Perspectives on good food and farming
April 7, 2010

Virtual Butcher Shop

Homegrown Ontario™ is proud to announce the grand opening of the Virtual Butcher Shop. Come on in and browse our well-stocked meat counter and learn about the different cuts of meat and poultry. We’ve even got recipes and cooking tips for you and a virtual butcher available to answer your questions. While at the Shop, try your hand creating a Dreamwich piled high with your favourite Homegrown Ontario™ deli meats, bread and toppings. Our Dreamwich calculator will tally the nutritional value of your masterpiece as you go. Homegrown Ontario website.

Ontario fruit growers find new direction

Ontario fruit producers need to share some of the responsibility for the growing tide of cheap imports flooding grocery store shelves, according to a new report. Inconsistent fruit quality, lack of collaboration between growers, few new varieties and a poor understanding of what consumers want are key reasons why the province’s apple, tender fruit and fresh grape growers are losing market share to foreign goods, the study found. “In general, inefficiencies throughout the Ontario industry’s value chain have opened the door to global competition,” report authors Deloitte & Touche write in the Fifteen Year Comprehensive Strategic Plan for Ontario Apple, Tender Fruit, and Fresh Grape Industry. St. Catharines Standard story. Full report.

College students conjure up cool ideas for icewine brand

A Niagara-on-the-Lake winery is relying on the creative juices of local college students to launch a new brand of icewine. This winter, Pillitteri Estate Winery and Niagara College staged a wine marketing contest pitting five student teams against each other. Their goal? To create a brand and marketing concept for a Vidal icewine brand Pillitteri plans to sell mainly in the Asian market. On Friday, the teams of four members — students in wine business management, graphic design, business marketing and hospitality — made their pitches to a panel of Pillitteri staff. Niagara Falls Review story.

Grape growers unveil new logo in bid to offer clarity to consumers

The Grape Growers of Ontario hope to offer some label clarity to confused consumers who want to buy homegrown wines. The marketing board has come up with a new logo: A trillium flower with a bunch of purple grapes in the middle. Around the symbol are the words: 100% Grown by Grape Growers of Ontario. The organization, which unveiled the new sticker at its annual media day Wednesday morning in Niagara-on-the- Lake, hopes the new logo will help clear up any confusion over Vintners Quality Alliance. St. Catharines Standard story.

Hen owner lays low

In the backyard of a midtown Kingston home, three illegals huddle together beneath a small wood and wire structure. They are egg-laying chickens; poultry kept in contravention of the city’s animal licensing bylaw. “This is proof you can contravene the bylaw and get away with it,” said their owner, who asked that his name not be published. “You get away with it because it proves the bylaw is mislaid.” The chicken owner insists he is not an activist trying to bring down the bylaw, though he was aware it existed when he purchased his three new hens two days ago. He simply likes the taste of the fresh eggs that are organically produced in his backyard and is willing to take some risk. Kingston Whig-Standard story.

Greenbelt not saving farms, summit hears

Howard Staff figures the greenbelt has done a fine job promoting the romanticized vision of farming. But the seventh generation grape grower doesn’t think the five-year-old environmental land preserve is doing much to save actual farms. The area around his Lincoln farm is sprouting big houses, replacing acres of once-upon-a-time cropland. He watches Tour de Greenbelt cyclists snapping photos of his Concord grapes — a crop struggling grape growers now have virtually no chance of selling commercially in Ontario. “Is this what the greenbelt was meant to do?” he said Wednesday at a locally organized “summit” on the controversial protected swath of land that wraps around the Golden Horseshoe. “I think this (legislation) needs a serious review.” St. Catharines Standard story.

Chefs get fresh with local farmers

When chef Scott Kapitan returned from a holiday in England, he knew he had to get a hold of hispi cabbage. After sampling a dish featuring the sweet-tasting vegetable at an upscale restaurant in England, he saw endless potential to create his own distinct culinary treat. To his dismay, Kapitan discovered hispi cabbage was not readily available in Ontario. So he contacted local farmer Ed Taylor of Honey Wagon Farms in Picton and put in a special request to have the vegetable grown on Taylor’s farm. After buying seeds from France — where hispi cabbage is commonly grown and certainly more popular than in North America — Taylor was able to grow the vegetable that had eluded Kapitan. That exchange typifies the kind of relationship local farmers are striving to make with potential customers though the Local Food Local Chefs program, started by the Kingston Business Improvement Area to connect local food producers and buyers in Kingston. Kingston Whig-Standard story.

Chief Vet Says Abattoir Regs Needed To Be Stronger

Ontario’s Chief Veterinarian says tougher inspection regulations and enforcement with provincial abattoirs are responding to concerns raised in a report on the industry completed several years ago. Doctor Deb Stark says the report suggested the industry needed some stronger regulations applied consistently across the board. But Stark also agrees there have not been any major food safety problems from provincially-licensed abattoirs. Some local abattoir operators argue the cost of meeting those tough new regulations will force many of them out of business. CKNX Radio 920AM Wingham story.

