HomeMy WebLinkAboutLucknow Sentinel, 2009-03-18, Page 43Farmers'. innovative ideas boost
agri-food industry for the consumer
BY HILARY LONG
Mitchell Advocate
. Innovative ideas grown
by Ontario farmers are
contributing to the local
economy, boosting the
agri-food industry for the
consumer; Those ideas
were celebrated May 20,
2008 at a ceremony in
Lucknow honouring local
winners of the province's
regional awards for inno-
vation excellence. •
The Premier's Agri-
Food Innovation
Excellence awards are
part of a .$2.5 -million,
five-year program (now
in its second year) estab
Tithed to recognize inno-
vators . who contribute to
the . success- • of Ontario's
agri-food sector. Winners.
of the $100,000 Premier's
Award and the $50,000
Minister's Award were
announced last month at
the' p'remier's Summit on
Agri -Food.
Local events across the
province are being held
to recognize 55 regional
award: winners, who will
receive $5,000 each for
their innovations.
Area winners included
Van Bakel Farms Ltd. of
RR 1 .Seb ringville. Ron
Van Bakel designed, built
and marketed a success-
ful heat exchanger for
barns.
His innovative design
has overcome conven-
tional challenges of heat
exchangers and is being
successfully demonstrat-
ed on a number of barns
in the province. The low
maintenance system has
definite benefits for use
in the swine sector. It
helps to lower supple-
mental heating costs and
ensures that minimum
ventilation rates in barns
are maintained.
Van Bakel said he was
excited when he was told
he was receiving the
award.
"It's nice to be recog-
nized for coming up with
a good idea," he said.
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Farm Progress, March 18, 2009 - Page 27
BRUSSELS
LIVESTO
DiviSi�n.�f Gamble & Rogers Ltd.
REGULAR SALES
Tuesdays -. 9 a.m.
Fed Cattle, Cows, 'lulls
Thursdays
m. Drop Calves
a.m. Veal
bS,Goats and Shee
Submitted photo
Huron -Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell presenting an area award for innovators
Ontario's sector to Ron Van Sakai of Vain Baked Farms of Sebringville.
The design of his heat
exchangers allows it to
be easily cleaned and
cleaned less.
"A barn is a very dusty
environment. If you are
drawing exhaust air out
and wanting to capture
some of the heat from . it
to pre -warm the incom-
ing cold air, than you're
going to be putting a lot
of- dust through that
unit," he said.
"If it clogs up quickly,
than you lose a lot of the
efficiency}. of it and it's a
pain to work with for a
farmer who is busy. with
other things," he said.
His exchanger requires
cleaning only once every
three months, which is
nice for pig farmers
because rooms get
changed about every
three months.
"You're washing the
room at that point any-
way and you can wash
the air exchanger too," he
said.
Van Bakel is Ia pig
farmer and also manufac-
tures chimneys for hog
barns, so the heat
exchangers were an
added product he hoped
farmers would get excit-
ed about.
He said the idea's con-
cept until the : product was
available took about a
year. A farmer all his life;
Van Bakel took over the
farm from his father
in
about 15 years ago.
"Innovation is impor-
tant to gain effeciency,
especially in the face of
energy costs going up so
much. A lot of farmers
waren their barns to
maintain productivity of
Continued on page: 28
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