HURON PERTH AG SCIENCE CENTRE ANNOUNCES 1st ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 

Virtual Meeting Scheduled for March 29, 2023 

North Perth, ON – The Board of Directors of the Huron Perth Ag Science Centre is pleased to announce the first ever Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, March 29th, 2023 starting at 7pm. All interested in learning more about our plans to bring Canada’s first Ag Science Centre to North Perth are welcome. You must register in advance to receive the link to our Annual Meeting.

Participants of the AGM are welcome to view the presentations, but only those with valid memberships are able to vote during the AGM. Please consider joining our not-for-profit, Charitable status organization. Cost of membership is $20 annually and will help cover our very modest administrative costs. If you are interested in membership or donating towards this exciting project, please contact us by email at huronperthagsciencecentre@gmail.com. 

Press Release

Do you know a not-for-profit community-based initiative you think would benefit from a $10,000 grant from Hensall Co-op? We are introducing another year of our Strong Communities Initiative and are calling for nominations for our 2023 program.

The key criteria are as follows:

• Applications are accepted from Canadian Community-based not-for-profit organizations in the Hensall Co-op trading area that support the broader community
• Funding of a project that will have a long-term impact on the community (i.e., not for normal operations)
• Project has a clear and measurable benefit to the community
• The project fills a strong need in the community; not for the benefit of a single individual
• The organization has demonstrated that they can sustain the initiative to the end of the project
• Priority will be given to organizations that have not received a large-scale sponsorship/donation in the past 5 years
• Our employees have identified that Community Health and Healthy living are important to them, therefore, we will give priority to projects in the area of Health and Healthy living
• The organization must also be registered with Canada Revenue Agency as a charity, have a bank account in its own name and have been operating for over 12 months

More details related to eligibility criteria are outlined in the application form which is available here:

Strong Communities

 The deadline for applications is May 31, 2023.

Hensall, Ontario, Canada - February 7th, 2023

Hensall Co-op Enters New Seed Distribution Agreement with

Syngenta Seeds

Hensall Co-op has entered into a new agreement with Syngenta Seeds IP high-protein soybean distribution. This agreement, which is effective beginning the 2024 growing season, offers benefits directly to IP soybean growers as well as global end use customers. This agreement will give the entire supply chain the tools needed to achieve a higher level of success as a food ingredient industry. Put simply, it offers a full, value-added supply chain of growing, processing, marketing, and distributing Syngenta high-protein soybean varieties in conjunction with grower and end-use customer communications, seed forecasting and traceability for farm members and the end-use markets served by Hensall Co-op.

Read Full Press Release

Thank you to everyone who entered our third Hensall Co-op photo contest. Our judges were impressed with the quality as well as the variety of the submissions received.

We thank all participants and hope you will take part in our next photo contest. Remember, we will require photos from all seasons so keep those cameras snapping! 

We will be in touch with our winners in the next week to co-ordinate delivery of your prizes.

Congratulations to our 2022 photo contest winners!

First Place - Sarah Kiar, "Grow"

Prize: Yeti package valued at $500

Runner Up - First

Max Kraft, "Best Friends

Prize: $150

Runner Up - Second

Gerry O'Reilly, Untitled

Prize: $150

Video Category

Winner 

Annemarie Kraft, "Team Work"

Prize: $150

Honourable Mentions

Adam Thompson, "It's Go Time"

Prize: $50

Jane McCutcheon, "Hensall Combines"

Prize: $50

Bryan Smith, "Class Combine Training"

Prize: $50

The Board of Directors and staff are pleased to announce the recipients of the second annual Hensall Co-op Bright Futures Scholarship.

Speaking with Brad Chandler, CEO, Hensall Co-op: “We would like to congratulate the winners of the Bright Futures Scholarships. The youth have a passion for our rural communities and supporting our rural economies. The Bright Futures Scholarship allows us to directly impact and support the education of our members’ families.” Hensall Co-op is Proud to be Farmer Owned and proud to support education.

