run cooperatively by AGCare, Ontario the Ministry of the Environment, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, pesticide manufacturers and pesticide dealers. This program, which manages the collection of over 500,000 plastic or metal pesticide containers each year in Ontario, has run very smoothly and is the envy of many other provinces. |
| 1992 - Our Farm Environmental Agenda is launched and features farmers' analysis of the key environmental issues facing Ontario agriculture released by the Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition (Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Christian Farmers' Federation of Ontario, AGCare and the Ontario Farm Animal Council). This initiative provided the foundation for several other OFEC activities including Envrionmental Farm Planning, Water Quality, Nutrient Management Planning, Water Use/Management, and the Environmental Management Systems (EMS) initiatives. |
| 1991 - The Waste Agricultural Collection Program is piloted. In 1992, this one time opportunity was offered at 26 sites across the province. In total, 35,000 kilograms and 59,000 litres of unusable pesticides (outdated, damaged or contaminated) were safely collected and appropriately disposed of. |
| 1990 - AGCare's Public Information Program is launched, with funding assistance from OMAFRA. |
| 1990 - The Federal Pesticide Registraion Review Team received Ontario crop producers' collective input via AGCare, emphasizing grower need for timely, competitive access to newer, more target specific pest control products. |
| 1988 - The Ontario Grower Pesticide Safety Course (GPSC) is cooperatively offered, through Ridgetown College, by AGCare, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture. Farmers through AGCare, requested the GPSC and subsequent mandatory certification, to provide training for farmers in the safe use, handling, transportation and storage of agricultural pesticides. |
| 1987 - AGCare is founded as an ad hoc committee dealing with agricultural pesticide use issues. |