Locavore News – Canada by Elbert van Donkersgoed
Posted: March 23, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized
- Development of National Food Strategy launched at the CFA Annual General Meeting
- From Local Farms to Local Tummies
- To market, to market
- Know where your food is coming from?
- Quebec farms differ from rest of Canada: Duceppe
- Travel like a locavore
- 2011 Nuffield Farming Scholarship Applications Open
- Activist not chicken to run for mayor
- Ditching processed foods is not as easy as it looks
- Manitoba’s Growing Local 2010
Perspectives on good food and farming
March 23, 2010
Development of National Food Strategy launched at the CFA Annual General Meeting
Farm leaders from across the country endorsed the development of a National Food Strategy (NFS) at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s 75th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on February 22-24, 2010, under the theme “The Future of Foodâ€. The meeting provided an important opportunity for farmers of all commodities and regions to brainstorm elements of the Strategy and discuss issues and challenges. Panelists discussed lobby and communications tools for an effective National Food Strategy while speakers discussed agriculture policy. Given the feedback from members, the CFA was mandated to embark on a campaign to motivate the development of a National Food Strategy. The strategy will be led by the CFA and its members in collaboration with other farm organizations, government, consumers, food processors and distributors. Canadian Federation of Agriculture website.
From Local Farms to Local Tummies
Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute held a Leaders Summit on Food for a Healthy and Prosperous Future on February 17-18, 2010, in Montreal. The event affirmed that we can help families to eat better and we can present new opportunities for the agri-food sector. By enhancing connections between health, food and agriculture we can achieve these benefits and help address important challenges facing Canada. Slide Deck for a presentation by David Farnell, CEO of Real Food for Real Kids.
To market, to market
Reports of the death of the local-food movement may have been greatly exaggerated, as is made evident by the publication of an optimistic new book, Locavore, by CBC Radio’s Here and Now food columnist Sarah Elton. It takes its title from the Oxford American Dictionary’s 2007 word of the year, and describes a collection of farmers, chefs and city gardeners who are trying to rebuild a local food system in Canada. Globe and Mail review.
Know where your food is coming from?
Knowing where our food comes from and how it is grown and harvested is one of the goals of this year’s Nutrition Month campaign, entitled Celebrate food … from field to table! It’s time to stop and think twice about where our food comes from and what kind of health regulation and standards have been met. Did last night’s beef and broccoli come from a 100-mile radius, or had the ingredients been flown in from abroad? New Brunswick Daily Gleaner commentary by Catherine McCain, consulting dietitian.
Quebec farms differ from rest of Canada: Duceppe
two distinct agricultural models that were developed in Quebec and in western Canada, creating fundamental differences between them, Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe told the country’s biggest farming association Tuesday. “We can’t stay indifferent towards the amount of Canadian policies that go against Quebec’s own interest,” Duceppe told the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, which represents 200,000 farm families. “The Quebec agricultural vision is in conflict with the Canadian one. For Quebec’s farmers, being in Canada has more disadvantages than advantages,” he said. Duceppe says Quebec farms tend to be smaller and rely on selling close to home, as opposed to farmers in the rest of Canada who rely on exports. He says the Bloc supports supply management, which sees farmers buy production quotas to keep the supply small. Duceppe says it’s an essential tool for developing Quebec agriculture and for maintaining food sovereignty. Lindsay Post story.
Travel like a locavore
Su Grimmer, a Nanaimo-based food and travel writer who frequently visits Pacific Northwest states, finds that searching for good food adds to her trips. “Eating is part of the cultural experience,†she said. Her tricks to finding good eats on the road include searching out markets, staying somewhere with cooking facilities so she can prepare what she buys and talking to strangers. By asking a couple in a grocery store where to find good bread on a recent trip to visit friends in California, she discovered a place where a Mexican woman was turning masa harina into tortillas and stuffing them with pork raised on a local farm; her friends who live nearby hadn’t even heard of it. Globe and Mail story.
2011 Nuffield Farming Scholarship Applications Open
The Canadian Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust is accepting applications for their 2011 program. Applications are due by April 30, 2010. Nuffield Farming Scholarships are awarded to enthusiastic individuals, between the ages of 25 and 45, who wish to explore topics of their choice in agriculture, land management, horticulture or the food chain. Three scholarships of $15,000 each are available for 2011. Forms can be downloaded from the Nuffield Canada website.
Activist not chicken to run for mayor
Calgary’s wide-open race for mayor has its first candidate. Food activist Paul Hughes has entered the race, promising a new way of thinking and an open-door policy. Hughes, who keeps chickens in his backyard and is a founder of the Calgary Liberated Urban Chicken Klub, or CLUCK, said his approach will be different. Calgary Herald story.
Ditching processed foods is not as easy as it looks
Participants in the 28-Day Real Food Challenge find that replacing processed items with fresh meats and vegetables has its challenges. First step: Toss the pantry. Globe and Mail story.
Manitoba’s Growing Local 2010
Wow. Is there ever a vibrant food scene here in the centre of the country. Winnipeggers and southern Manitobans are growing, selling, buying and eating their own food in droves. Lots of farmers are already meeting the demands of their neighbours for delicious local sustainable food and plenty more seem excited by the opportunities. There is plenty of demand, which is driving a growing supply (pardon the farm pun). Don Mills blog on the website of Local Food Plus