Locavore News — Ontario

 

Local Food Act called ‘stepping stone’

A leading global food securities expert calls Ontario’s tabled Local Food Act a good first step in food — and job — security. “This is a foundation stone that will be made more concrete in subsequent years, but right now it sounds pretty aspirational,” said University of Guelph professor Evan Fraser. “This is a great piece of legislation that will be seen as a stepping stone. Community groups and workers in the province’s agriculture sector call the act a good first step. CBC story.

How Community Gardens Contribute to Healthy and Inclusive Neighbourhoods

Region of Waterloo Public Health (with support from Ellen Desjardins) published a major study of community gardens in late May. The report shares the stories of local gardeners and documents the several benefits of this increasingly popular health promoting activity. The report is based on hearing the stories of 84 gardeners in Waterloo region. The report is full of gardener profiles and quotes. It also contains an updated map of community gardens in Waterloo Region as well as a timeline of the history of the development of community garden. Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable post.

Local food sources beef up

The growing trend of eating locally sourced food has been making headway in Timmins over the past two years, through the Downtown Timmins and Mountjoy Independent Farmers’ Markets. But Taste of Timmins, an organization specializing in promoting the trend, has made unprecedented headway over the past month. The Fishbowl restaurant has started to utilize locally sourced beef from Mattagami Heights Farm in its burgers with resounding success. Rosalia Rivera, head of Taste of Timmins, hopes to capitalize on this landmark moment to expand this trend to more area restaurants.  Timmins Press story.

Regional Council Endorses Food Charter

Regional Council voted unanimously to adopt the Waterloo Region Food Charter at today’s meeting of Council’s Community Services Committee. The document had been pitched to Council by the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable, which has been developing the Charter through public consultations for several months. The group will now take the document to area municipal Councils, businesses, organizations, and individuals to seek broad endorsement of the Charter. “We’re proud to have the commitment of Regional Council to a healthy, just, and sustainable food system,” said Brendan Wylie-Toal, Co-Chair of the Food System Roundtable. Presentation to Waterloo Regional Council. Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable post. Waterloo Region Food Charter

Planning for Agriculture in the Rouge

In late February I received a call from Parks Canada to advise me that the land transfers from Provincial to Federal ownership were nearly complete. The lengthy delay was resolved by an agreement to follow Ontario ecological standards rather than the more relaxed Federal standards. Progress on creating an Agriculture and Food Hub on the agricultural lands within the new Rouge National Urban Park will soon resume. For a better understanding of the immensity and potential of the project, please take a look at The Pickering Lands. This first-class 7-minute video is a “must-see”. A great example of the type of projects these lands could host is shown in the award winning Feeding McGill project. This 3-minute video shows how Montreal university lands are being used to transform the university’s food services. From David Cohlmeyer’s March newsletter.

Growing Good Food Ideas

Sustain Ontario and Powerline Films launched the second round of Growing Good Food Ideas videos to an enthusiastic full room at Queen’s Park on Wednesday April 24, 2013. The event featured special remarks by Premier Wynne as well as several video partners, including the LOFC Network‘s Animator, Hannah Renglich, highlighted by clips from the newly released videos. Local Organic Food Co-ops Network post.

Focus on Food: Pathways to Youth Employment

Focus on Food: Pathways to Youth Employment is now available online. This manual shares information about FoodShare’s Focus on Food Youth Internship Program, including how it works and how its placement model has become part of an effective, successful youth employment program. Details.

‘Food truck alley’ to bring more variety to Hamilton

Ever had a craving for a grilled cheese with a side of kettle corn followed by a fresh baked cupcake? This summer, if all goes as planned, you’ll be able to get all your favourite Hamilton food truck grub in one convenient location. Dubbed ‘food truck alley,’ a portion of land on Aberdeen Avenue at Longwood Road South is currently being leased to host local food trucks throughout the spring and summer when they don’t have other obligations. Graeme Smith, owner of Gorilla Cheese, and Mike Pitton of Southern Smoke Truck teamed up to lease the land. Their trucks are there every Thursday already, but they hope by the summer there will be at least one truck there at all times, every day of the week. CBC Hamilton story.

Help define county food goals

For about two years a diverse group including organic and conventional farmers, folks from various agencies, etc. -O.M.A.F.R.A., Conservation Authority, United Way, Food 4 All, Milk for Moms, municipal councillors, Sustainable Cobourg, Northumberland Federation of Agriculture, Northumberland County transportation and economic development have been working together to prepare a Northumberland County Food Charter. Our primary goal is to build a safe, secure, sustainable food system for all residents. Cramahe Now post.

