A fire may have destroyed her beloved barn, but it hasn’t extinguished Carolyne Siebert’s passion for farming.

For 30 years he’s spent countless hours in meetings and poring over reports in an effort to keep Ontario’s grape and wine, and fruit and vegetable sectors on firm ground, but Bill George is a farmer at heart.

Simply put, he’s a farmer, but ask Drew Spoelstra what kind of farmer he is and be prepared to wait a while as he responds.

He could measure success by how much money he makes, how high his yield is, how much land he manages, or any other number of variables.

There’s so much potential packed into each tiny seed: the promise of a beautiful plant, delicious produce, and for Madelaine Legault, a sense of optimism.

The 2026 Ontario Bean Growers annual general meeting was held in Stratford last month, where dry bean growers from across the region came together to discuss growing concerns around exports, particularly trade, transportation and domestic demand.