 We want to hear from YOU! What do you want to see in upcoming issues. Planning has begun for our late Spring early Summer editions of the magazine and as always our content is driving by and for the readers. Have a rural or agricultural topic you want to know more about? Have a local heritage project you want us to cover? Need some tips on a particular crop or livestock related subject? You can always email us at info@theagrarianmagazine.com to ask questions, offer suggestions or submit pictures to be included in the magazine. 
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Canadian Agricultural Safety Association Celebrates Annual Agricultural Safety Week Farmers and ranchers encouraged to make #FarmSafetyEveryday a year-round priority Winnipeg, MB, February 18, 2026 – This year’s Canadian Agricultural Safety Week takes place March 15-21, encouraging farmers, farm families, farm workers, and farming communities to make #FarmSafetyEveryday a top priority. Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (CASW) is an annual national initiative delivered by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) that raises awareness about the importance of safe agriculture and showcases how safety directly contributes to the success and sustainability of farming operations. According to Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting data, between 1990 and 2020, there were 2,814 agriculture-related fatalities in Canada. “While we know the agricultural industry is one of the most hazardous in which to work, that does not mean we should just accept those risks. Instead, we need to address them with preventative measures,” says Sandra Miller, CASA’s Executive Director. “Any life lost to a preventable farming accident is one too many. That is why CASA is dedicated to supporting initiatives, like Canadian Agricultural Safety Week, to empower producers, their families, and their workers to make farms safer places to live, work, and visit. Canadian Agricultural Safety Week not only helps highlight the importance of safety in agriculture but also underscores the need for and importance of a year-round focus on farm safety. Because safer farms benefit all Canadians.” For 2026, CASW will feature daily themes to address essential agricultural health and safety topics affecting those who live and work on Canadian farms. The daily themes will cover machinery safety, emergency preparedness, rail and road safety, livestock safety, and women in agriculture. Every year, CASA highlights the importance of farm safety and encourages conversations about farm health and safety through CASW, which takes place during the third week of March. CASW’s sponsors for 2026 are Syngenta Canada, CN, Canadian Canola Growers Association, and Parrish & Heimbecker.
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Supporting Women in Agriculture There’s no doubt that women are indispensable when it comes to the strength and success of farms across Canada. However, despite the essential role of women in agriculture, especially with wellness and safety, their contributions often go unrecognized. Women frequently take on “invisible work” around the farm and home, juggling childcare, family obligations, and household management in addition to their farming responsibilities and potentially even work outside of the farm. This demanding workload, coupled with the unique challenges faced by women in agriculture, can lead to stress, burnout, and depression. To foster a healthy balance between agricultural tasks, family commitments, and personal well-being, it’s essential to establish clear routines and responsibilities and promote open communication among family members. Connecting with others and building a support network can help to navigate challenges and alleviate feelings of isolation. By coming together to support women in agriculture, we can create more opportunities for future generations of farmers and ranchers. This Canadian Agricultural Safety Week, let’s make farm safety a part of our everyday. For more information, please visit agsafetyweek.ca.
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Most Canadians know how to identify a maple tree just by looking at the leaves for that unique maple shape, but how can you tell which tree is a maple tree once all of the leaves are gone? While at first it might be hard to tell the difference, maple trees have two very distinguishing features: the bark and the branching patterns. Maple trees are unique as they are one of the few trees with opposite leaf buds. If you look closely, you will see each pair of buds is rotated about 180 degrees from the previous set, which helps keep the tree in balance when the buds become branches. This means the tree’s branches will grow in opposite directions making it easy for you to tell that it is a maple tree. Identifying a maple tree by its bark is a bit trickier as there is some variation between a young sugar maple and a mature one. A young maple’s bark will be stone-gray and very smooth, while a mature maple will have furrowed bark with large flat scales that seem to vertically peel off of the tree. How to tap a sugar maple Once you have successfully identified a maple tree it is time to tap it to access that delicious sap. A few things you should be aware of before tapping a tree is how old the tree needs to be, the temperature, and what tools you will need. Age Maple trees need to be mature before you can remove sap without harming the tree, much like how humans need to be a certain age before giving blood. To tell if a maple tree is mature you can look for the rough bark and measure the diameter of the tree at about shoulder length. The tree must be a minimum of 25.4+ centimetres in diameter for you to put one tap in, 45 cm for two taps, and 60 cm for three taps. Temperature Maple syrup season typically takes place between February and April when daytime temperatures reach above 0℃ followed by cold nights which is when the sap starts to flow. Maple syrup season ends when the buds on the branches begin to open leaving any sap collected after that point with a bitter aftertaste. Tools You will need a certain set of tools to successfully tap a maple tree, let’s call it your maple tool kit. For this tool kit, you will need a drill, a maple spile with a hook, a hammer, a sap bucket and bucket lids. You can get the spile and the bucket and lid from your local hardware store, farm store or sometimes local sugar bushes might have some available for sale. If your spiles do not come with hooks you will need to buy some separately. 
Start by drilling a hole five to eight centimetres at waist height, slanting the hole upwards, which will allow gravity to help with the sap flow. When drilling, make sure the hole is less than six centimetres deep or it could hurt the tree. It is best to drill the hole on a day that is above freezing to prevent the bark on the tree from cracking which will allow the sap to drip out. If you are drilling later in the season sap may start flowing immediately from the hole. After the hole is made, brush aside any shavings and insert your spile into the hole. Tap the spile gently with your hammer for a firm fit – but don’t pound on the spile or else it will not be able to be removed after the season is over. If a spile is not removed the tree is unable to seal over the hole. After the spile is in hang the sap bucket on the hook and let nature takes its course! Congratulations you have now tapped your first tree!
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Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation
INVEST North Program The Invest North Program is designed to boost economic growth in Northern Ontario by encouraging businesses to invest in transformative, strategic and complementary business development opportunities in Northern communities. The program will support productivity, innovation, business competitiveness, revenue growth, export capacity development, job creation and retention.
Community Enhancement Program The Community Enhancement Program is designed to help build strong and resilient Northern communities through infrastructure investments, to upgrade / repair existing assets to improve community quality of life, economic development infrastructure and strategic economic development initiatives
For a list of all NOHFC programming go to: https://nohfc.ca/en/nohfc_programs |
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Other E-mail Notices, Updates, Blogs and Podcasts that OMAFA offers |
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Farm Business Registration To register a farm business and get a Farm Business Registration number (FBR), please contact Agricorp at 1-866-327-367 fbr@agricorp.com | www.agricorp.com
AgMaps An online application that allows you to create custom maps and find agricultural information for Ontario, combining agricultural data on soils and drainage, as well as data layers from other Government of Ontario ministries. |
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