HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-02-08 MinutesAgricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington Meeting
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Members Present: John Cartwright Brenda Metcalf Don Rickard
Eric Bowman Jennifer Knox, Wendy Partner
Ted Watson Les Caswell Richard Rekker
Regrets: Elgin Greenham, Tom Barrie, Henry Zekveld
Guests: Randy Cluff, CCi BioEnergy, Libby Racansky
Staff: Amy Burke, Faye Langmaid, Planning Services
Brenda welcomed all to the meeting, with introductions.
Adoption of Agenda
018-04 Moved by John Cartwright, seconded by Eric Bowman
"That the Agenda for February 8, 2018 be adopted"
Carried
Approval of Minutes
018-05 Moved by Eric Bowman, seconded by Don Rickard
"That the minutes of the January 11, 2018 meeting be approved"
Carried
Presentation
Randy Cluff is the Director of Business Development for Cci BioEnergy, they have
developed anaerobic digester projects, specifically one for City of Toronto to deal with
greenbin waste and have been piloting smaller scale digesters. .
Randy and Kevin's company was founded in 1992 dealing with the development
of organics processing solutions using Anaerobic Digestion (AD). Municipal
greenbin waste is a management challenge and an opportunity to change our
thinking and realize that the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) is a
resource asset with a significant amount of value.
Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington February 8, 2018
To many, organic waste is seen as an environmental problem. CCi view it as an
economic loss. With close to 40% of our farm -to -fork supply chain being lost, there is an
un -tapped opportunity to reclaim these assets for economic gain.
CCi has been working with Algoma on a pilot project of a micro -scale anaerobic
digestion solution to produce energy on-site from recovered organic materials (in
Algoma's case apple pulp).
The question that Randy left the group with was How could we work together to develop
an innovative agriculture based project in the area?
Business Arising
Farm field 911 numbers (Emily Project). DRFA have been following up on this initiative.
In Clarington if you need an address for your property they can be obtained from
Planning Services. When addresses are created in Planning they are entered into the
CRYSIS (911) Service, Post Canada and all other agencies are notified. To obtain a
sign Operations has indicated they will provide and install for $80. In addition, there is
the issue of cell and broadband coverage for contacting in the case of Emergency.
Correspondence and Committee Reports
C-274 the Tax Bill, correspondence from the Town of Amherstburg, referred to
committee from Mayor's office. This issue has evolved since the resolution was
formulated in December. Committee requested staff contact the MPs offices to obtain
an update for next meeting.
Durham Agriculture Advisory Committee:
Working on DAAC Tour for September 13th. Chairperson is working with Port of
Oshawa on shipping issues. Eric reminded all of the workshop on Friday, Feb 9th which
is a joint effort of DAAC, DEAC and Durham Climate Change Roundtable. The Durham
Workforce Survey results were discussed at meeting, there is an issue with having
young people understand the relationship between agriculture, food industry and
potential job opportunities in agri-food related fields.
Durham Reaion Federation of Aariculture:
The Emily project was discussed, DRFA would like to see funding for signage across
the Region. They also are looking for consistency in emergency services notification.
Farm Connections school program is happening on April 3, 4, 5 they are looking for
volunteers to assist with the stations.
Clarington Board of Trade:
Planning for the 2018 annual CBOT Agricultural Summit is underway, it will be March
23rd at Newcastle Community Hall. CBOT has registered for the Understanding the
Teenage Mind: Strategies to Engage Youth in Agri -Food Careers webinar on March
14th at 2:00 p.m. Any that wish to attend please let Faye or Adam Jeronimo at CBOT
know, there is limited space in CBOT's boardroom to attend the webinar.
Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington February 8, 2018
New Business
Broadband Nancy Rutherford provided an update that the initial phase study is being
completed and moving onto second phase. On target for study to be completed by July.
It will contain key action items and will go to Regional Committee to determine Region's
role in implementation.
Enbridge —Brenda attended a meeting with OFA reps, Enbridge, Rural Ratepayers
Group, CBOT and Municipal Staff about possible expansion of gas service to rural area
(Tyrone, Enniskillen, Haydon)._At this point in time it is not economically viable for
Enbridge to expand service. A major load generator is needed to provide impetus for
expansion. There was discussion about district geothermal. Enbridge could be a
possible future presentation.
407 Implementation — Request that Blackbird and MTO be invited to May meeting.
There are a number of stormwater and drainage issues that have affected farmers in
Phase 1. This should be better addressed in Phase 2. There is an implementation
problem because MTO has downloaded on-site responsibilities to Blackbird. Land
owners that have asked for commitments from MTO as part of the land deal are being
hampered in having these implemented, because of the contract arrangements. Items
agreed upon in the Environmental Assessment and discussed as part of 407 Committee
and Community Value Plan are not being carried out. Each land owner is having to
pursue issues individually rather than collectively.
Green On, John alerted members to the funding available for energy conservation
works from the Province. See the website at https://www.greenon.ca/
Future Agendas
x Confirmed for April -- Ontario Farmland Trust
x Invite/confirmed Blackbird and MTO for May meeting
x (Not yet confirmed) Barry and Mark Bragg to speak about their operation and
value-added initiatives — John Cartwright to follow up.
x (Not yet confirmed) Participation House - Jenni Knox to follow-up.
John Cartwright moved to Adjourn.
Next Meeting: Thursday, March 8, 2018 @ 7:30 pm, Michael Pathak, CLEAResult,
Harness Saving on the Farm Programs
Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington February 8, 2018