Locavore Events by Elbert van Donkersgoed
Posted: November 23, 2009
Categories: Events / News from Sustain Ontario
Perspectives on good food and farming
November 20, 2009
Urban Agriculture Symposium, November 20
Backyard Bounty and the University of Guelph will be hosting the first symposium on urban agriculture in Guelph. Symposium will bring together the movers and shakers in the Urban Agriculture scene. The Symposium aims to not only inspire action but address key issues and provide connections that enable the Urban Agriculture movement to advance. Symposium details.
***NEW***Private Label 2010 – Three Key Battlegrounds for Brand Loyalty, December 8
The epic conflict between private and national brands reaches new heights. The media and industry analysts have been quick to jump on the current economic crisis bandwagon as the impetus for the recent heightened interest in private brand sales. They have gazed into their crystal balls to predict the success of private brands and, thus, the threat to national brands. The question at hand: is private label a panacea for retailers or a flash in the pan? Hartman Group Webinar.
***NEW***How Pricing Carbon Changes Everything, November 23
Bryan Gilvesy will discuss carbon pricing and the impact this will have on farming in Canada. Cap and trade systems will ultimately place value on carbon, creating market incentives for those that can sequester, mitigate or create renewable forms of this basic element. The pricing of carbon will redefine farms and what is considered farm production, providing rural Canada access to new income streams in the green economy. Agriwebinar webinar.
Grown Close to Home – Really! January 26, 2010
Tired of food that looks and tastes like it has traveled miles to your plate? Not really sure where the “Grown Close to Home” food in the grocery stores comes from? Concerned about pesticides and chemicals on your food? Want to eat more local, sustainable food? Join us for a panel discussion about where, why, and how to eat local and sustainable foods in Waterloo Region. Get connected to your food and some of the farmers who grow it. January 26, 2010, 7-9pm, Kitchener Public Library Main Branch, 85 Queen St N, Kitchener.
The Threat of Gravel Pits to Agriculture and Food, February 23, 2010
Over 7,000 acres of the best potato land in Dufferin County has been bought by a company that seeks to mine the land for the mineral aggregates below the surface. Across the province, many more acres of prime agricultural farmland lie on top of valuable aggregates, and existing provincial and municipal policies do little to prevent their conversion to gravel pits. Come hear from a panel of local farmers and activists talk about the threat to our food production and what can be done about it. February 23, 2010, 7-9pm, Kitchener Public Library Main Branch, 85 Queen St N, Kitchener.
Value Chain Management Workshop, March 10
The best lessons tend to come from those who have done it themselves, and the Canadian Farm Business Management Council’s latest workshop will bring the innovators and trend setters to you.Kitchener, partner FoodNet Ontario. Details.
AND in case you have time
Wine by numbers, with a digital content twist
We’ve seen several innovations at the intersection of wine and technology, including Aromicon’s “virtual taste search engine,” which we featured just last week. Dutch startup 94wines is now bringing a new technological twist to the table, so to speak, by offering a line of numbered and colour-coded wines that can be personalized with digital content. Launched a week ago, 94wines offers a line of French wines in which each variety is indicated by a number and a bottle colour rather than a name linked to its maker, vintage or region. Consumers begin by taking a short quiz of six questions regarding their likes and dislikes. That, in turn, produces their personal WineID, which can then be used to guide their choices from among the company’s series of wines. The use of numbers and colours makes wine preferences easy to remember, while personal ID profiles allow friends to see each other’s preferences for gift-giving purposes. Springwise story.