Jennifer Barclay from Lambton Shores is enrolled at Western University in the Bachelor of Medical Sciences program. With her education path Barclay says: “I hope to start a pediatric medical clinic in my community in order to bring higher quality care to rural communities.”

Attending University of Guelph (Ridgetown Campus) is Ericka Van Dongen, who is from Comber, ON. Working towards an Associate Diploma in Agriculture Van Dongen has future career goals of becoming an agronomist to “help farmers efficiently grow the best quality of crops using relevant knowledge and research.” She also wishes to “combine my interest in science, with my passion for agriculture.”

The third recipient is Shawna Terpstra from Huron East, ON, who is attending the University of Guelph for the Bachelor of Commerce (Food and Agricultural Business co-op) program. With her degree, Terpstra hopes “to become a finance manager working in agricultural finance and advisory.”

The Hensall Co-op Bright Futures Scholarship provides post-secondary scholarships to students who are entering their first year of post-secondary education and have shown a career interest in agriculture or a field or trade that will advance rural communities and economies. Up to three $2,500 scholarships are awarded to students who are children or grandchildren of individuals who were a member of Hensall Co-op or employee as of March 1 of the year of application.

Episode 6 of RealAgriculture's second season of Edible Bean School, brought to you by Hensall Co-op, is now available. Learn about prepping the combine for harvest with Brad and Andrew from Delta Power Equipment in Exeter, ON. Watch it here.

This week we take a look at updated US crop condition ratings as well as crop progress. We also review the short term forecast as we look at the weather for the last half of August. We wrap things up looking at trends in December corn and November soybean futures.

Watch the videos here:

• Corn
• Beans

In 2021 Hensall Co-op launched the Strong Communities Initiative to support projects that help to protect and build the strength of rural communities. Now in its second-year, applications were open to registered charities and the winners were selected by Hensall Co-op. Selection criteria was used to measure the impact the project would have on the local community and the sustainability of the project.

Speaking with Brad Chandler, CEO of Hensall Co-op: “We were extremely pleased with the number of submissions we received this year, including projects from across southwestern Ontario and parts of Manitoba. While this did make the selection process difficult for our team, it indicates the need for funding in rural communities. Hensall Co-op is dedicated to the communities we serve and will continue to direct sponsorship funds into rural healthcare and healthy living initiatives, agricultural societies and the education of rural youth.”

Two projects were selected as the winners of the 2022 Strong Communities Initiative, and both will receive a $10,000 grant towards their projects. One of the winning projects support healthcare in our community while the other helps to promote a healthy lifestyle and providing family activities, which were important criteria for the selection committee.

The Stratford General Hospital Foundation (Stratford, Ontario) will receive $10,000 towards their Hospital Beds for Surgery Unit program, which is working towards replacing the beds within the surgery unit. This grant will cover the cost of one state-of-the-art Hill-Rom bed. The Tiger Mountain Pool Inc. (Treherne, Manitoba) will receive $10,000 towards their Treherne Aquatic Centre Shade Structures project, which will allow for an additional shade sail and awnings to be added. This is a busy community aquatic centre that swimming lessons, public swimming, aquafit, and coordinates a youth Swim Club.

Several runner ups were selected and will receive a $1,000 grant towards their project. These include:

• North Huron Community Food Share, Wingham, Ontario
• YMCA SW Ontario (Thriving Kids and Youth Community Partnership), Goderich, Ontario
• Community Centre of Reinland, Reinland, Manitoba
• South Huron Hospital Foundation, Exeter, Ontario
• Huron Hospice, Clinton, Ontario

Applications for the 2023 Strong Communities Initiative will be available in April 2023.

This week we discuss estimates for the upcoming USDA Supply & Demand Report scheduled for release this Friday, August 12th.

We also look at crop conditions and their historic relationship to final yield. We wrap up with a review of upcoming weather trends.

Watch Videos Here:

• Corn
• Beans

This week we take a look at updated crop conditions and crop progress. We also take a look at the short term weather forecast, and the concerns about warmer and dryer weather moving in. We wrap things up discussing ongoing concerns with export demand.

Watch the videos here:

• Corn
• Beans