Register early to participate: Sustainable and Just Rural Transitions Congress
Posted: June 14, 2016
Categories: Food in the News
The XIV World Congress of Rural Sociology 2016 (Toronto, 2016) has organized full and half day tours open to delegates of the Congress and to the wider public. Tours will explore community food centres in Toronto, gardening in different neighborhoods in Toronto, as well as exploring new spaces for urban food production in peri-urban and suburban areas.
Early Bird Registration ends July 1, 2016, and tour registration closes July 15, 2016. Tours are expected to fill up quickly, so be sure to sign up soon!
This years World Congress of Rural Sociology is being held at Ryerson University from August 10-14. This years conference, Sustainable and Just Rural Transitions: Connections and Complexities, has a variety of agriculture and food related presentations and workshops. There will be a discussion on creating regional food strategies, dispossession of smallholder farming, and how to include farmers as experts in decision making processes.
Sign up as a delegate to attend various workshops and events throughout the week!
Half day Tours:
City and Community Food Centres
Level of Activity: Moderate walking, mostly along city streets, meet at main entrance of Ryerson University Student Centre (Gould St. near Church St.)
Different models of multifaceted community-focused food centres can be found in Toronto, as will be shown in this public transport and walking tour. We start by using Scadding Court to illustrate the way a traditional community centre can integrate a variety of food projects within its activities. In the second stop, Parkdale will show how multiple partners in a neighbourhood can work to strengthen food security in multiple ways across that community. We will finish at 1884 Davenport, the home base of The Stop, where the “community food centre” approach was pioneered before being replicated across Canada.
Tour organized by Toronto Urban Growers.
Downtown East: Gardening Across Ages and Cultures
Mode: Walking tour, meet at main entrance of Ryerson University Student Centre (Gould St. near Church St.)
Level of Activity: Considerable but flat street walking
Gardening cuts across all ages and cultures. This can be seen clearly in highly diverse neighbourhoods such as those found on the eastside of downtown Toronto. This public transport and walking tour will visit a number of innovative gardens. Rye’s HomeGrown, an initiative at Ryerson University, shows how college-age students can be engaged, from food growing to food marketing. Allan Gardens is the city’s historic conservatory, where a showcase edible garden is being established by a broad range of downtown-based groups. Green Thumbs Growing Kids’ Winchester School Garden introduces food to young children. Regent Park, Canada’s largest social housing district, is currently undergoing radical transformation; food projects are embedded in the new Regent Park, including ground-level gardens run for years informally by residents, the 40 Oak community food centre, and One Oak where a new building for seniors includes a rooftop garden for residents.
Tour organized by Toronto Urban Growers.
Full day tours will be held on Sunday, August 14, 2016:
Changing spaces for farming and gardening
Mode: Bus tour, departs from Ryerson University
Level of Activity: Light walking in farms and gardens
The areas surrounding cities are becoming a space for inventive innovation for growing food. This tour will feature peri-urban and suburban cases where newer places for urban food production are being found, addressing different publics in varying ways. The first stop is Everdale, a farm-based organization with educational and community programming to build healthy local communities, including training of new farmers. The next stop would be the Kortright Conservation Area, a showcase project of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), the largest landholder in Greater Toronto; the TRCA has developed a policy for the integration of agriculture in some of its lands. We then make a stop at Black Creek Community Farm – the city’s largest urban farm. Downsview Park is our last stop, a former aerospace district being transformed by the federal government; this has served as an incubator for several farm businesses, including the social enterprise Fresh City Farms, which has become successful enough to set up a hub for processing and distributing products from greater Toronto as well as its surroundings. Tour organized by Toronto Urban Growers.
Mode: Bus tour, departs from Ryerson University
Level of Activity: Moderate to considerable walking
The Niagara region is home to one of Canada’s most well-known tourist attractions and one of the most beautiful natural wonders of the world, the Niagara Falls. The region also houses some of the richest agricultural land in Canada, specializing in growing grapes and tender fruit. Wine Country Ontario in the Niagara region is dotted with countless wineries that produce some of Canada’s best and most premium wines. The region has also become a culinary hotspot, with many restaurants specializing in showcasing the region’s local food. This tour will start with a stop at Tawse, a family-owned estate winery that uses organic and biodynamic methods in their wine production to produce exceptionally tasting wine. Lunch will be serve by de la Terre Bakery, an establishment that serves delicious, locally-produced food and is committed to supporting local producers that use sustainable and organic agricultural practices. After lunch, the tour visits Niagara Falls with ample time to view the Falls and to shop. Tickets to certain tourist attractions at Niagara Falls such as the Hornblower Niagara Cruise and the Journey Behind the Falls may be purchased separately, time permitting. The last stop of the tour will be at Virgil where we will meet with representatives of the Agricultural Workers Alliance about their work with migrant workers in the Niagara Region. We will join migrant workers for a BBQ picnic dinner provided by members of the Alliance.