New training program ‘like Ontario Environmental Farm Plan’ for livestock farmers

by MATT MCINTOSH

In an effort to strengthen producer confidence in their own animal welfare practices, Farm and Food Care Ontario is developing a new training program that, according to a April 28 press release from the provincial and federal governments, will develop training materials, deliver courses, and help livestock producers implement new animal welfare practices on their farms.

Kristen Kelderman, farm animal care coordinator for Farm and Food Care Ontario, says the two-year $2 million training program will be specifically designed to help farmers improve their animal welfare practices in ways that are “practical to them and their operation.”
 
“We are looking at this program kind of like the Ontario Environmental Farm Plan,” she says. “Farmers will be able to self-identify where their particular animal welfare practices could improve, and find the information that is most useful for them.”

Kelderman explains that Farm and Food Care’s 2013 producer attitude study – which asked farmers questions about their operations – indicated that, while farmers were generally very confident about their environmental performance, they were much less confident that their animal welfare practices were in fact the best way to do business.

Mark Cripps, spokesman for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, says the program is one of the ways the ministry is aiming to help fill gaps in animal welfare knowledge.

“Through the interest we see from farmers in the codes of practice and Farm and Food Care, we know that many farmers are looking to find the latest information available on animal welfare,” he explains.

Kelderman says the two-year training program period has just started, but is still in its preliminary stages. It has, however, been in the works since May of 2013, when the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food approached Farm and Food Care about setting up an animal welfare training program.

According to its website, Farm and Food Care Ontario is “a coalition of farmers, agriculture and food partners proactively working together to ensure public trust and confidence in food and farming.”

Kelderman says that the program’s announcement on Monday has been planned for some time, and is “definitely not a response” to the increased public focus on animal welfare reflected in a number of farm animal welfare incidents highlighted in the news over the past year.  

What will be included in the curriculum, who will be part of the program development team, and how farmers will be able to access the information is still currently unknown, but Kelderman says Farm and Food Care is considering all possible options including, among other things, the development of an animal welfare training app.

“We are combining everything out there, including updated codes of practice, to make sure what we develop will have the best impact,” she says.

Alison Cross, director of marketing and communications for the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, says she supports the idea of developing a “proactive” training program, and says her organization would be available to work with Farm Food Care.

The $2 million in funding for the training program was jointly provided by the federal and provincial government, and comes as part of Growing Forward 2. BF