February 17, 2010

Urban food strategy unveiled

David McKeown is out to change the way you think about food. What you eat, where it comes from, where you buy it and how you consume it. Toronto’s Board of Health is unveiling a wide-ranging food strategy whose broad and lofty goals include creating “food-friendly neighbourhoods,” connecting city-dwelling consumers to rural producers and eliminating hunger. The strategy, which goes before the Board of Health today, is the most ambitious attempt yet by any Canadian city to reform a local food system that simply isn’t doing its job when it comes to feeding residents. Globe and Mail story.

Toronto’s Food Strategy unveiled

It is a historic day for municipal food policy. This afternoon, the Toronto Board of Health will endorse the consultation report, “Food Connections: Toward a Healthy and Sustainable Food System for Toronto.” Congratulations to the Board of Health, the Medical Officer of Health, the Food Strategy Steering Group and staff on their work. Lauren Baker, Sustain Ontario’s director will make the following deputation at City Hall this afternoon. The City of Toronto is a global leader in municipal food policy development. Across North America municipalities look to the City of Toronto, and in particular Toronto Public Health and the Toronto Food Policy Council for leadership, guidance and advice. Sustain Ontario statement.

City takes aim at “food deserts”

Toronto’s public health department is working on the creation of a “food strategy” that would promote healthy heating, a green economy and vibrant neighbourhoods. Toronto Star story.

Toward a Healthy and Sustainable Food System for Toronto

The next stage in the Food Strategy project – Food Connections: Toward a Healthy and Sustainable Food System for Toronto – is being submitted to the Toronto Board of Health on Feb 16, 2010. The report launches a period of public consultation and engagement.Toronto Food Strategy project website. Food Connections report.

Perth Beef Producers President: Industry Is Broken

The new President of the Perth County Beef Producers Association says the industry is broken.

Murray Brodhagen says immediate government assistance is needed because Ontario’s beef industry is in serious jeopardy. He adds the retailers seem to have too much power so there needs to be marketing changes or Perth County beef producers and there counterparts across the Province will continue to get paid very little for their product. Brodhagen says he is not a big supporter of government subsidies but something has to be done or the beef industry will be lost. CKNX Radio Wingham story.

Pork Producers Told They Need Consumer Help

Hog farmers are urging consumers to let retailers know they want to buy pork from domestic producers. Stiff competition from the U-S hog industry contributed to a disastrous year for Canadian producers in 2009. Anita Ivanauskas is a strategic marketing consultant with Ontario Pork. She says their labelling programs can help consumers identify Canadian and Ontario-grown product – but shoppers have to help create the demand for domestic pork. CKNX Radio Wingham story.

Durham Food Charter moving ahead

The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation announced January 22 that it was providing $35,000 to the Community Development Council Durham (CDCD) to put into action the goals and mandate of the Durham Region Food Charter. Endorsed by Durham Regional Council last December, the Charter reflects the community’s vision for a food secure Durham Region focused toward building a just and sustainable local food system as a foundation for population health. Sustain Ontario story.

Province invests in Bobcaygeon dairy

Kawartha Dairy Limited’s ice cream facility will be around ’til the cows come home’ after the province announced $620,000 in funding to go towards an approximately $1.24 million refurbishment at the iconic Bobcaygeon business. Kawartha Dairy Limited general manager Blake Frazer and director of operations at the family-run business, Mike Crowe joined MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock Rick Johnson in making the announcement at the plant on Friday (February 5). They said up to 10 new jobs would be created as well as helping to retain the 86 existing positions. Lindsay Post story.

Farmers stand up for local abattoirs

A group of local abattoir owners and representatives of the National Farmers Union (NFU) are meeting with Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman Friday to discuss food safety regulations that are threatening the future of small abattoirs. An executive meeting of the Perth-Oxford local of the NFU is also planned for later today to consider action that could be taken in support of Mogk’s Killing and Butcher Shop south of Tavistock and other long-standing local meat processors facing onerous expenditures in order to stay in business. Stratford Beacon Herald story.

Economic study shows hefty impact

Holland Marsh farmers are discovering that when you want to change a local council’s mind, let your numbers speak for you. A recently published study on the economic impact of the area’s agriculture production has already helped change municipal council members’ minds “on a few issues,” says Alex Makarenko, chairman of the Holland Marsh Growers’ Association. Commissioned by the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation with input from the growers’ association, the study reveals that the economic impact of the area’s agriculture production is more than $225 million. Better Farming story.

Green Party Leader Calls For Finance Changes For New Farmers

The leader of the Ontario Green Party says finance changes are needed to allow new farmers to get into the business. Mike Shreiner says there are sons and daughters who want to take over the family farm but they need help with land costs. Shreiner suggests an arrangement like a reverse mortgage is one way to get around the financing hurdle. He says efforts to bring a new generation of farmers into the business are hampered because existing farmers have their retirement locked up in the equity of their land. CKNX Radio Wingham story.

