Locavore News by Elbert van Donkersgoed

Author: Katie Rabinowicz

Posted: September 15, 2009

Categories: Food in the News / News from Sustain Ontario

Perspectives on good food and farming

Consumers pay more, farmers get less (Manitoba)

While everyone’s grocery bill is a little different, research recently commissioned by Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) has shown it’s costing an average of 3.2 per cent more to put the same food into the grocery cart as it did last year. KAP president Ian Wishart said the study underscores the merits of supply management, which is the system under which dairy, poultry and egg products are produced and marketed. Those industries focus solely on reliably supplying the domestic market and the volume they can produce is strictly controlled. In exchange, these farmers are guaranteed a price that takes into account production and living cost. Winnipeg Free Press story.

Small Farmers: Vital Work, Slim Wages (British Columbia)

Catzel is the poster boy for urban agriculture. That’s him on the Farmers’ Market advertisements over the caption, “Tell your kids my beets have racing stripes.” He’s one of the new wave of urban farmers transforming the look of agriculture in British Columbia. And none too soon, with the average age of farmers at 53 and few with children who say they want to carry on the family business. The Tyee story.

Friends of Agriculture in Nova Scotia

Our mission is to educate ourselves and others with regard to local and global issues, to craft policies that will help provide solutions, and to advocate for food security and sovereignty within a “big picture” interconnected framework. Website

“Eat Atlantic” challenge draws over 4,000 pledges

Residents of Prince Edward Island made the most pledges per capita out of the four Atlantic provinces in the region’s recent “Eat Atlantic” challenge. The challenge drew a total of 4,426 pledges in total, with 684 coming from P.E.I., followed by Nova Scotia with 2,098, New Brunswick with 1,344 and Newfoundland and Labrador with 300. The response “clearly demonstrates that Atlantic Canadians care about the foods they eat,” P.E.I. acting ag minister Wes Sheridan said. Country Guide, Eastern Edition story.

Food as a Grassroots Socio-political Movement (USA)

The emergence of food as a political and social issue worth organizing around is demonstrated by the abundance of projects, initiatives, blogs, campaigns and efforts to realign food production and consumption around goals of social justice, equality and nutrition. Here’s a list of notable campaigns across the US focused on increasing access by all to healthy food. Peter Rothberg blog on AlterNet

Redesign Your Farmers’ Market Winners (USA)

Good Magazine asked for design solutions that would help food grown by local farmers to be more effectively delivered and distributed to urban residents — Redesign Your Farmers’ Market project. Good received 65 entries from as far away as Finland, England, New Zealand, and Lithuania. Ten judges picked 22 finalists which were exhibited at the Los Angeles farmers’ market celebration 30 Years & Growing, as well as three runners-up and one winner. The winning designs on Good Blogs.

Local Lady from The Living Farm Helps Create Millions of American Jobs (Colorado)

Lynn, owner of The Living Farm has just directed and produced an eye opening film about the local food movement, known as Locavore. Lynn’s dream is for every American to create a stimulus package of their own to boost our local economy. Lynn quotes, “Eating locally is the most proactive event you can do daily to reshape our world and create millions of American jobs.” PR.com press release. Film website. The Living Farm website.

How I got drafted into James McWilliams’ anti-locavore diatribe

Someone in the food movement—in fact, one of the farmers from whom I buy local food—sent an excerpt published in The Wall Street Journal to me, asking the “what do you think” question. The excerpt, a chapter lambasting local food, begins with a quote from me (and my unnamed co-author David Goodman): “Who gets to define the local?” E. Melanie DuPuis, professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and author of Nature’s Perfect Food: How Milk Became America’s Drink writes in Grist Magazine.

The Problem With ‘Eat Local’

With the world population headed toward 9 billion by 2050, Texas author James McWilliams wants more genetically modified organisms and more subsidies to feed people, not cattle. Unfortunately, I think the nature of our culinary debates is so shallow that if one is even remotely critical of the locavore movement or organic agriculture, then you are automatically branded a shill for agribusiness. There is lots of gray area that we need to explore, and that’s where I am most comfortable. James McWilliams interview in Forbes.

Consumer Trends Through the Looking Glass — Sandwich Environmentalism

Our latest Cultural Trends Trek™ began here in Seattle at the much-discussed Starbucks neighborhood coffee shop experiment otherwise known as 15th Ave Coffee & Tea. After sipping the brew, sampling the pastries and chatting with a few customers we ventured through an assortment of restaurants and retail shops around the city seeking and dissecting any trend we could find. As we collected artefacts and gleaned insights from each place we visited we worked up our appetites—serious appetites—luckily, for which there was serious solution at Homegrown, as described in their tagline, “Sustainable Sandwich Shop.” Hartman Group Cultural Trends Trek slide show with voice (7 minutes).

Global Consumer Trends of 2009

Research firm Mintel sees a continued focus on enjoyment and life fulfillment in 2009. While people around the world still feel pessimistic, Mintel sees them discovering ways to transform their lifestyles and lighten the mood. FoodProcessing.com story.

AND a History Lesson

The Food Proclamations of Queen Elizabeth I

“In 1563, by an act of Parliament, Elizabeth proclaimed that her countrymen had to eat fish on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Infraction of her command was punishable by three months’ imprisonment or a three-pound fine.” Though the law was rooted in religion, it was really implemented in order to boost the English shipbuilding industry and lower the cost of meat. From the book To The Queen’s Taste: Elizabethan Feasts and Recipes Adapted for Modern Cooking (buy at Amazon). Justine Sterling’s summary.