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grains and distilling them into whisâ€" key. “Growers now have the opportuni- ty to showcase their crops in a giant marketplace like the LCBO,” said To- ronto Distillery Company coâ€"foundâ€" er Charles Benoit. "| just think the opportunity is really tremendous." Unlike other distilleries, the new company is labelling its bottles with specific information on the crops used to produce the whiskey. 'I think we’re at the beginning of something really exciting,” he said. ”Before, farmers didn't plug into the spirit market, but they will now.” While gluten-free products are cer- “The research centre conducted \_Nide variety of agricultural innovations shared at Haiton Region’s forum tainly all the rage these days, a fam- ily company in the small town of Heidelberg, 0N has been creating these types of specialty items for Representatives of the agricultural industry hear about new innovations at the Halton Rt decades. Kevin Stemmler, co-owner of Stem- mler Meat and Cheese, told the au- dience about how his family's busi- M. Jasmine Sweatman, Certified Specialist in Estates & Trusts ness made its way into the niche market that caters to diets free of gluten, MSG, lactose, nitrates and other allergens. e Halton Region A fit Mkhaellwnm/ ion AI ricultural Forum. alto tthhampion For forum guests like Meaghan 2 Richardson, co-owner of Mabel ‘3 May Farms in north Burlington, the g: evening proved to be very informa- g tive. g 'T his certainly showed us where we can go with a good idea," she said. ”There are definitely niches out there that Halton farmers can fill.” “This type of meat didn’t exist in the E} ’805 when we started,” he said. ”So 3; how do we develop this market? Of ,_. course, we innovate." For example, he said they use tur- key, beef and pork collagen instead of soy in their products in response to soy allergies. ”There are a lot of innovative things we can do to help ourselves," he re- marked. Those in attendance also learned about the large variety of govern- ment funding opportunities avail- able to the agricultural and food 3 sectors through a presentation' a from Mentor Works, a consulting: firm that assists farmers in access- g ing these funds. we wlavnvo scam I SIOZ ‘z