February 10, 2010

Tougher rules threaten local meat industry with extinction

The owner-operators of Mogk’s Custom Killing and Butcher Shop south of Tavistock are awaiting a crucial meeting Monday with a food safety inspector they fear could close them down. Ken Mogk, 73, who has been operating his small abattoir for 20 years, said if he is required to do all of the things a food inspector is demanding he will have no choice but to go out of business. Stratford Beacon Herald story.

OCA President Says Producers Need Strong Partnership with Consumers

The President of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association says the future security of beef producers will come from forging a strong partnership with the province’s consumers. Gord Hardy made the remark in his speech to the recent Beef Industry Convention in London, hosted by the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association. To help the build the partnership, Hardy says Ontario beef is about to receive a promotional boost from a deal signed by Cattlemen’s Association and Foodland Ontario. CKNX Radio Wingham story

Brule Creek Farms – Locally-milled Flour

Brule Creek Farms is the only stone-milled flour producer in Northwestern Ontario.  It is owned and operated by Jeff Burke and Andrea Delarosbil.  We started farming in the spring of 2008 in the township of Conmee, just west of Kakabeka Falls. We mill both our own grains and grain purchased from other local farmers using heritage techniques with a modern spin:  our grain is ground between granite stones spun by an electric motor.  We mill flour on a weekly basis to ensure that our customers enjoy the freshest product possible.  Brule Creek Farms flour is unbleached and contains no additives. Farm website.

Markham’s bold proposal is suburbia’s salvation

The land-use rebellion now unfolding in Markham is another skirmish in the war against the development industry. At stake is who controls growth – government or industry? Christopher Hume writing in the Toronto Star.

Perth Beef Producer to Push Marketing Strategy At OCA

The former President of the Perth County Beef Producers is seeking a role at the Provincial level. Bill Jeffrey plans to put his name forward for a Director’s position at the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting at the end of the month. He says he wants to see if producers are interested in a new marketing strategy. Jeffrey says immediate changes are necessary to save the industry. Jeffrey says he wants to see if producers are interested in moving forward with a “single desk selling mechanism” to make the beef industry profitable again in Ontario. He adds he hopes to be in the running for a Director’s position at the annual meeting of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association later this month. CKNX Radio Wingham story.

Training board wants local farmer input on industry

An employment training board wants area farmers and people working in agri-business to give their views in a survey about dramatic changes taking place in their industry. The Grand Erie Training and Adjustment Board is sending out surveys to people working in six agricultural sectors in area counties. Haldimand recipients are receiving their copies first because that county’s economic development department is supporting that component of an agricultural analysis project which GETAB intends to carry out across Brant, Norfolk, Oxford, Elgin and Middlesex counties. Simcoe Reformer story.

Virtual Farmers’ Market a Success

The Ottawa Valley Food Co-operative (OVFC) connects consumers with local area producers using the Internet. This local food system increases profits, improves distribution efficiency and reduces food miles. “The OVFC started in 2007 when a small group of like-minded people came together to look for ways to address the concern over decreasing numbers of local area farms and to find ways to reduce their food miles,” explains Christina Anderman, OVFC coordinator. “We were fortunate to connect with Robert Waldrop of the Oklahoma Food Co-operative, who pioneered the virtual marketplace concept. He also generously shared his software for free with other interested groups.” FarmCentre.com story.

Local Food Movement Growing In Owen Sound

The local food movement is gaining ground in Owen Sound. The ‘Around the Sound’ market was on 1st Avenue West.  But Owner/operator Anne Findlay-Stewart says she needed more space so she’s moved to 6th Street East. ‘Around the Sound’ sells locally produced fruits, vegetables, baked goods and some prepared foods. Findlay- Stewart says people can know they’re getting good wholesome food. Findlay-Stewart says she tries to be fair to producers so customers might pay a premium. Findlay-Stewart says with the extra space she now has in Owen Sound, she plans to put in a community kitchen for cooking classes and demonstrations. CKNX Radio Wingham story.

