Jana Vodicka Food is a pleasure and a need. Quality matters.
Steffanie Scott food systems researcher and sustainability activist
WRFoodNews December 23, 2011
Please find the latest Waterloo Region Food News below. WRFoodNews archives can be viewed at http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/wrfoodnews, and you can receive timelier updates by subscribing to the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable's blog at http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=blog.RSS.
1. Canadian Food Summit
The Conference Board of Canada is hosting a two-day Canadian Food Summit bringing together food industry, government, and Foodies to chart a national food strategy. The event will take place February 7th & 8th in Toronto. For details and links to a full conference agenda and background papers, see Roundtable blog post.
2. Ode to Supply Management
Montreal-based professor Maurice Doyon wants to remind Canadians of the benefits of a supply-managed dairy sector, and not to be fooled by low milk prices in America. What most consumers fail to recognize, Doyon says, is that U.S. taxpayers are doling out billions of dollars each year to keep their farmers afloat. Read his commentary in the Roundtable blog post.
3. Comprehensive Agricultural Planning in North Saanich
The District of North Saanich (on Vancouver Island) has just completed a comprehensive agricultural strategy which makes plans for strengthening local food capacity and acknowledges traditional and non-traditional agricultural methods. Read a summary report and links to the full report in the Roundtable blog post by Brendan Wylie-Toal.
4. Heritage Seeds, Bees, and Local Food – Learn about it at the KPL!
The Roundtable's Healthy Food System series continues in January with a talk on heritage seeds and bees by local gardener and Seeds of Diversity Canada Executive Director Bob Wildfong. Mark your calendars for January 31st at the KPL Forest Heights Branch, 251 Fisher-Hallman Road, Kitchener. February's event will feature Wolfgang Pfenning and Candace Wormsbecker on Getting Involved in Local Agriculture, and March will focus on How to Access Local Food with Steve Martin. Click on the poster on the left to open a full-size, printable colour poster to erect at your workplace or supportive neighbourhood business or community centre. Read the details on all the events at www.wrfoodsystem.ca/kpl.
5. Help Decide Healthy Food System Series Topics at KPL for April-June
The Roundtable would like your input on possible topics and speakers for its monthly Healthy Food System series at the Kitchener Public Library (KPL). Session descriptions for April-June must be finalized by January 6th, so please add your suggestions by responding to the Discussion Forum post.
6. Work Opportunities in Food
Food Secure Canada is hiring two full-time positions based in Ottawa. Local CSA Transpire Organic is seeking help for a number of volunteer tasks over the winter. And the Roundtable is still looking for people to help with creating website content and engaging in priority food system change projects. See www.wrfoodsystem.ca/jobs for details.
7. Federal Court Rules Abolition of Wheat Board as Illegal
On Dec. 7th, the Federal Court issued a declaration that the Minister of Agriculture acted in breach of his statutory obligation to hold a plebiscite of farmers before abolishing the Canadian Wheat Board's "single desk" mandate for marketing wheat and barley. Food Secure Canada, the national organization of which the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable is now a member, was one of several intervener groups in the court case. See further details on the Food Secure Canada homepage.
8. Video Project Tracking Local Food System Development in UK
Kitchener Foodie Peter Kofler recently discovered an interesting videography project in the United Kingdom, documenting a project to establish local food value chains which make fresh, local food available to poor communities. Want to be part of doing something similar in Waterloo Region? Read Peter's Discussion Forum post to view the videos and discuss how to get started here.
9. And just for fun...
Wilfrid Laurier professor Robert Feagan offers this video for your holiday edification "primarily because it tickles my fancy about what I see around the connections between food and culture and farmers' markets." It's a flash mob performance of La Traviata in a farmers' market in Philadelphia. Enjoy, and happy holidays!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zmwRitYO3w
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