Loblaw and University of Guelph Announce Chair in Sustainable Food Production

Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and the University of Guelph, (U of G) today announced the creation of The Loblaw Companies Limited Chair in Sustainable Food Production. The chair was made possible by a $3-million gift from Loblaw and will be the centre of U of G’s research focus on creating robust food production systems. It will help lead change in food production systems through education, research, practice and outreach within the context of the essential elements of sustainability: the environment, communities and the economy. Canadian News Wire story.

Push To Make ALUS Permanent, Province-Wide

Some of those involved in the Ontario ALUS Alliance are calling for it to become a permanent, province-wide program. John Clement of the Christian Farmers Federation says the Alternative Land Use Services alliance has a clear vision. Clement says they’re asking organisations and individuals to partner in calling for the creation of a permanent, province-wide ALUS program. CKNX Radio 920AM Wingham story.

AND if You Have Time

“Fun Flavors” of string cheese

This interview with Wisconsin cheese-maker Roger Krohn starts out innocently enough — there’s some history of the plant, some discussion of the intricacies of making different types of cheeses — when, out of nowhere, Krohn tries to nonchalantly throw in a reference to bubble gum-flavored string cheese. Apparently being developed by the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this mysterious breed of cheese also comes in flavors like sour apple and blue raspberry. Green Bay Press Gazette (Wisconsin) story.

Ontario Greenbelt Alliance applauds Ontario government’s new wine industry plan with a focus on 100% Ontario wines

Toronto – Today, the Ontario government released a new plan for Ontario’s wine industry that will give more support to VQA wines which are made from 100% Ontario grapes. The new plan sets a direction that would more clearly identify and market VQA wines and create a larger market for Ontario’s beleaguered grape growers, many of whom are in the Greenbelt.

Every year foreign grapes are imported into the province in the magnitude of tens of thousands of tonnes to produce “Cellared in Canada” wines. This practice has continued in spite of the fact that it is forecasted that the equivalent of 9,000 tonnes of quality Ontario grapes will rot on the vine this harvesting season and over 25 local vineyards will be forced to close or sell their land due to a lack of market for their grapes.

While the government’s new plan may be too late to save farmers whose current crops have no buyers, the long term strategy will ensure that there are more VQA wines, with a greater presence in LCBO stores across the province. The new direction also involves essentially phasing out the highly contested “Cellared in Canada” wines by 2014.

“This issue reaches far beyond the vineyards,” said Dr. Rick Smith, Executive Director, Environmental Defence, a member group of the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance.  “It is about supporting a healthy agricultural sector, and making sure that Ontarians have access to local foods that are appropriately labeled, competitively priced and readily available. We support this new direction the government is taking.”

The Ontario Greenbelt Alliance, coordinated by Environmental Defence, has been working with community groups and farmers to raise public and political concern for Ontario’s troubled grape industry.  In June, the Alliance launched the “Put the ‘O’ back in LCBO” campaign that has resulted in a thousand individuals contacting the Premier’s office about this issue.

“Importing cheap foreign grape juice, misleading labels, and a lack of VQA marketing efforts at the LCBO have all contributed to a threat to one of Ontario’s most important and iconic crops,” said Jamie Kirkpatrick, Campaigner with the Toronto Environmental Alliance.  “This plan is a strong step towards what is necessary to sustain a healthy Greenbelt, and keep Ontario’s prime agricultural land in the hands of farmers.”

About the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance (www.greenbeltalliance.ca): The Ontario Greenbelt Alliance is a diverse multi-stakeholder coalition of more than 80 organizations who share a common vision for protecting and expanding the Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt. Environmental Defence is the coordinator of the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance.

For more information, or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Jennifer Foulds, Environmental Defence, (416) 323-9521 ext. 232; (647) 280-9521 (cell)

The signs have been installed along popular hiking trails in the Greenbelt – an area of permanently protected farmland, forests, wetlands and greenspace in southern Ontario – as a way of showcasing the many environmental advancements made by farmers.

“Farmers are proud of their efforts to protect our air, soil and water, ” said Jackie Fraser, Executive Director of AGCare, the group leading this initiative, at the unveiling this morning. “This includes everything from general environmental planning on farms, to specific achievements in greenhouse gas reduction and reduced energy use.”

Greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by the equivalent of taking 125,000 cars off the road through improved soil conservation measures. Farmers have spent at least $600 million on environmental improvements and 300,000 days in environmental training. Over 70% of them have voluntarily participated in the Environmental Farm Plan program.

The Agriculture Hits the Trails project was designed to share this information with trail users within the Greenbelt. Many hiking trails within Ontario’s Greenbelt are located on or near farmland, allowing trail users the opportunity to see farmers’ commitment to the environment first-hand.

Partnering with AGCare (Agricultural Groups Concerned About Resources and the Environment) on this project are the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC), and the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, as well as conservation partners including Conservation Ontario, Credit Valley Conservation (CVC), Conservation Halton, Hamilton Conservation Authority, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA), the Bruce Trail Association, and the Oak Ridges Trail Association.

More information about the project can be found on www.caringfortheland.com.