Ontario PCs seek to add food literacy to Local Food Act

The Ontario Progressive Conservatives announced on Monday their plan to put forward an amendment to add food literacy to the Local Food Act. Ernie Hardeman, Oxford MPP and PC Ag Critic notes that the announcement was made after the governing Liberals said they would welcome amendments to the bill.  While the bill has yet to reach second-reading, the PCs wanted to make their amendment idea pubic. The concept of food literacy was first outlined in the PCs agricultural white paper, which was released earlier this year. “When the bill goes to committee, we will put forward an amendment to open the Education Act and include food literacy as part of the education curriculum,” explains Hardeman. Farms.com story.

AND IF YOU HAVE TIME

MPPs Debate Local Food Act

I just want to ask us all to reflect a little bit on our experiences of local food. If I think about a time before it was conscious to me that I was eating local food or not, I can remember being really very excited in the summer when August would come, because that was the time when we could get corn. We could get Ontario-grown corn. We would go to pick up—or my dad would pick up on the way home from his office—local corn at Mr. Topper’s farm in Richmond Hill. That was his name, and he was just north of Elgin Mills. We only ate corn in August. We didn’t eat corn any other time of the year. I don’t even know if it was available in stores, but certainly my father had a complete prejudice about Ontario corn: That was the best-tasting corn, and that’s the only corn we should eat. Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne speaking in the Ontario Legislature.

 

Locavore News — World

New Orleans is halfway through the month-long Eat Local Challenge

The New Orleans Eat Local Challenge has added an extra kick of flavor to restaurants menus. Throughout the month of June the NOLA Locavore organization challenges residents to eat food only grown, caught or raised within a 200-mile radius of the city. This year, more than 40 restaurants are participating in the Eat Local Challenge. For these chefs, the challenge starts long before customers take a seat in their restaurants. It starts as they plan their menus. The Times-Picayune Greater New Orleans story.

Local towns are fighting government for food freedom

In a referendum election on March 4, residents voted 112-64 to approve the “Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance,” which states that producers or processors of local foods are “exempt from licensure and inspection,” so long as the food is sold directly by the producer to a consumer. The ordinance also makes it “unlawful for any law or regulation adopted by the state or federal government to interfere with the rights organized by this ordinance.” TheBlaze.com blog.

Software Startup And Global Crowdfunding Platform Join Forces To Kickstart The Local Food Movement

Local Food Delivery is traditionally an underfunded business, but a software startup and a global crowdfunding platform are breaking the mould to disrupt the status quo and catalyse a better food system. Bucky Box and StartSomeGood have teamed up to make crowdfunding accessible to The Local Food Startup Challenge participants from around the world. Seed funding and community support is a key part of the early phase of food delivery businesses, and crowdfunding offers an excellent solution. Bucky Box post.

The question behind Minnesota Food Council legislation: Why import when we can grow local?

A lot of different small-scale growers, academics and communities are tossing ideas into the collective pot, hoping to come up with a cost and fuel efficient model for creating local food systems in Minnesota. “It’s like the childhood story of making stone soup,” said Clarence Bischoff, a farmer near Red Wing who is among people pushing for a Minnesota Food Council. The idea is making its way through the capitol thanks to Rep. David Bly of Northfield and Sen. Matt Schmit of Red Wing. With the budget and other priorities dominating the first part of this legislative session, it’s not likely to get much traction until next year. Twin Cities Daily Planet story.

Network stresses benefits of food grown close to home

This week the group will introduce Wellington Local Food Week, a series of events aimed at encouraging people to buy and eat food grown in the region. The week will conclude on Sunday with a picnic lunch in the Botanic Gardens, with people encouraged to bring a dish of local ingredients to share. Three Wellington cafes – Beach Babylon, Nikau and Ti Kouka – will also introduce a special dish for the week with at least 40 per cent of it made from local ingredients. Dominion Post story.

Food program “CATCH”-ing on

Healthy vegetables and fruit offerings are everywhere these days at local schools – in morning snacks at elementary schools, in lunch menus and now they’re spreading to the after school time slot. CATCH, an eight-week healthy eating program provides lesson plans about healthy food options and fun snacking options. CATCH stands for: Coordinated Approach To Child Health and is funded through a Minority and Health Disparities Grant covering six counties including Dawson County. Tyson post.

We must fight to preserve traditional English foodstuffs and techniques

When no corner of the world has been left unexplored, and imports come with the stigma of food miles, native rare breeds and heritage fruit and vegetables have become the new exotica. But, as broadcaster and greengrocer Charlie Hicks puts it, since “there’s often a very good reason they stopped growing them in the first place” is there anything more to this new-found love of the old than nostalgia, novelty and scarcity value? Einkorn is just one traditional wheat that we rarely see – and for some good reasons. But if we allow it and other unfashionable crops, breeds and production methods to vanish, we will regret it. The Guardian story.