New Projects Supported By Ontario Market Investment Fund

Provincial support for marketing projects is feeding people’s appetite for local food and strengthening rural economies. To promote the local foods that support the people, communities and economies of rural Ontario, the Province is investing in eight new projects through the Ontario Market Investment Fund. Details in OMAFRA backgrounder.

Local Harvest

Foodlink Waterloo has posted a new issue of Local Harvest featuring BARLEY and a local farm profile on WINTERMAR FARMS, a grower and processor of seeds and grains. Newsletter.

January 28, 2010

Get Canucked: Canadian Cuisine from LA to London

What is Canadian Cuisine? Think about a melting pot of British, American, German, Ukrainian, etc. cuisines with a healthy dose of the locavore movement and a love for all things hot and filling. Best eaten on days when the weather outside is frightful, Canadian Cuisine is, like Canadians themselves, hearty, comforting, and underestimated. Here are some examples of Canadian dishes, and where you can find them around the world: poutine, Kraft Dinner, tourtiere pie, nanaimo bars and elk burgers. Tips from the T-List from NileGuide Travel Blog.

NSFA hears Buy Local is working, provincial beef kill line coming

Agriculture Minister John MacDonell believes “Buying Local” will extract more returns from the value chain for Nova Scotia farmers. MacDonell told the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture’s annual, after chairing a recent meeting with major retailers to secure more shelf space for local products, he felt they are feeling more pressure to buy local. “They really listen to their customers and their customers are telling them they want to see more high value local food in their establishments.” The minister hoped to continue meeting with retailers—Sobeys, Loblaws and Co-op Atlantic—to keep the lines of communication open to them. He also saw a need to build capacity for the beef industry and wants to increase access to a federally-inspected kill line for provincial beef. There will be a feasibility study to determine where it might be located and its initial capacity. Atlantic Farm Focus story.

Urban Barns grows green revolution

Mr. Fitzpatrick and his friend, an adept student of hydroponics science, began conducting some edible experiments which, after some time and nourishment, yielded a gold mine of an answer. “Anything that doesn’t grow inside the ground, we can probably grow it. We worked with some strawberries and these strawberries turned out to be the best-tasting, juiciest strawberries I’ve ever eaten in my life,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said. “We tried basil. It was like a weed. It was phenomenal. You couldn’t keep up with it.” In the mind of Mr. Fitzpatrick, a dogged pitchman whose professional life includes stints hawking TV remote controls door-to-door, anti-theft global positioning systems and estate-planning products, the concept for Urban Barns was born. Globe and Mail story.

Study looks at agriculture’s job creation and economic activity

Agricultural production gives government and taxpayers the biggest bang for their buck, suggests a new study on the economic impacts of public spending across Quebec.”The evidence is clear,” says Maurice Doyon, an agro-economics professor at Laval University and co-author of the study, funded by the province’s agriculture producers’ organization. “In terms of job creation and economic activity, farming is the best sector.  Even better, that activity occurs in rural regions that need it most.” Mark Cardwell writing for Farm Credit Canada Express.

Americans light years ahead of us on ‘local first’ economics

In their zeal against so-called “protectionism”, business leaders who have been pushing Stephen Harper to reach a new free trade agreement on local procurement, as a response to “Buy American” laws in the U.S., have missed the point. They don’t realize that municipal authority over local procurement policy actually works because it increases a community’s wealth. Nor do they seem to have noticed that our neighbours to the south have long been setting the bar when it comes to local procurement. In fact, the U.S. has had so-called “Buy America” federal laws in some form since 1933. But after 76 years with nary a complaint from Canada, Mr. Harper and his supporters suddenly see it as a problem. B.C. Cupe commentary.

The other side of Vancouver Island

The Island’s oft-neglected east coast offers locavore cooking, calm winter fishing and close encounters with sea life. Visitors roaring off the boat for a fast look at Victoria and a $60 cuppa tea at the Fairmont Empress have missed the boat. The pauses include a modest aquarium that delivers immodest results, Canada’s most dedicated locavore restaurant, the casual acquisition of 80-million-year-old souvenirs and a magnificent and calm archipelago for winter fishing. Globe and Mail story.

