Locavore news by Elbert van Donkersgoed
Posted: January 22, 2010
Categories: Food in the News / News from Sustain Ontario
Perspectives on good food and farming
January 20, 2010
Canada Bread to Build $100M Bakery in SW Ontario
It intends to make a choice by the end of March, yet so far hasn’t contacted any municipalities.
Distribution costs will be a key consideration and that makes communities between Guelph and London prime candidates. Weston’s has its main bakery in Kitchener and Maidstone Bakeries, which supplies Tim Horton’s outlets, chose Brantford in 2007 for its $30-million bakery. Canada Bread intends to close three Toronto-area bakeries, at a cost of $25 million, in a related development. One each will close in early 2011, 2012 and 2013. The 435 employees can compete for the 300 jobs at the new plant or for positions in other facilities owned by Maple Leaf Foods Inc. Farms.com story.
Markham’s food belt
In a nod to advocates of locally grown produce, Markham town council is considering creation of a “food belt” outside currently built up areas. This would effectively freeze outward urban expansion. While developers understandably bristle at such restrictions, there are good reasons to welcome this bold initiative. Toronto Star opinion.
Distribution and Local Retailers Barrier To Local Food Growth
Crops day at Grey Bruce Farmers week heard there’s no question about the demand for local food. But Mike Schreiner says lack of distribution and retailers is a barrier to growth in that market. He says farmers can get around that by working together to supply a cooperative or private enterprise. Schreiner also advocates a buy local requirement for public institutions like schools and hospitals as a way to boost the market for local food producers. CKNX Wingham Radio AM920Â story.
Caterer likes local
A new Peterborough-based catering business is bringing the area’s fresh seasonal ingredients as close as your local table — even in the dead of winter. “This is about taste education based on my clients’ needs,” said Peggy Baillie, the chef and owner of Local Table. Her new catering business creates made-to-order menus using only local ingredients based on their seasonal availability, she said. Peterborough Examiner story.
Northern Ontario ag study released
A recently released economic impact study shows more northern Ontario farmland is coming into production and growing demand will strengthen the economies of the area’s agriculture industry and community. The study was a collaboration between stakeholder groups in the districts of Thunder Bay, Rainy River, Kenora and Cochrane. Anne Howden Thompsonwriting for Farm Credit Canada Express.
Sheep farming gaining in popularity
Raising sheep is environmentally friendly because they are mostly on pasture, use marginal lands and the industry is not dependent on the export market that uses so much fossil fuel to ship commodities. “We don’t leave a big carbon footprint in our industry,” said Murray Hunt, manager of the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency (OSMA). Although the number of sheep farmers has increased by a whopping 30% in Ontario in the last eight years, imports still account for 59% of the lamb people eat. Owen Sound Sun Times story.
Waterloo Region Food Summit videos available
The videos produced at the Waterloo Region Food Summit have been added to the website of the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable, including the presentations made by The STOP’s Kathryn Scharf and agricultural policy analyst Elbert van Donkersgoed. DVD copies of all the video coverage from the Summit may be purchased for $10 by emailing the Roundtable.
GTA Chefs raise $5000 for U of Guelph’s Organic Agriculture Program
Over 40 GTA Chefs Joined Together In September 2009 to Raise Funds for the University of Guelph’s Organic Agriculture Program. While serving freshly prepared and succulent organic foods to hundreds of appreciative Feast of Fields guests, over 40 top GTA chefs (including celebrity Chefs Michael Smith, Jamie Kennedy and Brad Long) did not lose sight of the ultimate goal – to raise funds for the University of Guelph’s Organic Agriculture program. The Feast of Fields cheque presentation will be held at the 29th Annual Guelph Organic Conference and Expo. Feast of Fields news release.
Complicated issues challenge those working to preserve farmland
While it’s not easy to create a natural environment land trust, establishing a farmland trust is even more difficult. The chair of the Ontario Farmland Trust says one reason relates to economics. “The real problem is not with the easements, it’s about finding people to farm the land – and make a profit doing it,” Dr. Stew Hilts says. “There’s no point in protecting farmland as a nature preserve if the purpose (of an easement) is to support active farming.” Today’s Farmer story.
Raising the Bar for Sustainability Performance in Ontario’s Food and Beverage Processing Industry
Food & Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC), the Guelph Food Technology Centre (GFTC) and the Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement (OCETA), are working together to reduce the environmental footprint and increase the competitiveness of Ontario’s food and beverage processing industry. This will be achieved by developing practical tools and a “how-to” framework for implementing an integrated sustainability strategy. The project will be implemented in three phases over a three-year period. The project is currently in Phase One. Project factsheet (1.5MB PDF)
AND if You Have Time
Sorry, Vegans: Brussels Sprouts Like to Live, Too
But before we cede the entire moral penthouse to “committed vegetarians†and “strong ethical vegans,†we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot. This is not meant as a trite argument or a chuckled aside. Plants are lively and seek to keep it that way. The more that scientists learn about the complexity of plants — their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar — the more impressed researchers become, and the less easily we can dismiss plants as so much fiberfill backdrop, passive sunlight collectors on which deer, antelope and vegans can conveniently graze. It’s time for a green revolution, a reseeding of our stubborn animal minds. Natalie Angier writing in The New York Times.