Abigail Stauffer and Rap For Food video spoofs Taylor Swift in praise of local food

Wearing “local celebrity” T-shirt and her signature dreadlocks, local singer-songwriter Abigail Stauffer is featured in a new video celebrating healthy foods. The video, filmed at several local locations, including a hoop house and the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, also features local hip hop food activist Lucas DiGia, who performs under the monicker Rap For Food. The song, “We are Never Ever Eating Bad Together” is a take-off on Taylor Swift’s breakup song “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” and features lyrics like “we could eat all kinds of ancient grains instead of wheat.” Ann Arbor post.

Chesapeake locavore chef wears heart on his sleeve

One day this week, while the lunch crowd crashed into Cotton Southern Bistro in Chesapeake, the chef reclined in a Virginia Beach studio, head resting on his backpack, sleeves rolled up, punk rock playing on the radio.”They know not to mess with me,” said Brown, one tattooed arm outstretched. “I’m serious. This is what I do to de-buzz from the whole restaurant business. “He’s my doctor,” Brown added, nodding toward Andy Chambers, an award-winning artist intent on inking in an onion on the chef’s full-sleeve, farm-to-fork tattoo. Hampton Roads post.

 

Local food makes up 20 percent of Florida’s eat-at-home market, study shows

Floridians are buying more food grown locally or regionally and retail sales are higher here than in other states, according to a University of Florida study. It showed local food represents about 20 percent of all Florida food purchased for at-home consumption, except restaurant take-out food, said Alan Hodges, an Extension scientist with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. The study was based on a statewide consumer survey. Prior estimates from other states had local food accounting for about 5 percent of all food sales, he said. Phys.Org post.

 

AND IF YOU HAVE TIME

Deploying the British Granny Cloud to tutor poor Indian classrooms over Skype

This TED Talk describes the latest ingenious project from Sugata Mitra, an Indian-born professor at Newcastle University. You’ll most likely know Mitra from his Hole in the Wall computers set into the walls of buildings in India’s poorest slums. Mitra’s new project uses the “UK Granny Cloud” — a large group of British grannies who’ve agreed to volunteer an hour a week to tutor Indian classrooms over Skype video conferences — to supplement education in Indian schools where there is a shortage of teachers. Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud. The Granny Cloud blog.

 

Locavore News — Canada

 

Local Food Act: Another Step in Transforming the Food System

The Local Food Act was introduced in the Ontario Legislature today, signaling another step forward in transforming the food system into one with greater opportunities for healthy food and farming in Ontario. The new enhanced Act contains further provisions to encourage public procurement of local food in contracts under $25,000, while also providing a commitment from government to report on local food to measure local food consumption and a Local Food Week to celebrate Ontario’s successes at increasing the amount of food grown, purchased and consumed in Ontario. Sustain Ontario post.

 

Apples! Colourful Carrots! Crunchy Fruits and Vegetables!

On March 7, FoodShare celebrated Nutrition Month with more than 65,000 participants across Ontario and the world as we hosted our sixth annual Great Big Crunch. Children, youth and adults from classrooms, gymnasiums, offices, and homes from as far away as Australia, Brazil and Russia bit into crunchy vegetables and fruits to not only promote, celebrate, and enjoy healthy snacking, but to also highlight the availability of local produce all year round. Great Big Crunch.

 

Student Program Connects Consumers to the Food System Process

In an effort to increase the amount of food that is sourced locally, students at McGill University established The McGill Food Systems Project (MFSP). The project, which began in 2009, engages students in the food system process by supporting student-led applied research that helps the University establish best practices for purchasing sustainable food. Collaborating with professors, the McGill Food and Dining Services, and the McGill Office of Sustainability, students conduct research and implement projects that help inform the University about the source of its food. Nourishing the Planet post.

 

B.C. Government’s Buy Local Program

The government of British Columbia is investing $2 million to help B.C. producers and processors promote local foods. The funding supports local businesses and organizations launch or expand their marketing campaigns, and allows B.C.’s diverse food industry to use customized promotions specific to their market and needs. Eligible organizations include associations, cooperatives, marketing boards, Aboriginal groups, businesses and non-profit organizations. Projects could include in-store promotions, social media or web campaigns, traditional advertising and on-product labelling. British Columbia post.

 

Urban sprawl is destroying Ontario’s farmland

Despite its huge area, Canada has relatively little dependable farmland. Good soil and a friendly climate are hard to find. So it seems like good news that on a clear day you can see about half the best agricultural land in Canada from the top of Toronto’s CN Tower. If we’re to feed our growing urban populations, having food lands close to where people live will be critical to sustaining local food security. Toronto Star op-ed.