Food council setting its groundwork

Volunteers helping with the formation of a food policy council are asking interested Nova Scotians to get involved. Linda Best of the Friends of N.S. Agriculture says they are seeking nominations before Feb. 22 for interim members of a Nova Scotia Food Policy Council. “Many of the solutions have been identified yet, at the Food Summit, we heard over and over that ‘new alliances’ were needed across the food spectrum to increase awareness and inspire action,” she says. The interim council is expected to come together at the end of March and will start working on a structure, based on information about existing councils. Nova News Now story.

N.S. backs agribusiness incubator centre

A new centre aimed at developing businesses in Atlantic Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sectors has picked up phased-in funding from the Nova Scotia and federal governments. The planned Atlantic Centre for Agricultural Innovation will get $500,000 from the province and $2 million from Ottawa toward the first two phases of its 20,000-square-foot facility. The province on Sunday also pledged $4.5 million for the third phase of the project, being developed at AgriTech Park at Bible Hill, near Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) at Truro. Country Guide story.

Economic Action Plan to Help Quebec Livestock Sector

While in Terrebonne, the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister of State (Agriculture), was pleased to announce that as part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada will be investing in Canada’s red meat sector through a loan of up to $2.7 million to assist Écolait, a Quebec firm specialized in the slaughter and processing of milk-fed veal calves. The federal support will help Écolait improve its storage capacity and upgrade its slaughterhouse plant technology. Écolait processes more than 100,000 head of veal in its facilities annually, raised by over 150 of its producer partners. With 50 per cent of its products exported, the company plays a major role in expanding market access for Canada’s producers. This federal investment will help the company achieve major savings which will help to increase the profitability of its plant and that of its partners. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada news release.

Top 10 stories to chew on from the food world

Our week-long recap of stories from 2009: From locavore myth-busting to backyard chicken boosting, food politics arrived on the national table. Globe and Mail story.

January 27, 2010

Models and Best Practices for Building Effective Local Food Systems in Ontario

To eat is to participate in a global system, but few of us understand how this system works and our role within it. On the one hand, we have witnessed the rise of a streamlined, vertically-integrated system. On the other hand, alternative food systems have surfaced that emphasize local production, distribution and consumption. The local food movement carries with it the potential to build and foster more sustainable food systems. A local food system minimizes the distance from field to fork, with opportunities to foster long-term local economic resilience, environmental stewardship, quality food access and community and cultural integrity through a food-educated public. Summary of research by student team at the University of Guelph.

New farmers’ market launches at CBC

Toronto is getting a new winter’s farmers’ market. The Regional ‘n’ Artisanal Food Market launches Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and will run monthly until April in the Barbara Frum Atrium at CBC (250 Front St. W. ). It’s the brainchild of Gurth Pretty, owner of Cheese of Canada. “In a city the size of Toronto, I do not understand why there are so few indoor regional food markets,” Pretty wrote in a news release. “During the summer months, my staff and I participate at six farmers’ markets each week in the GTA, selling Canadian artisanal cheese. Once Thanksgiving passes by, (we) and many other vendors are homeless. We have product to sell but there are so few indoor winter-market venues.” Toronto Star story.

December Icewine festival event suffers a ‘high-class headache’

The ruins of the massive sculpture on Main Street in Jordan was as clear a sign as any that something was different with this year’s Niagara Icewine Festival event. The ice sculpture — a stylized snowflake — cracked and crumbled when someone leaned on it for a photograph. The warm weather had so weakened the sculpture that it just fell apart with a little bit of pressure. “The ice pillars are holding up OK, but you can see even they are melting,” said Dori Andrews, events manager for the Twenty Valley Tourism Association, which organized the weekend event on Main Street. “But that’s OK. The weather is great and the turnout is fantastic.” St. Catharines Standard story.