Perspectives on good food and farming

February 16, 2010

Minister Visits Award Winning Riverside Market (UK)

Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones, said: “There are numerous benefits attached to farmers markets from environmental benefits such as reducing food miles to encouraging healthy eating and boosting the local economy. “Through buying locally sourced food and drink, we are minimising the energy used in food production, transport and storage and therefore securing a sustainable future for our farming and food industries. Meat Trade Daily News, Wales – Welsh Assembly government press release.

First Ever Rooftop Farm on Affordable Housing Project

Solar is not the only green feature appearing on affordable housing projects these days. In fact, a project in the South Bronx is hoping to combat food miles and food deserts at the same time, growing fresh, nutritious vegetables in a 10,000 sq ft rooftop greenhouse on top of a six story affordable housing project. But does the project make sense? Treehugger.

Consumers fed up with misleading food labels (Australia)

Consumer groups say the serving sizes listed on food packaging may be giving people the wrong impression about how much they should eat. While the US Food and Drug Administration is considering changing its standardised serving sizes because they are smaller than the average American’s consumption, consumer groups say Australia should take a different approach to food labelling.ABC News story.

School Gardeners Strike Back

In the article Flanagan saves special scorn—she’s really good at witty, seemingly undisputable scorn; I’ve long enjoyed her writing, and once in a while even agreed with it—for Alice Waters and the Edible Schoolyard, the program Waters launched 15 years ago at a Berkeley middle school where she saw a vacant lot. She has tirelessly and relentlessly turned that garden and a kitchen-classroom she built into a national movement to incorporate gardens into schools and what students learn in gardens into the school curriculum. It’s no stretch to say that Michelle Obama planted a garden on the White House Lawn and invited schoolchildren to be her first helpers as a direct result of Waters’s crusade. The Atlantic story

Food Deserts Could Bloom if City Hall Helps

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has hired a food policy czar and formed a Food Policy Task Force. And City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has said she will roll out a policy agenda for food this spring that will address the question of access in a more comprehensive way. The question now is how far these efforts will take the city toward a more holistic food policy. Gotham Gazette story.

Supplier to Buyer tourism event

Supplier to Buyer – a crucial event for anyone involved in the tourism industry, leisure and hospitality in South-West Wales – is being held at Haverfordwest tomorrow, February 3rd. “From food producers, web designers, interior decorators, retailers and others, they all benefit from a vibrant tourism industry,” she said. Western Telegraph story.

Food Policy Councils: Lessons Learned

Based on an in-depth survey of 48 Food Policy Councils, the authors found that despite dozens of successful case studies, Food Policy Councils tend to encounter similar challenges, challenges that can sometimes stymie progress, and must be countered with careful planning and evaluation. This report contains tips and case studies for successful councils, warns of common red flags, and includes ample resources for citizens and local governments who may be interested in establishing or helping run a Food Policy Council. Food First: Institute for Food and Development Policy report (3.0 PDF)

Will Walmart, not Whole Foods, save the small farm and make America healthy?

He was right. In the grocery section of the Raynham supercenter, 45 minutes south of Boston, I had trouble believing I was in a Walmart. The very reasonable-looking produce, most of it loose and nicely organized, was in black plastic bins (as in British supermarkets, where the look is common; the idea is to make the colors pop). The first thing I saw, McIntosh apples, came from the same local orchard whose apples I’d just seen in the same bags at Whole Foods. The Atlantic story.

The Next Wave: Wellness Food Trends for 2010

And what consumers are demanding is clear. “The new consumer mantra when it comes to health and wellness is ‘simple,’” says Kimberly Carson, director of beverage solutions for Sensient Flavors LLC (www.sensient-tech.com), Indianapolis. “Already there are products on grocery store shelves with ‘simple’ and ‘simply’ on the package, referencing both a simplification of the ingredient statement as well as…healthier ingredients.” FoodProcessing.com story.

Oscar-nominated film on food industry hits screens in the UK

Food, Inc is a 90-minute documentary that claims to expose “the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer”. It claims the country’s food supply is controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and the environment. The film is being supported in the UK by the Soil Association which is encouraging as many people as possible to go and see it. Farmers Weekly Interactive story.

AND if You Have Time

Turn our cities’ windows into vertical veggie farms

I started The Windowfarms Project as a grassroots way to start to address a nexus in these issues– our food system– and to give ordinary people a way of participating in the “green revolution.” Over the last year, through an organized online collaboration of regular folks, we “windowfarmers” have designed a system for growing nutritious veggies in the windows of homes in a way that looks like an elegant garden/fountain. We have given away the plans and shown anyone how to make them out of cheap, easily accessible and recycled materials. Us windowfarmers are ongoingly testing new techniques and sharing results online to make windowfarms continually more efficient, more productive, more nutritious, quieter, prettier, and more tasty. Interesting Kickstarter project.

