Sustain Ontario Farming and Farmland Network Meeting – March 8

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Author: Sustain Ontario

Posted: February 21, 2018

Categories: GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario

The next meeting of Sustain Ontario’s Farming and Farmland Network will be taking place on Thursday, March 8, 1:30pm-3:00pm. As decided at the January meeting of this network, this meeting will focus on farmland preservation, as well as preparing key messages for the Vote ON Food campaign in anticipation of the coming provincial election. Please register or RSVP for this meeting, here.

Here are the full details:

Farming and Farmland Network Meeting (Focus on Farmland Preservation)

Mar 08, 2018 at 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm EST

Please visit & join the meeting space from your computer, tablet, or smartphone.
https://www.gotomeet.me/sustainontario/farming-and-farmland-network-meeting-5

You can also dial in using your phone.
Canada (toll-free): 1 888 455 1389
Canada: +1 (647) 497-9391
Access Code: 948-661-077

The last round of Network meetings were largely well attended by folks engaged in robust and useful discussions. We need to find a way to bottle that, especially in an election year where we want to focus our message and be strategic…

Sustain Ontario is gearing up to raise awareness around food and farming for the Ontario Provincial Elections in early June, and the municipal elections in October. And when i say ‘Sustain Ontario’, i mean us! We need to develop a Vote on Food and Farming campaign with candidate questionnaires / surveys and elections toolkit that will help to educate candidates and the broader public.

That means two things:

We are looking for you to join us in preparing and implementing the campaign to raise awareness around food and farming in your riding;
At the network level, we need to distill one or two pointed questions for candidates, as well as a concise and coherent policy message

If your working group had to identify a single policy ask for this campaign, what would that be?

Ideally, we would identify policies that speak to priorities in multiple networks—in fact, many of the networks identified overlaps—i think it would be useful to try to distil this down into 4-6 policy priority areas, with working groups sharing ideas, especially on crossover issues bringing together urban / rural!

The Food Justice Network is preparing a Food Justice Backgrounder to help other networks identify intersections and affinities. While taking part in these conversations, i’ve identified some areas of common interest between the networks, which i’m sharing in the hope that they spark some thoughts.

Overlaps and Shared Priorities (CGN – Community Growing Network; FJN – Food Justice Network; MFPN – Municipal Food Policy Network; FFN – Farming and Farmland Network; SFEN – Sustainable Food Enterprise Network)

CGN x FJN [Engaging Diverse Communities]
- new Canadians
- decolonization
CGN x MFPN [Leveraging Community Resources]
- accessibility regulations on public property
FFN x SFEN [Funding for New Farmers]
- SFEN models for innovative financing
FFN x CGN x FJN
- access to land for food production

FJN x ALL
- bridging communication b/w indigenous / farmers / settlers
SFEN x ALL
- Defining ‘Sustainable’