Eastern Ontario dairy farmers make award shortlist

Monday, May 27, 2013

by SUSAN MANN

An eastern Ontario farm that shows commitment to its community and animals is among the three finalists for a dairy industry sustainability award.

George, Linda and Terry Heinzle of Terryland Farms Inc. in St-Eugene will find out in July if they’re the winners of the $2,000 prize and trophy for the Dairy Farm Sustainability Award, sponsored by DeLaval Inc. Canada. The other two finalist farms are: Marian and Jan Slomp of Rimrose Dairy Ltd. in Rimbey, Alberta and Sylvain Laquerre, Noelline Dusablon and Maxime Laquerre of Ferme Sylvain Laquerre Inc. of Saint-Casimir, Quebec.

Dairy Farmers of Canada will announce the winner July 24 at its annual meeting in Toronto. The other two finalists each receive a trophy and $1,000.

Dairy Farmers spokesperson Therese Beaulieu says the number of submissions this year of six is down compared to last year when there were 14. But they picked “three very deserving farms who are leaders in their communities when it comes to sustainability.”

Dairy Farmers isn’t sure why the submissions were down this year compared to last year, she says. “We’ve discussed it with provincial members in terms of trying to encourage more farmers for next year.”

Dairy Farmers says in a news release the finalist farms have adopted on-farm management practices that go beyond industry standards and practices and meet objectives defined in DFC’s sustainability strategy to:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emission from dairy farms;
• Promote efficient and sustainable natural resources management;
• Benchmark the socioeconomic performance of Canadian dairy farms. BF