Changes in the works for Cellared in Canada wine

The people have spoken, and the Ontario wine industry appears to have listened. After months of debate over labels used for Canadian-made wines containing a blend of domestic and foreign grapes, a committee has recommended turfing the contentious Cellared in Canada term that many believe misleads consumers. Being proposed by the group of wineries and Liquor Board of Ontario executives is changing labels to say ‘Blended from International and Canadian Wines’ on the front of bottles. St. Catharines Standard story.

Food association grows out of Pickering

It’s time to buy local when it comes to food, says a new group stemming out of Pickering. The Durham Culinary Association, a social networking organization to build awareness of local food and to support Durham food producers, culinary professionals and artisan food manufacturers, recently started up, and has quickly gathered interest from local restaurants, schools and politicians. Culinary Association co-founder Philippe Trepanier, a certified Chef Du Cuisine, a consultant with various hospitality venues, and Pickering resident, has long been thinking of a way for local chefs to interact and share knowledge about who’s growing what in the region. News DurhamRegion.com story.

Perth Beef Producers Told They Need Red Meat Coalition

Over 80 beef industry stakeholders gathered in Sebringville last night for the annual meeting of the Perth County Cattlemen’s Association.  The topics included the impact of government regulations on local abattoirs, the “One Voice” lobbying effort, and the need for a “cost of production risk management program”. Bill Jeffrey has served as President for three years, but announced intentions to step down. He says changes at the farm level are desperately needed. Jeffrey says there needs to be a marketing strategy for all red meat because currently retailers have the control. He says the farm organizations have to join together to form a “red meat coalition.” He says it’s now time for producers to get an honest share of the consumer dollar.CKNX Wingham Radio story.

Locally Lambton map being revised for 2010

The Lambton Federation of Agriculture (LFA) and several local partners will launch a third printing of the Locally Lambton Food and Fun Map in May. The map, first printed in 2006 and again in 2008, helps people locate businesses in Lambton at which they can buy locally produced items. The map will also be online. Today’s Farmer story.

Durham Food Charter can move ahead

A Pickering councillor and advocate of local agriculture was thrilled to learn of funding for a new initiative in Durham. The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation announced Jan. 22 it was providing $35,000 to the Community Development Council Durham to get the ball rolling on the Durham Region Food Charter. News DurhamRegion.com story.

Revisit the Simcoe plan

Queen’s Park is obliged to pay close attention when one of its own top planners warns that a provincial strategy meant to reduce urban sprawl and protect the environment will, in fact, do the opposite. That’s what’s in store for the Simcoe region, north of the GTA, if Ontario proceeds with its flawed intentions, according to Victor Doyle, manager of community planning at the ministry of municipal affairs. Tellingly, this senior civil servant made his views known as a “private citizen,” with a written response to the province’s call for public input on the strategic growth plan for Simcoe. The Simcoe growth plan is the responsibility of the ministry of infrastructure, not municipal affairs. One can only speculate on how far communications between these two branches of government have deteriorated when a veteran bureaucrat feels it necessary to go outside the system in order to be heard. Toronto Star editorial.

Greenbelt Council’s Progress Report 2009

Council has been very vocal about raising a variety of concerns this year and we have provided advice to you and your government on a variety of Greenbelt related issues that was often beyond the mandate of your ministry. Because of this, Council felt it needed to establish a protocol that would set out its expectations with respect to a reasonable timeframe by which your colleagues should respond to our letters of advice as they pertain to their particular mandates. I am pleased to report that our Greenbelt Council web pages are regularly updated to include new appointments, minutes from every Greenbelt Council meeting, all of our letters of advice as well as the respective responses from yourself and your colleagues. Greenbelt Council Progress Report posted on the website of the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

AND if You Have Time

‘Uncle Jello’ by Nouar

Currently on display at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, CA is “The Multiplane Group Show” which includes the piece “Uncle Jello” by the artist Nouar. She also posted some great behind-the-scenes shots on her blog revealing the process in making it. Photos of the process.