Achillea Endeavours presents Michael Schmidt as their keynote speaker at their annual fundraising event, Saturday April 8th at the Ottawa Public Library, 120 Metcalfe St, Ottawa, at 3pm.
Michael Schmidt is an extraordinary Canadian farmer and advocate for food rights. Raised in Germany with a Masters in Agriculture, he practices biodynamic farming on a co-operative farm operation, Glencolton Farms, in Durham, Ontario.
For the last 23 years Michael has been battling with the province of Ontario, British Colombia, and Alberta for the right of people to consume unpasteurized milk. In 1994 and 2006 Schmidt’s farm was raided by armed officers, his equipment was seized, all dairy products were destroyed and Michael was charged with 20 offences for distributing unpasteurized milk. Recently on October 2, 2015 the farm was again raided with a similar flavour. For decades Michael has fought many legal court battles, defending himself and others, to defend the fundamental right for people to make informed choices what they put in their body. To this end, he has also helped to develop community farm ownership. Michael works with young people from all over the world through an apprenticeship program. He is also an accomplished classical musician, conductor and has provided opportunities nationally and internationally for artists to perform in his Symphony in the Barn.
This year’s fundraising event will once more enable us to offer two grants, the Farmer’s grant and the Artist’s grant. To read more about our past recipients of these grants visit here.
Achillea Endeavours 