Biosecurity Courses

With the support of Growing Forward 2, Green Hectares has developed three animal health courses (also known as biosecurity). We have resourced the best information we can find from around the world, so you will see great information from leading experts on how to keep your animals healthy and your farm profitable. Rather than recreate what is already out there, we have arranged great information in a way that makes it easy for you to go through it.  We only create our own content where there appears to be a gap in information.  We feel our job is to make sure that you access it in the easiest way possible.  

You can access these courses for free with the code GHLivestockHealth.  After that the course is only $9.  It is a great training tool for yourself or anyone else in your operation on learning about keeping your animals disease free.

Poultry Health

A course based on the Canadian Poultry Biosecurity Standards, this program is a great training tool for any farm to use a training tool.  It also can apply to small holding flocks as well.

Cattle Herd Health

A course based on the Canadian Cattle Biosecurity Standards, the information in this program balances the practicality of the dairy and beef industries with the need to keep livestock healthy.

Swine Health

A course based on the Canadian Swine Biosecurity Standards, this program can be used to implement a program in a small holdings operation or to use as a training tool on a larger hog operation.

Are you an organization concerned about biosecurity?

If you're an organization with members that would benefit from this program, an organization that has useful resources on biosecurity or both, we want to connect with you.  We partner and work with a variety of organizations so the best way option is to connect with our Executive Director, Wendy Schneider.

Programs

Over the last nine years, we have really tried to listen to the people we've met in the agriculture sector and in rural communities across Canada.  We have created a suite of programs that try to accomplish very specific problems in our industry and our communities.   Look through what we are working and see if any of the programs fit for your organization or even you personally.  We are always willing to partner and work together with people and organizations who also are working towards making agriculture and rural communities better.

Knowledge exchange is essential for the sustainability of communities and succession within the agriculture industry. The mentoring, learning and collaboration process between experienced individuals to inexperienced is a fundamental part of the community and entrepreneurial development. This process has allowed for the inter-generational transfer of knowledge to occur and to be built upon by future generations. This process is a driver for expertise and innovation.
​
Many mentorship programs are structured where people are matched, follow a curriculum and the relationship lasts generally from 6 months to several years. This model has been created and then dismantled by many organizations in the industry, only for a new program to be developed a few years later. Green Hectares understands the importance of this knowledge transfer and The Entrepreneur Exchange offers a fresh approach in how a mentorship program can work. This program has been designed to be a flexible framework to reduce the chances of the program ending and improving the uptake of mentorship and learning opportunities.

The Entrepreneur Exchange program is unique as we understand that everyone has their own competencies.  Entrepreneurs who receive help can also contribute and help other entrepreneurs in areas that they are strong.  The focus of the program is progress not perfection.  Through deliberate and consistent actions, we can help each other build success.
The Community Connector Program (CCP) facilitates effective and sustainable use of resources, experts, spaces, and programs already available to the community while encouraging people to connect, collaborate and learn from and with each other.

Based on the premise that every rural community is unique and has the capacity to shape its own future, the CCP provides a model for community development that is adaptable and community-driven. The success of the program hinges on local community action and champions for the project. The CCP establishes regional Community Connector projects in communities in partnership with Green Hectares.
​
Through this partnership arrangement, the local community has ownership in the project but gains a replicable model and support from Green Hectares. Partnering communities are required to provide financial or in kind support for this position and in return Green Hectares hires a local facilitator, provides training and mentorship, manages the project and provides useful outcomes and information back to the community.
A community of interest is a community of people who share a common interest or passion.  These people exchange ideas and thoughts about the given passion, but may know (or care) little about each other outside of this area.  Participation in a community of interest can be compelling, entertaining and create a sticky community where people return frequently and remain for extended periods.  Frequently, they cannot be easily defined by a particular geographical area.  –Wikipedia

Online communities can congregate around a shared interest, but can be spread across multiple websites. There may be more than one website to go to find any one online community.  Their meaning can change depending on who is defining them. Universally, however, there are things that show signs of a community. They are:
  • Content: articles, information, and news about a topic of interest to a group of people
  • Forums or newsgroups and email: so that your community members can communicate in delayed fashion
  • Chat and instant messaging: so that the community members can communicate more immediately.​
Green Hectares will support existing online communities by linking these communities through various channels that they have in place.  Creating a collective meeting space for the five main areas of;
  • Crops
  • Environment
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Livestock
  • Rural Development

Green Hectares will utilize our various programs in stages to create stronger bonds within these online communities for the betterment of both the industry and the consumer.
All Community Connector Facilitators have been trained by the Sirolli Enterprise team to provide support to local entrepreneurs in realizing their business dreams. The Sirolli Enterprise team has over 30 years of personal business experience and have been intimately involved in the development, launch and implementation of economic development initiatives worldwide since 1997. The Entrepreneurial Development Program is a community based economic development tool.

