The School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph, in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, hosted a one-day symposium to showcase rural research being conducted at the University of Guelph. The symposium was an opportunity for graduate students to share their research with researchers, policy analysts, and program staff with the OMAFRA. The symposium took place on February 14, 2017 from 9:00 am – 4:30 pm at the Conference Centre at 1 Stone Road West.

Final Report, Agenda, Book of Abstracts

A summary report from the 2017 Rural Policy Symposium has been prepared. In addition to the final report, you can download the symposium agenda and book of abstracts. An abstract for each of the oral and poster presentations is contained within the Book of Abstracts. Presentations and posters are listed in alphabetical order.

2017 Rural Policy Symposium Final Report (7 MAR 2017)

2017 Rural Policy Symposium Agenda (5 FEB 2017)

2017 Rural Symposium Book of Abstracts (5 FEB 2017)

Presentations and Posters

Land Use Planning

Before the Bulldozer Hits the Ground: Measuring Farmland Loss in Ontario (Sara Epp, James Newlands) Migrating Mennonites: Understanding the Impacts of Anabaptist Farmers on Local Food in Northern Ontario (Sara Epp, James Newlands)

Local Economy

Precarious Employment in Rural Ontario (Valencia Gaspard) Rural Space and Social Enterprise (Scott Brown)

Water

127-I levels in Ontario Bulk Tank Milk and its Association with Groundwater, Milking Management, and Other Risk Factors (Courtney Rogerson)

Strategies for Rural Development

Asset Mapping: A Case Study (Valencia Gaspard, Scott Brown, Lissel Hernadez Gongora, Renee Le Roux) Regional and Rural Broadband Policy and Programming (Mamun Chowdury) Exploring the transitory experiences of immigrants in rural Ontario (Pallak Arora)

Tourism and Culture

Rural Educational Tourism (Danielle Robinson) Essex County Agri-Tourism: Exploring Regional and Farm-Level Diversification (Heather Reid) Music as Discourse to Inform Rural Policy: A Case Study of the Mayangna Artistic Initiatives in Nicaragua (Mery Perez)

Knowledge Translation and Transfer

Educating producers to systematically evaluate the cows they are culling (Allison Moorman) Knowledge Transfer Survey Analysis (Valencia Gaspard) KTT in a Digital Age (Michelle Linington)

Poster Presentations

Groundwater as a Source of High Iodine in Milk (Courtney Rogerson) KTT in a Digital Age (Michelle Linington) Private Water and Wastewater System Policy Implementation: The South vs. The North (Stephanie Worron) Radio+ and open source software for Mobilizing Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture in Sri Lanka (Faria Rashid) Supporting Local Food in Northern Ontario (Katherine Howes)

On Twitter and Social Media?

If you are on Twitter, you can follow the discussion through the Symposium’s hashtag #ruralsym17. People in attendance will be encouraged to use the hashtag throughout the day. Stay tuned!

#ruralsym17