 

Small Farm Canada

Small Farm Canada promotes small-scale farming as a legitimate and viable endeavour. The magazine’s editorial position is that the lives of small-scale farmers and their families are worthy, complex and rich in possibility, and that the communities serving small-scale farmers are unique and dynamic. Through attractive, well-written, independent-minded articles (free of orthodoxies) the magazine entertains, informs, inspires and challenges readers across Canada. Website.

 

City of Vancouver Shows the Way regarding Urban Food Strategies

A new policy document from the City of Vancouver seeks to make food systems central to every aspect of the city’s business. The City’s new food strategy depicts a high-density urban environment lush with edible landscaping, community vegetable gardens, green walls, rooftop greenhouses, farmers markets and thousands of green jobs based in a burgeoning local food economy. City Council intends the Vancouver of the near future to be a model system of just and sustainable locally-grown food. Vancouver Sun story.

 

Canadian researchers call for moves towards greater biodiversity

‘Integrative biologists’ from Canada’s University of Guelph have warned of “the perils of ecosystem breakdown,” following the publication of a research paper demonstrating how biodiversity protects ecosystems. The researchers’ work, published in february’s Nature journal, suggests farmers and resource managers should not rely on seemingly stable but vulnerable single-crop monocultures. FarmStart post.

 

Local and Sustainable Food Systems Network

The Network met face to face in November 2012 and held our first conference call on February 14th. Jordan Nicoloyuk with Ecology Action Centre spoke about their work with sustainable fisheries, followed by Mary Lindsay with Living Oceans Society who spoke about their sustainable seafood initiatives. The two presentations highlighted the logic of working across land and water-based food systems, given all the shared challenges and opportunities facing the two sectors. Food Secure Canada post.

 

2013 Food and Farm Justice Consultation

From March 8-10, 2013, Food Secure Canada joined 50 organizations from Canada and the USA for a consultation on food justice. This event, a first of its kind, was organized by Oikotree North America and gathered secular and interfaith representatives. After a full week-end of discussions and workshops, the participants agreed on a commonly shared value: the sacredness of food, which happens to be the 7th Pillar of Food Sovereignty in Canada in the People’s Food Policy. Food Secure Canada post.

 

AND IF YOU HAVE TIME

 

A Guerilla Gardener in South Central LA

Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA — in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs. Why? For fun, for defiance, for beauty and to offer an alternative to fast food in a community where “the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys.” Watch TED Talk.

 

Locavore News — World

Demand for local food requiring a rethinking of supply chain for N.C. farmers

A nearly $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is being used to help small farmers in North Carolina develop a more localized supply-chain system to help meet the demand for local food, the News & Observer of Raleigh reports. The Winston-Salem-based grocery chain Lowes Foods is participating in the project, led by N.C. State University’s Center for Environmental Farming Systems. The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area post.

 

The ConsEnSus Project – A Cross-Border Household Analysis of CONsumption, ENvironment, and SUStainability in Ireland

4 year collaborative research project involving Trinity College Dublin and National University of Ireland, Galway, examines four key areas of household consumption that currently impact negatively on the environment and inhibit our ability, both in Northern Ireland and the Republic, to achieve sustainable development: transport, energy, water and food.  A set of 7 integrated work packages will address four key themes: how consumption can be measured and evaluated; how sustainable behaviours and incentives are being developed and implemented; identifying links between consumption, health and well being; and finally how matters of household consumption are being governed through institutional practice and participation. Website.

 

GrowUp! An aquaponic urban farm for London

We want to show how fresh food can be grown anywhere in the city in a way that is ecologically sustainable and commercially scalable. For us, aquaponics is the technology that can make that vision a reality – by producing fresh fish and vegetables in a recirculating farming system. So you’re transfarming a car park? Kickstarter crowdfunding.

 

From global to local food

However, little known around the world — and what Germans are now ‘hooked’ to — is ‘agricultura urbana’ (urban farming) practised in Havana and other Cuban cities, which is not just about producing one’s own vegetables but more about creating an urban living, working and meeting place. So, in the summer of 2009, non-profit company Nomadisch Gruen leased a site in Berlin/Kreuzberg to create a mobile urban farm called Prinzessinnengarten (Princess Gardens), a 6,000-sq.m site which had been a wasteland for over half a century. The local residents worked hard to collect and dispose years of accumulated garbage, and built transportable organic vegetable plots. The Hindu Business Line post.

 

Landshare

Landshare brings together people who have a passion for home-grown food, connecting those who have land to share with those who need land for cultivating food. Since its launch through River Cottage in 2009 it has grown into a thriving community of more than 55,000 growers, sharers and helpers. Website.

 

Local food

Local food or the local food movement is a “collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies – one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular place.”[1] It is part of the concept of local purchasing and local economies; a preference to buy locally produced goods and services rather than those produced by corporatized institutions. From Wikipedia.

 

‘Locavores’ give local economy a boost

Local farmers are placing an emphasis on “locavores.” “Locavore” is a new term used to describe those who buy produce from local farmers, and some say this trend is not only a healthy option, but there is evidence this might also be healthy for the local economy as well. But the local farming industry has also been sparking up discussion about its impact on the local economy, hoping the CSA program will help catalyze local economic development and growth. John Regetz is the executive director of the Bannock Development Corporation and says the local agriculture industry, both of perishable and nonperishable crops, is the single largest sector of the Idaho economy; where this trend will start attracting more large companies into the region. Idaho LocalNews8.com story.

 

10 reasons why we should eat insects

A new BBC Four documentary sees presenter Stefan Gates trying to discover whether eating insects could save the world. Helena Goodrich gives ten reasons why this might just be true. The Telegraph post.

 

Potatoes on Rooftops Farming in the City

All around the world, people are farming in the concrete jungle!

From high school students to high-rise dwellers, people—including Michelle Obama—are discovering innovative ways to grow fresh, healthy, and delicious fruit and vegetables at home, in community gardens, and at school. This brisk, informative overview explains how farming in the city is not only fun, but also important for the planet. Annick Press book.

 

Be Your Own Bartender

Now that every big chef seems to have his or her own cookware line and branded food product, top mixologists are getting in on the retail game, too. Local booze aficionados are bringing their own bitters, mixers, and garnishes to the masses, while D.C.-made spirits are popping up on liquor-store shelves. While we can’t vouch for Mario Batali’s signature orange Crocs, here are some local liquors and ingredients for keeping your cocktail parties District-minded. Young&Hungry blog.

AND IF YOU HAVE TIME 

Sunday Soup

The Soup Grant is a grassroots model for funding small to medium sized creative projects through community meals. The basic formula is that a group of people come together to share a meal and that meal is sold for an affordable price. All the income from that meal is given as a grant to support a creative project. Grant applications are accepted up until the meal, everyone who purchases the meal gets one vote to determine who receives the grant. The grants are completely unrestricted and will be awarded at the discretion of the customers. Granting projects affiliated with Sunday Soup in different cities operate based on their own needs and context. The meals are more or less elaborate in different places and some people have presentations by potential grantees or past grantees as part of the event. Please check the individual profiles for more information. Website.

 

Locavore News — Ontario

 

Call to Action: Food & Water First

The fight to stop the Highland mega quarry shone a spotlight on the lack of protection for Ontario’s prime farmland and source water regions under the Aggregate Resources Act. The review of the ARA has been stuck in limbo since last summer and has yet to resume. As well, the Liberals have said they plan to re-introduce a Local Food Act which we believe should contain protection for the farmland and water that sustain our local food and thriving agri-food sector. North Dufferin Agricultural And Community Taskforce (NDACT) initiative

 

Petition: Support local food & good jobs in Ontario

The Premier of Ontario has committed to re-introducing a stronger Local Food Act to support our local farmers and eaters. We think the government can do more to create jobs in Ontario like they’ve done with sustainable energy, by supporting the fast-growing local sustainable food sector, while making the province a more awesome place. Sign here.

 

Hudak Conservatives Pitch Creation of a Second Food Terminal Outside of Toronto

Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak made a pit stop at the Western Fair London Farm Show on Friday (touted as Ontario’s largest indoor farm show) to announce his vision for the creation of a second regional food terminal somewhere outside of Toronto.  Hudak says the governing Liberals have ignored the agriculture sector and encouraged the rural urban divide. “We want to correct that and we want to make sure that the province of Ontario sees agriculture as a leading innovator and a creator of jobs and wealth in the province, “says Hudak. Farms.comstory.

 

Model Local Food Act

Canadian Environmental Law Association has launch a new model Local Food Act building on work done by Sustain Ontario and it’s members. The Act’s purpose is to improve Ontario’s local food systems by 1) improving Ontario’s knowledge of the benefits of local food, 2) strengthening Ontario’s local food economy, 3) promoting environmentally friendly farming, production and processing practices, 4) improving local food distribution 5) increasing public procurement of local food, and 6) inter-governmental coordination and public participation in local food planning and decision-making. Model Act.

 

Kickin’ It New School

If the success of Fresh City Farms’ unique funding program sounds encouraging, that’s because it is.  Increasingly, passionate, food focussed individuals looking enter the good food sector are exploring innovative alternative business models and distribution systems.  And in many cases, Kickstarter can be a great way to make these dreams reality. Ontario Culinary Tourism post.

 

Social Innovation Pop-Up Lab, March 21, 2013 – Brantford

Finance, Farms and Food – Exploring new ways to organize and raise money for sustainable food system projects. If you are interested in some new ideas and can travel to Brant County on March 21, we encourage you to participate in this learning event. Come out to hear from a variety of organizations on how they are using new tools and approaches to raise money for sustainable food projects. Details.

 

Regional food distribution pilot project is launched

The Greenbelt Fund, with funding from the Metcalf, McConnell, and Friends of the Greenbelt foundations, is embarking on a pilot project to look at ways to integrate regional food hubs with mainstream foodservice distribution. The project addresses the increasing popularity and demand for locally grown and produced food. It aims to bring the efficiencies of large-scale distribution to smaller-scale businesses to help them source and distribute fresh, locally grown products. Pilot project.

 

Permaculture Design Course

“All Sorts Acre near Guelph is offering a Permaculture Design Course running once a month from April to December. Learn to create sustainable landscapes, homes, communities, and life with practical instruction and hands-on activities. Includes field trips, design practicums, and guest speakers. Guest Teachers: Dr. Rob Swackhammer of Main Street Animal Hospital, Ingrid Cryns of soma earth natural building & design, Andrew Macdonald of Arborvitae Ecological Landscapes, Martin Tamlyn of Conestogo River Local Food Co-op. Details

 

Food Movements Unite! Strategies to transform our food systems, March 19

Eric Holt-Gimenez to speak in Toronto. How are the world’s food movements converging in all of their diversity? This presentation from a renowned food movement leader will explore the practical and political implications of alliances and food regime change. Harriet Friedmann and other Toronto food leaders will comment on Eric’s talk and lead the Q+A. Eric Holt-Gimenez is the Executive Director of Food First in the U.S. Metro Hall, Room 309, 55 John Street, Toronto, 7:00-9:00pm.

 

New book tells the inside story of The Stop – Book Launch march 24

Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis have authored a book that tells the extraordinary story of The Stop. The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement, covers a 14-year period during which The Stop — a long-standing Metcalf grantee —transformed from a small, urban food bank into a thriving community food centre with kitchens, farmers markets and gardens. Details.

 

AND IF YOU HAVE TIME

 

Food industry operations ‘simply incompatible’ with sustainability

Some of the food industry’s strategies are incompatible with creating a sustainable food system, says a new report from the Food Ethics Council. Food Navigator.compost. (corrected link)

 

Locavore News — World

 

Tesco vows to buy more local produce

Tesco, the UK’s biggest supermarket chain, has delivered a fillip to British farmers by pledging to buy more local produce in the wake of the horsemeat scandal – but manufacturers warn the move will increase the price of the weekly shop. Farmers have long urged consumers to buy local. But a combination of cheaper meat from overseas and global supply chains have drowned out their pleas: indeed even Wm Morrison, the number four supermarket and a staunch supporter of local produce, began quietly putting European meat on its shelves last November. Now, however, the backlash prompted by the appearance of horsemeat in burgers and other convenience meals has prompted retailers and manufacturers to shorten and simplify their complex supply chains. Financial Times story.

 

Scottish Locavore Restaurant (Intentionally) Serving Horse Lasagna

A Glasgow restaurant called Stravaigin that proudly hangs a “think global, eat local” flag on its website has looked at horsemeat from both sides now, and has decided to fully embrace the other red meat: “In true Stravaigin fashion, from 5pm on Friday 1st March, we will be serving up 100% horse lasagne,” it announced yesterday on its Facebook page. “In our research we found that numerous cultures have been eating mare, mustang and filly long before it became the topic of scandalous conversations in the UK. Not convinced? Well hay! (Sorry) It’s wonderfully healthy, with half the fat of beef and ten times the cholesterol shattering Omega 3s so gallop in.” Well done, guys. That’s what we call champing at the bit. Grub Street blog.

 

Help Naked Juice Give Access to Fresh Local Produce

Did you know there is an entire pound of fruit in every bottle of Naked® Juice? And now, when you indulge in all of that goodness, you’ll help those in need gain access to fresh local fruits and vegetables. Naked has teamed up with Wholesome Wave, a national nonprofit organization that improves access to fresh locally grown produce in underserved communities across the country. Contributing to the initiative is simple—download a coupon, which gets you $1 off any 15.2 ounce Naked Juice. For every coupon downloaded, one pound worth of fresh local produce will be donated to underserved communities. Eater National post.

 

New Food Co-Op Aims for Cheaper Prices, Local Produce

More than 50 people came out of the cold Wednesday night to hear about a food co-operation starting on the North Side. Imagine shopping at a grocery store that only carries local products with prices set by members of the community, rather than a corporation. That’s exactly what a group is trying to start on the North Side,—a community-run grocery store, known as a food co-operative. Patch.com post.

 

‘Locavore’ at large

More than visual however, I have recently discovered the “locavore” movement, dedicated to living off food grown locally. Some call it the 100-mile diet, consisting of the produce grown within 100 miles of home. We fortunately have the soil conditions, growing season and weather in West Michigan to provide us with a large variety of tasty and healthful alternatives. So while natural beauty is not limited to Michigan, we are blessed with an abundance of water ways and generous agricultural variety somewhat  unique in our great land. Holland Sentinel post.

 

Locavore Challenge

Our Locavore Challenge is a month-long challenge that encourages participants to increase their commitment to supporting a sustainable, local, organic food and farm system. We are currently in the planning stages for our 2013 September Locavore Challenge.  If you would like to receive more information about participating in the Locavore Challenge, please e-mail us at Locavore Challenge. Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York post.

 

Celebrity Chef Monica Pope Loves Locavore Experience of the Rodeo

While most of us at the celebrity goat milking competition at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on Tuesday were there to have fun. One celebrity milker was there on business. You may know Chef Monica Pope from her appearances on TV’s Top Chef Masters Competition on Bravo. Then again she is well known in Houston’s Culinary circles and for her interactive cookbook, “Eat Where your Food Lives.” “We use a lot of goat cheese and feta,” Pope said. Chef Monica is a big fan of the livestock show because she says its a great place to meet the people who are growing and producing food locally. “I’ve met all of them at the farmer’s market. That’s where I do my shopping twice a week,” Pope said. “I try to do as much local cheeses, meats and produce as possible.” News 92FM story.

 

Make the right grocery choices with ‘Rich Food, Poor Food’

A new book, “Rich Food, Poor Food,” addresses exactly that issue. Authors Mira and Jayson Calton have surveyed the research and created what they call a GPS (grocery purchasing system) designed to help people make good, nourishing food choices quickly and easily. Their book begins by describing what they believe is the most widespread and dangerous health condition today – micronutrient deficiency. Bellingham Herald Whatcom Locavore blog.

 

New five-step planning tool makes the most of urban green spaces

Even small areas of semi-natural vegetation, farmlands and abandoned farmlands provide important ecosystem services in urban environments. However, there is widespread loss of these non-urbanised areas (NUAs) owing to poor planning and urban sprawl. A new five-step process has now been developed that can inform effective planning to protect and enhance the value of urban green spaces. NUAs can be parks, woodlands, or agricultural land and are an important part of green infrastructure, providing many environmental, social and health benefits. European Commission, Science for the Environment Policy report.

 

An Iowa Farmer’s Quest for No Ordinary Pig

When he grew up, he would parlay his ingenuity into a career of building Internet portals for cities and computer networks for big companies. He would spin another business from a whim and a joke — building aquariums out of old Macintosh computers. And when he reached his mid-40s, rather than settle into his career, he embarked on a new unconventional endeavor, one he hopes will revolutionize an industry. Carl Edgar Blake II has tried to breed the perfect pig. Fatty and smooth. Meaty and flavorful. New York Times story.

 

AND IF YOU HAVE TIME

 

2013 Food Trends Favor the Tech Savvy Consumer

Every year, Food+Tech Connect looks at the trends that are transforming the future of how food is produced, sold and consumed. We always pay particular attention to Phil Lempert’s, CEO of The Lempert Report and author of SupermarketGuru.com, foresights. This year, Lempert’s predictions touch on many of the topics we’ve covered over the past year like food waste, transparency, health and wellness and protein consumption. Lempert also points to the terrible drought of 2012 as a direct cause of increasing food prices and predicts that consumers will use technology to reduce waste and make smarter purchasing decisions. Food+Tech Connect post.

 

Locavore News — Ontario

 

Ontario Farm to School Challenge Grand Prize Winner

Congratulations to Waterford Public School, the grand prize winner of the Ontario Farm to School Challenge! Led by teacher Teresa Kelly, grade 9 and 10 students in Waterford’s hospitality program created dishes for their final project using local ingredients. Pictured here is one group’s butternut squash ravioli. Looks delicious! Ontario Farm to School Challenge post.

 

2013 Ontario Culinary Adventure Guide Wants Your Delicious Photos!

 From farmers and growers to chefs and shops, we’re looking for photos of the people and places who make our food happen. From food trucks and roadside shacks to farmer’s tables and the finest dining rooms–the plate’s not the limit!  Need more reasons to get snap happy? The top three submissions will receive a gourmet culinary prize pack (approx. value $100) of local-oriented goodies. The winning photo will receive a dinner for two at a Toronto restaurant (approx. value $200) and will be printed in the 2013 Guide! Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance post

 

Home-Grown Food Part Of A New Vision Of Urban Development

Cities feeding themselves is an idea that is gaining traction. In Burlington, Vermont, more than 8 per cent the food consumed by residents is grown within the city limits. Indulge me for a moment and imagine a new residential development of quality homes surrounding an 18-hole, championship golf course. A well-designed community of semis, towns and fully detached homes are knit together by winding, well-treed streets. Every garage has a golf cart in it and every golf cart has two large garden trugs in the back. Say what? OK, change that golf course to a farm. And not just any old farm, the latest “urban” farm, where half of the green space normally devoted to the golf course is a huge garden that produces food for the immediate community. Mark Cullen writing in the Toronto Star.

 

Food Hubs Symposium

There are a variety of methods to organizing a hub, from delivery truck drop off points to full processing facilities. One of the key points made by food hub manager’s Robin Morris of Mad River Food Hub in Vermont and Evan Smith of Cherry Capital Foods in Michigan is the importance of expanding offerings beyond produce. One option is for a hub to supply proteins and, if possible, offer further processed products to better service customers with local all year round. Friends of the Greenbelt post.

 

Pop-Up Gardening Shop!

Once again, BUFCO is partnering with Fresh City Farms. Last year, FCF welcomed us into their greenhouse at Downsview Park, where we grew our seedlings. This year, they have invited us in to share space in a store just across the street from the greenhouse. This will be a one-stop-shop, where customers can pick up everything to start their own veggie gardens – DIY raised bed kits, organically grown seedlings, vermicompost, bagged triple mix soil, season extending hoop tunnel kits, take a consultion with a BUFCO gardener, book an installation or just come in to chat. The BUFCO Bulletin Bulletin.

 

Connecting with consumers is the greatest reward for local beef initiative

It started six years ago as a conversation between friends. Today, that idea tossed around a kitchen table has become Bluewater Beef, an initiative of the Eyre and Shaw farm families of Lambton County. Murray Shaw recalls that early conversation. “We wanted to expand our farms but the economics at the time, for small farmers, didn’t make sense.”Farms.com story.

 

The Right to Food in Canada: Community Conversations, Monday, March 4th

On March 4th by webinar from Geneva, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, will present the report of his mission to Canada and have a conversation with people across Canada. The webinar will be live-streamed at four locations in Toronto. Toronto food Policy Council details.

 

Commercial Kitchen Directory, Toronto

Due to overwhelming interests and requests for commercial kitchen space in Toronto, we offer this directory on currently available commercially-certified kitchens in the City. Offered by organizations and businesses (independent of HSC and Food Forward), these kitchens may be available for rent by the hour, day, or long-tem for food preparation and processing. Food Forward website.

 

Nature’s true friends value agriculture

However, a recent article in the Toronto Star included comments from a Toronto-area citizens group that questions the decision to allow farmland within the new “park” to remain in production. Members of the group – operating as “Friends of the Rouge” – suggest that by continuing to allow the farmland to remain in production, the farmers in the area will be standing in the way of the group’s desire to restore the area to “a more natural state.” The group has already planted trees on farmland that was no longer available for lease. There is a disappointing presumption that when food production takes place on large tracts of land it somehow becomes “industrial” and t is no longer environmentally sound. It is even more disappointing that the practice of growing food from the earth is somehow considered less of a “natural state” than growing trees. Perth County Farmers post.

 

Biodiversity Ontario – A Collection of the ECO’s Work on Biodiversity

The ECO’s work has played a key role in framing the conversation on biodiversity in Ontario, and has been instrumental in crafting the solutions now being implemented for its conservation. For example, for many years I have been calling on the provincial government to create a strategic plan of action to preserve and protect Ontario’s biodiversity. In December 2012, the Ontario government responded to this call to action, and released its Plan to Conserve Biodiversity, which sets out the government’s commitments to actions to protect biodiversity. Biodiversity Ontario.

 

AND IF YOU HAVE TIME

 

Vote for CNW’s 2012 Video of the Year

Of the top five viewed videos that received the highest views on CNW’s network of video sharing sites and video channels, three are CNW-produced and we would like to invite you to vote for your favourite one.

• ·         Dairy Farmers of Canada
• ·         Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited
• ·         Heart and Stroke Foundation

Beyond the Wire blog.