The program is a free and confidential service that is offered within project areas and online, to anyone who wishes to open or operate a business. The facilitator assists clients in conducting market research, developing business plans, securing financing, locating commercial or retail space, and obtaining permits and approvals from appropriate government entities.

The methodology has provided a philosophical and practical basis for operations to Green Hectares Management Team and their Resource Boards. The Resource Boards have learned about the Trinity of Management and have an understanding of how Facilitators coach entrepreneurs.

The Enterprise Facilitation model:

  • Assesses personal commitment to a business idea before assessing that idea’s business viability
  • Empowers entrepreneurs to take that idea from a passionate dream to practical reality through proper management
  • Teaches business owners the importance of team building to balance the three equally vital aspects of successful business management: product, marketing, and finance
  • Encourages local expansion and retention rather than recruitment of outside businesses by capturing and enhancing the unique skills and passions of local people, creating a variety of local businesses with deep roots in the community
  • Relies on entrepreneurs’ own internal motivation and creates a “ripple effect” of excitement about the possibilities for local entrepreneurship
  • Brings together a diverse group of community leaders whose sole purpose is to advance entrepreneurship and strengthen local businesses
Bringing the agricultural and rural leaders of tomorrow into the online spaces of today, REAL (Rural Entrepreneurs and Agriculture Leaders) Training is a program that equips young people in rural areas with the ability to engage with agriculturally and economically diverse communities through ongoing online training and tools, short-term mentorships and improved networking activities.

Green Hectares will help create an environment where those with a vested interest in agriculture and food would thrive. Rural and agri businesses need engaged leaders with training to support that community. The result is a dynamic partnership, linking established rural practices with future unlimited potential.
REAL Training will include virtual and face to face events across Canada, providing instruction to young leaders in the agriculture and food sectors.

Program Components

- Online facilitation
- Access to community of interest as developed by Green Hectares
- Online Entrepreneur Exchanges - 90 minute short term mentorships
- 6-12 month training programs with monthly modules that engage youth in their community by producing results for a community organization
- The Entrepreneur Exchange program
- Training modules
There are many great public spaces in rural communities that have served a long tradition of public service to their communities.  However, some of these spaces have pressures that Rural Spaces hopes in partnership to help them overcome. Green Hectares is developing a variety of solutions from our discussions with many different rural community halls and agricultural societies, one of which includes an online directory that will make it easier to discover the many great rural community spaces available.
The vision of working to support vibrant rural communities where people can thrive is the motivation behind  the  Rural  Tech  program.  This  initiative  was  designed  and developed  to  comply  with Green Hectares’ mission of being a leader in bringing sustainability to the agriculture community and fostering dynamic rural communities by creating opportunities for people to connect, collaborate and learn.

Technology can play an important role in the quality of life in rural communities.  While in some areas technology is lacking, once rural citizens are exposed to this information they quickly take it up and use  it in  ways  not  seen  in  an  urban  setting.  The  application  of  technology,  whatever  that  technology is, generally is done readily and enthusiastically. Rural Tech is a program to enable individuals the ability to choose how they use these technologies to improve their lives.
Green Hectares’ experience with developing and implementing rural computer workshops revealed a large demand for training to upgrade computer and web skills in many rural communities. The ongoing development of the Rural Tech program will build on this demand by providing technology labs and business-applied technology training for individuals, organizations and businesses in rural communities, including the Community Connector pilots, where additional technology is needed.

While other organizations offering similar courses require the community to already have the resources needed for computer skills training, Rural Tech is a mobile opportunity that brings the necessary infrastructure to interested communities that are unable to set up those resources. As well, Rural Tech offers a “one stop shop” for organizations to quickly put together a session to begin to increase interest and skills in technology, access.

The infrastructure that can be accessed currently includes:
  • Mobile Computer Labs (4 fully functional labs)
  • ​Workshop Instructors located across the province
  • 18 Workshop Course Materials   
​In working to support vibrant rural communities that allow people to thrive, Green Hectares recognizes the importance of creating conduits to spread ideas and knowledge from one rural community to another. It is this focus that has inspired the Rural Voices program, a new Green Hectares initiative designed to connect engaging speakers with organizations looking to create engaging events and share knowledge and ideas.