Locavore News by Elbert van Donkersgoed
Posted: July 22, 2009
Categories: Food in the News / News from Sustain Ontario
Perspectives on good food and farming
July 22, 2009
San Francisco commits to increasing the amount of healthy and sustainable food
In our vision, sustainable food systems ensure nutritious food for all people, shorten the distance between food consumers and producers, protect workers health and welfare, minimize environment impacts, and strengthen connections between urban and rural communities. The long-term provision of sufficient nutritious, affordable, culturally appropriate, and delicious food for all San Franciscans requires the City to consider the food production, distribution, consumption and recycling system holistically and to take actions to preserve and promote the health of the food system.Executive Directive from the office of the Mayor, Gavin Newsom, City & County of San Francisco
Street Farmer
When you’re producing a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of food in such a small space, soil fertility is everything. Without microbe- and nutrient-rich worm castings (poop, that is), Allen’s Growing Power farm couldn’t provide healthful food to 10,000 urbanites — through his on-farm retail store, in schools and restaurants, at farmers’ markets and in low-cost market baskets delivered to neighborhood pickup points. He couldn’t employ scores of people, some from the nearby housing project; continually train farmers in intensive polyculture; or convert millions of pounds of food waste into a version of black gold. The story of Will Allen’s efforts to bring the good-food movement to the inner city in the New York Times.
Ontario doubles support for slaughter in northwest
The Ontario government will put up another $500,000 toward a new multi-species abattoir for the province’s northwestern Rainy River district. The investment, flowing through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. (NOHFC), will bring provincial support for the non-profit, community-owned abattoir project to $1 million, the province said Tuesday. Story in the Alberta Farmer.
Farm sector prepares to boost farmland birds (UK)
Farm advisers are gearing up to help growers deliver on their pledge to boost farmland bird populations. The move follows DEFRA’s decision to back voluntary measures as the best way of retaining the environmental benefits of set-aside. Backed by farm leaders, the Campaign for a Farmed Environment will balance food production with the need to improve farmland bird habitats. It was developed after DEFRA secretary Hilary Benn challenged farm leaders to come up with a convincing alternative to a compulsory set-aside replacement. Story on Farmers Weekly Interactive (UK).
You Can Make a Difference. Take Action Now
Hellman’s Real Food Movement encourages Canadians to add more real, local foods into their diet. Hellman’s Eat Real Eat Local website includes tools for locating, purchasing and preparing meals using locally sourced, seasonal foods. There is also a video on how much of our food is Canadian.
Hundreds will be trying to eat only local foods this summer
When the Healing Path Centre for Naturopathic Medicine in Waterloo held a meeting in late May to see if it could round up 100 people to eat food solely grown within 100 miles of their home for 100 days this summer, naturopaths Rachel Vandenberg and Michael Torreiter, the centre’s owners, weren’t sure they would find enough enthusiasts. Never mind that. They had to turn people away from the info session and then schedule a second. In the end, a few hundred people have committed to three-plus months of local eating. Kitchener-Waterloo Record story. The Healing Path Centre has a blog about its 100 Mile Summer.
Can we save the world via lettuce?
Robyn Davies is the National Trust surf project co-ordinator for Cornwall, so she’s a bit off her regular beat this morning. Instead of worrying about board wax and wetsuits, she’s standing in the stable yard at Penrose, near Helston on the Lizard Peninsula, showing off a portable vegetable patch: a trailer full of leeks and lettuce. “Well, part of my job is raising awareness of the state of the beaches and the coastline. And growing your own veg cuts down on food miles, which helps to slow down the effects of climate change and protect our coasts. It’s all connected.” The National Trust has committed itself to providing 1,000 new allotments across Britain. Independent, London, England story.
The push is on to grow food in our unused spaces
If Calgary has an excess of anything, it’s space. Space that needs to be maintained. Each year crews of gardeners, landscapers and snow removers spend thousands of hours and many tax dollars keeping green (and not so green) spaces tidy. Paul Hughes, a well-entrenched local landscaper and the founder and chair of the Calgary Food Policy Council, would like to see that excess city land put to better use; preferably growing food. Fast Forward Weekly, Calgary story.
The Outdoor Local Food Diner
Delta County, Colrado, is short on fine restaurants, but long on appreciation of fresh, seasonal food. Here a group dines outdoors at a Paonia farm, on a meal of local produce and wine.
Organic Farms as Subdivision Amenities
The bewildered Iowan who converted his farm into a ballpark in “Field of Dreams†in 1989 might reverse the move today. From Vermont to central California, developers are creating subdivisions around organic farms to attract buyers. If you plant it, these developers believe, they will buy. New York Times story.