Submitted by: Mary Feldskov, Heartland Regional Communication Coordinator

Growing crops and farming adjacent to large urban areas presents many challenges for Waterloo Region farmers, but also provides an opportunity to engage the public in the conversation about how food and agricultural products are grown, what they are used for, and what farmers are doing to protect the environment.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, and the province-wide shutdown impacted the ability to gather and host events, the Waterloo Soil and Crop Improvement Association board of directors were faced with a dilemma: how could they engage their members and promote the mission and values of OSCIA given the uncertainty that faced the organization in the months ahead?

The group decided that this was a perfect opportunity to engage in a consumer-awareness project.  Capitalizing on their members’ close proximity to more than half a million consumers living in the tri-cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge — with their crops planted along busy highways such as the 401, highway 7 and Regional Road 85 that see thousands of cars pass by every day — they initiated an educational sign project.

Photo credit: Mary Feldskov

Signs were erected in fields adjacent to these high-traffic areas that highlighted some of the common crops grown in the region, including corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa, and apples. Printed with the crop name on one side, the other side of the sign featured some of the eventual uses or end-products of the crop.

While animal feed and human consumption may seem like obvious end-uses, consumers may be surprised to learn that the corn grown in the field they pass by every day could end up in a tube of toothpaste or in their shampoo bottle; or that soybeans can be used in the production of paint, cosmetics or biodiesel; and while apples often end up in grocery carts at the supermarket, they also play an important role in the production of honey.

The project was considered a success by the Waterloo SCIA, and in 2021, they plan to continue by erecting the signs again and expanding the project to include signs that highlight the cover crops being grown by the region’s farmers. While the benefits of cover crops are well known to farmers — they help prevent erosion, improve soil health and help to control pests — in Waterloo Region they play an important role in protecting a valuable resource: drinking water.

There are more than 650,000 people in Waterloo Region, Guelph, Brantford and the Six Nations Territory that rely on the Grand River for drinking water, and farmers in the region are planting cover crops to minimize the impact of soil erosion and nutrient run-off that can affect water quality. The sign project will bring awareness to the role that farmers are playing to protect water quality in the region.

The sign project was funded using an OSCIA Tier 1 grant.