Greetings,
I immigrated to Canada in 2003 from India. I was thrilled to see Canada filled with lots of immigrants who have brought cultures, values and talents from different ethnicities.

I was born in Muhavoor village in south India as a fifth son. Ever since I lost my parents when I was in grade 9, my widowed paternal grandmother Valliammal, took the responsibility of raising five children. She did not have a formal education, any jobs, a bank balance or personal belongings to support her, only two acres of cultivable land and a cow. Through her hard work and effective utilization of farm-land resources, she was able to provide a high-quality life to five children without any government, friends or familial support.

The capabilities of agricultural land motivated me to study an Agricultural Engineering degree and later to obtain a PhD in this field at the University of Manitoba. I worked with agro-food industries at various capacities in India and Canada for seven years. When I joined the University of Guelph as an Associate Professor, I wanted to engage myself in farming operations. Since the cost of cultivable land in Ontario is very high, I tried leasing lands through different resources but my efforts were in vain. Once, I approached an organization in Guelph to lease agricultural land, but the application was denied due to my lack of farming experience in Canada irrespective of my formal agricultural education and farming experience in India. Also, I discovered that many highly qualified immigrants with agricultural education and international farming experience lose passion for their field, and begin their life in general labor after entering Canada. These incidences motivated me to develop and establish a platform in which all interested immigrants and others are able to get opportunities for farming experience and develop themselves as agri-entrepreneurs.

Canadian Farming Alliance strives to connect and create opportunities for immigrants, university graduates, current farmers, food industries, food marketers and other entrepreneurs, who are all interested in the farming business.

A.Manickavasagan
Director