Member Profile: Mama Earth Organics
Posted: December 2, 2012
Categories: Food in the News / GoodFoodBites / Member Profiles
Heather and Alex Billingsley began Mama Earth Organics about 5 years ago with the commendable ambition to source organic produce directly from local Ontario farms. With a great interest and passion for local farms, food and organics, their goal is to provide a service where local farms are given priority and members are able to easily access the freshest organic items available at a fair price. Their mission and mandate is to divert as much money as possible towards local farms, as well as to increase the diversity of crops grown in Ontario.
In 2007 when Heather and Alex first started Mama Earth Organics, Alex was a human rights lawyer and Heather was at home with their 2 young children. Having always believed in organic living, together they wanted to create a locally-based alternative food system in Toronto. Although it is up for debate among some whether organic food is more nutritionally beneficial than conventional food, Alex shares that for him, “the most convincing argument is just the fact that you’d probably want to avoid eating foods grown with pesticides. It might be just as nutritious (that’s debatable), but it’s unsafe over the long term.”
Mama Earth Organics have now partnered with the majority of certified organic farms within a few hours of Toronto, helping build and support them. Throughout the season, once or twice a week they either pick up or receive deliveries from the various farms. In the off season, they meet with their farmers to plan out what should be grown and in what quantities for the next season.
In the past few years, Mama Earth Organics has additionally grown into something quite different, merging with other local businesses’ tastes. They now work with their favourite artisans and businesses throughout Toronto; for instance, each morning, two bakeries (St. John’s and Brick Street) bake bread for them, St. Urbain Bagels provides them with bagels, their cheese comes from Mennonites in the Guelph area, and their coffee is roasted two days before delivery and ground each morning at the Remarkable Bean.
Mama Earth Organics has created a win-win situation, growing happiness among farmers, employees, customers (read some testimonials from customers), and Ontarians in general. They now deliver to roughly 1,500 members every week, many of whom have been with them since their first week of operations. If that wasn’t enough, they are able to increase their guaranteed orders with their farmers by a large percentage each year, all while providing a unique, healthy, environmentally and ethically responsible service to their members with a focus on freshness and taste!
By: Josie Di Felice