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Oxford county dairy producer acclaimed as OSCIA president elect for 2015

September 22, 2015 - The annual summer directors’ meeting of the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) was held in Oxford County, starting at the farm of Gord Green near Embro.

Gord Green was the 1st Vice President of OSCIA and has been acclaimed as the President Elect for 2015. He represents the Counties of Middlesex, Elgin and Oxford in the Thames Valley Region. Greenholm Farms, is a family farm operated by Gord, his wife Laura, along with their son David, his wife Shannon, and their three daughters.

Greenholm Farms operates about 750 acres in the Embro area. The Green family milk approximately 200 cows in
a modern free-stall barn. Their crops are all planted using no-till other than their corn, which is planted strip-till.
They grow forages, corn, soybeans and wheat with about half the crops going for livestock feed. The rest is sold
as cash crops. They have an anaerobic digester for processing manure as well as other off farm organic materials.
And they have a FIT contract for 250 KW of power from the biogas they produce.

“We at Greenholm feel very strongly that we have to protect our land and the environment for future generations. We feel that our no-till practices improve our soil and also reduce wind and water erosion. We get better water retention and reduce soil compaction problems. We currently use cover crops on part of our acreage and are looking to expand this,” says Green.“I am grateful for the opportunities that OSCIA has presented to me such as Environmental Farm Plan Workshops and Growing Your Farm Profits Workshops. They have helped guide our farm to where it is today."

The last OSCIA President from Oxford County was Pat Lee in 2008. Pat and his wife Margaret were able to join
in on the Summer meeting tours and commented that “The summer tour is a real learning experience in
combination with delicious meals, meeting new people and refreshing past acquaintances. The assortment of
topics and tours certainly provided a new look at the numerous agri-businesses that Thames Valley has to offer.”

OSCIA’s President Alan Kruszel commented that “Gord and Laura, along with their family did a great job in
presenting the diversification of Thames Valley agriculture to their fellow directors, past Presidents, their families
and guests.”

September 23, 2015  By Top Crop Manager