Perspectives on good food and farming

February 11, 2010

Food author pushes for national food policy in Guelph speech

Canadians are aware of the country’s broken food system and need a national food policy. It was the message delivered by author Margaret Webb at the 2009 Organic Agricultural Conference’s keynote address Saturday. Her book Apples to Oysters won a silver at the 2009 Cuisine Canada/University of Guelph National Culinary Book Awards. Last fall, Webb also wrote an eight-part investigative series for The Toronto Star called Crisis on the Farm. Addressing a packed lecture hall at the University of Guelph, Webb presented the state of today’s food sector. The 29th annual organic conference drew at least 1,000 farmers, distributors, retailers and advocates between Friday and Sunday. Guelph Mercury story.

Home is where the hearty food is

Residents of 100 Mile House have turned local eating into a way of life, with an agricultural co-op and their own Cariboo potatoes.Globe and Mail story.

Quebec Slaughterhouse Gets Fed Loan

The federal government is lending a Quebec company that specialises in the slaugher and processing of milk-fed calves. Ecolait processes more than 1 hundred thousand head of veal a year. The animals come from it’s over 150 producer partners. 50 per cent of it’s products are exported. The 2 point 7 million dollar federal loan will help Ecolait improve it’s storage capacity and upgrade it’s slaughterhouse plant technology. CKNX Radio Wingham story.

Local Market Industry benefits from a Mentorship Program

In September 2009, the Camrose Regional Exhibition, Edmonton Regional Tourism Group, Peace Region Economic Development Alliance, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD), and the Learn Agri-Food (LAF) and Country Roads (CR) Networks partnered to bring Jane Eckert of Eckert AgriMarketing to Alberta.  Jane Eckert is an award winning leader in the farm direct/ag tourism industry, and is the founder and CEO of Eckert AgriMarketing. Local market businesses from the Peace, Edmonton and NE regions of Alberta benefited from Eckert’s experience and expertise.  One of the ten participants in the program was Heather Edwards of Pottery by Heather. Heather has been very successful at turning her passion for pottery into a thriving rural business in Bon Accord, Alberta. RTW This Week story.

Canada’s Master of Wild Edibles

The matsutake is just one of many hard-to-find products harvested from the Canadian wilderness and sold by Forbes Wild Foods. Founded by Jonathan Forbes, the business started back in the late 1990s when Forbes realized that no one knew what he was talking about when he told them of the chokecherries he’d picked or the beechnuts he was eating. “If you asked people what are Canadian wild foods, you’d be lucky to get more than wild rice, maple syrup, and blueberries,” he said. The Atlantic story.

First Nations School Gardening Program

The past school year has seen the beginning of a new and promising trend among some First Nations schools in Manitoba. A number of schools have begun planning for, or have already started implementing gardening programs. An integrated school/community gardening program offers potential benefits too numerous to list in a single brief article, such as this. However, some highlights will be explored herein. Development and implementation of a school/community gardening program can help to address a wide range of issues facing schools and communities. First Perspective National Aboriginal News story.

Growing Right

While 100-mile dieters provide a ray of hope, small-scale farmers the world over continue to face intense pressures, and many are still forced out of farming each year. In response, we need to think carefully about our aspirations for the 21st century food system.Peter Andrée essay in Alternatives Journal.

Meet Howard Soon, wine master of the Okanagan

If anyone embodies the quality revolution in B.C. wine that’s taken place since the sip-while-you-slalom era, it’s Mr. Soon. This month he will celebrate his 30th year in the business, overseeing the Western Canada operations of Grimsby, Ont.-based Andrew Peller, which owns the Calona, Sandhill and Red Rooster brands in British Columbia as well as the Peller, Hillebrand and Thirty Bench. And unlike athletes, who tend to peak early in life, Mr. Soon, 57, is at the top of his game. Last fall, Sandhill was named Canadian Winery of the Year by Wine Access magazine for scoring consistently high ratings in a blind tasting by experts from around the country. “It took us 30 years to get winery of the year,” Mr. Soon said. Globe and Mail story.

Ignatieff commits to national food policy during Guelph stop

Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff appears not only willing to listen to the agricultural grassroots but to incorporate the priorities of rural Canada into the party’s rural policies and the national food policy it is crafting. “I pledge that a national food policy will be part of what we offer to the Canadian people at the next election,” Ignatieff told reporters Friday at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre’s Loyola House in Guelph, adding he is committed to enhancing rural health care and expanding broadband connectivity in rural Canada.Guelph Mercury story.

Call for Articles: Innovation in Environmental Education

Alternatives Journal is looking for articles for the next annual Education issue, and you are invited to submit story ideas that explore every angle of environmental education. How has environmental education changed in today’s increasingly accessible world? What should be a part of every person’s educational background, but currently isn’t? How do applied skills such as farming, gardening, and building complement more theoretical environmental learning methods? Story ideas for this issue could answer these questions, or they could involve a critique of the current education system in Canada, and propose ways to improve it. The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2010. Alternatives Journal for information.

AND if You Have Time

London Skyline Recreated With Fruit and Vegetables

Back in November, Carl Warner (responsible for many of the foodscape photographs you may have come across) was commissioned by the Good Food channel in the UK to make an edible version of the London skyline. The Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, the Tower Bridge, St Paul’s Cathedral, and the Gherkin all get the treatment. The making of video explains how he did it: