The Globe and Mail Reports: The Local Food Movement is Going National

By Rebecca LeHeup

By Jessica Leeder, Global Food Reporter
The Globe and Mail
Originally Published: http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/local-food-movement-goes-national/article2084221/?service=mobile

Local food is going national in Canada.

Driving the movement is Lori Stahlbrand, a journalist-turned-food-advocate who has spent the last six years and several million donor dollars animating her dream of creating an alternative food system that stars environmentally- and animal-friendly Canadian farmers.

Ms. Stahlbrand’s first building block was creating Local Food Plus, a non-profit that issues its private certification to progressive farmers who conform to the tough set of sustainability and production standards written for the agency by a crack team of agricultural and environmental experts. The agency then helps link certified farmers with local buyers who would not have made the connections alone, providing critical strength to the local and regional supply chain.

“We were losing our ability to feed ourselves,” Ms. Stahlbrand said. “What we’re trying to do is build a different kind of food system. We’ve built the flywheel. Now it’s starting to turn.”

Using Ontario as a pilot ground, LFP has become one of the most powerful engines behind local food’s strong foothold in the province. Strengthening the local food economies of British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec is next on the agency’s list as it launches its first phase of a national expansion, funded by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, a Montreal-based philanthropy group.

Although LFP’s influence is not always visible, the agency is the reason that many high-end restaurants, municipalities, schools, universities and hospitals have been able to integrate locally-farmed food into their offerings, or are now eyeing the transition. LFP provides an instant menu of certified producers that offer an alternative to the large, mainstream food distributors that dominate North American food trade.

Those companies, although a vital part of the current food system, make money by moving large amounts of food, prioritizing low prices and consistent supply. For ease, most deal solely with large farm and food operations that have enough scale to satisfy their needs year-round, shunning smaller local and seasonal producers who struggle for steady access to markets and, as a consequence, for survival.

Local food advocates are working to counter this not because they have romantic notions of Canadian agriculture, but because they believe the nation’s food security requires a healthy co-mingling of large and small or regional producers. LFP’s success in moving the needle is proof that re-establishing balance in the system doesn’t necessarily require big government intervention.

“We’re not saying you have to eat the 100-mile diet. It’s not a realistic way to live your life,” Ms. Stahlbrand said. “I don’t expect we’re going to stop eating oranges and bananas any time soon. But let’s be eating Ontario strawberries when they’re in season here. We’re exporting apples and we’re importing apples. Let’s eat our own apples,” she said, adding: “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.”

Shifting even a small fraction of grocery offerings to local food can have a big economic and environmental impact, according to calculations done for LFP by Rod MacRae, a York University food policy expert and head of the agency’s standards development team. For example, in Toronto, replacing one 10-tonne truck loaded with California-grown produce with an Ontario-grown load (from within 200 kilometres of Toronto) is the environmental equivalent of taking two cars off the road for an entire year.

If 10,000 Toronto families shifted $10 of their weekly food purchases to local for a year, it would equate to taking 908 cars off the road for a year; on a per-family basis, carbon savings are equivalent to not driving a car for a month. In Halifax, the same 10,000 families shifting would be equivalent to moving 487 cars off the road for a year; per-family, it’s equivalent to parking the car for two weeks.

In economic terms, if 10,000 families in a province shift $10 per week to local, that means $5.2-million would shift away from imports and directly into local economies.

While building the links between producers and buyers is a key pillar of LFP’s strategy, the agency is equally focused on using the local food system to coax along a progression of environmental gains. The inspiration is borrowed from the origins of organic-growing principles, which were intended as much for environmental benefits as for consumer health. The environmental stewardship and rules of organic growing have been clouded by the category’s mass appeal, which has driven increases in cheaper organic imports from nations with varying standards. Marketers have co-opted the word as a branding tool; consumers are increasingly confused about the value of “organic” and what the word even means.

“That’s where LFP draws a distinct line in the sand,” said Brian Gilvesy, a longhorn cattle farmer who was an early LFP client in Ontario. “It’s local, it’s environmental, it’s sustainable. The people that deal with us … get a holistic view of the farm.”

Indeed, the farms LFP certifies have to meet rigorous animal welfare and sustainability standards designed to ensure food production contributes to environmental health and biodiversity rather than detracting from it. While LFP places restrictions around farmers’ use of pesticides, antibiotics and hormones, the program was designed to allow participants to deepen their environmental commitments over time; their certification scores, rated by independent inspectors, will improve as they grow.

So will the perceptions of clients who buy their food.

“Launching into a program like this is one very demonstrable way to show we do care about the ingredients and where food comes from,” said Anne Macdonald, director of ancillary services at the University of Toronto, which began requiring its food suppliers to use a proportion of LFP-certified products in 2006. “University food services suffer a lot from a bad rap with respect to perceptions about the quality of food.”

For this reason, LFP has become an ideal marriage partner for schools and other large institutions, including McGill University in Montreal, which will launch with LFP this fall. Toronto’s Scarborough Hospital will also lean on LFP as it transitions to a new local menu later this year. For LFP, the institutional uptake, which they’re hoping will increase with the agency’s national expansion, is the holy grail – and means of securing local food’s longevity.

“Working with institutions gives us buying power,” Ms. Stahlbrand said. “No one has ever questioned institutional procurement before.”

Already, the trickle-down effect is measurable. In Winnipeg, a city anchored in a Prairie economy that relies heavily on export markets, consensus over the need to strengthen the local food trade is growing.

“In Manitoba, there’s some concern that if everybody goes local, there goes your export market,” said Kreesta Doucette, executive director of Food Matters Manitoba. “But there’s this tension between needing to export and the whole consumer preference for local food,” she said. “It’s going to be a challenge.”

Not Far From the Tree – News

By Rebecca LeHeup

Just in time for the long weekend, Not Far From The Tree’s fruit picking program is up and running!

Serviceberries, mulberries, sweet cherries, and sour cherries abound, and our fruit picking volunteers have been oh so patiently awaiting our year’s second crop (after maple syrup, of course). We sent out the notifications about the first two picks and within minutes both were full! Don’t worry – there are plenty more trees out there waiting for us to come to their rescue.

Last weekend we trained 20 volunteers to take that extra step and become Supreme Gleaners. These are the trusty folks who lead picks on behalf of the organization. Without them, the magic of Not Far From The Tree couldn’t happen.

If you’d like to become a fruit picking volunteer – whether you be Supreme or not in your commitment – and aren’t already signed up, you can do so here.

***
It’s official: We’re expanding!

Thanks to generous support from The Sprott Foundation, TD Friends of the Environment, The Metcalf Foundation and Brewers Plate, Not Far From The Tree is able to expand our fruit picking program by leaps and bounds in 2011.

It is with great pleasure that we announce our expansion from 7 neighbourhoods last year to a total of 14 neighbourhoods in 2011. That’s right – we’re doubling our scope! It’s going to be an incredible year, so stay tuned.

Farming initiative aims to open doors to local food in Ottawa region

By Rebecca LeHeup

By Michelle Nash
Your Ottawa Region
Original Publication: http://www.yourottawaregion.com/news/article/1032676–farming-initiative-aims-to-open-doors-to-local-food-in-ottawa-region

A new farming plan seeks to establish for-profit farming that will offer Ottawa residents both ecologically sustainable and economically sustainable food grown locally.

Just Food is a company that works towards creating sustainable local food for residents in the City of Ottawa. The company launched their new plans, new website and new offices on National Capital Commission land at 16 Tauvette St. near Blackburn Hamlet on June 16. Moe Garahan, executive director of Just Food found the event and the upcoming plans for company will give residents in Ottawa an opportunity to take part in the food gathering process.

“We want to build a more edible landscape here in Ottawa with community gardens and with training and encouragement to grow more food in the city,” Garahan said.

Justfood.ca launched on Friday, June 17 with a Google Map that shows local community gardens, farmers, certified organic farms and Savour Ottawa Producers as well as restaurant owners or retailers that sell food that must be grown or raised on their own farm.

Garahan said the master plan for this website and Just Food for the next year is to look at how small scale agriculture can fit into a residential area.

These polices are initial ideas that are looking for feedback from eaters, farmers and everyone in between, Garahan said, adding they will hold a consultation session in July.

Garahan noted he hopes these plans will open up the opportunities for eating locally.

One of the programs Garahan is looking forward to getting started is the incubator farm at the new offices on the NCC land.

Garahan said he has found there is growing interest for young urban residents wanting to start farming.

“The farming population is aging and so we do need new farmers,” he said. “There are growing markets for local food and we believe that this growing interest demonstrated by the increase in farmer’s markets, increase in CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) serving Ottawa, increase in farms growing for the local market is a testament to the demand.”

This program takes individuas who have a green thumb and are looking to expand beyond their home garden to a commercially viable business. Just Food will offer pieces of land for rent so new farmers can get their feet wet on a smaller scale before tackling a more integrated business plan.

Farmer to farmer training is also currently available through Just Food, but with the new vision, the company plans on creating more training programs as there continues to be wide interest in that area as well.

Garahan said the amount of projects getting set to take centre stage is incredible. From food bank plots – large vegetable spaces for volunteers to grow food for the food bank –  to visual demonstrations of how to start a community garden for communities or families interested in starting up their own home gardens, Just Food is determined to spread the local food around.

 

Are You A Local Food Champion?

By Rebecca LeHeup

A Message from Greenbelt Ontario:

Nominations open for local food trailblazers in public institutions

More Greenbelt and Ontario food is making its way into the kitchens of daycares, schools, universities, colleges, hospitals, long-term care facilities and municipalities in Ontario. The recent 2011 Ontario’s Local Food Champions Report recognizes three leaders from public institutions and three farm groups that have gone the extra mile to incorporate more Ontario food onto the plates of municipalities and public institutions. Read the full Ontario’s Local Food Champions Report here.

Do you know a local-food leader? Nominate them for the 2012 Champions report. It’s easy! There are only four questions. We are simply looking to profile the great success stories out there.

Download the nomination form here: greenbelt.ca/nomination
Nominations are open to anyone across the agri-food value chain who is working to increase the amount of Ontario food in public institutions.

Huntsville New Farmers’ Market

By Rebecca LeHeup

Come see what the River Mill Farmers’ Market has to offer on Saturdays (starting July 2) at River Mill Park in Huntsville!

The Mission at River Mill Farmers’ Market: “We aim to provide and collectively create an environment of sustainable exchange through wholesome food, arts and education.”

At River Mill you will find an expanding variety of farmers, musicians, artists, teachers, and small business owners who are bringing their skills to one place to form a distinctive, exciting market for everyone.
Interested in being part of the market as a vendor?

Just fill out the application form as soon as possible that can be found online at their website (www.rivermillpark.ca).

Criteria for Vendors – Any of the Following: Grow it, Make it, Bake it, Create it, Do it!

« Older Entries

categories
Submit your own
latest posts
recent comments