Sustain Ontario’s Upcoming Network Meetings: Setting Directions for 2017
Sustain Ontario’s Networks will be meeting virtually to set directions for 2017. Old and new members welcome to join to help determine ways to achieve each network’s priorities for 2017.
Network Meetings:
- Community Growing Network (formerly the Community Garden Network – Tues Feb 14 @10am
- Sustainable Food Enterprise Network – Wed Feb 15 @10am
- Food Justice Network – Thurs feb 16 @10am
- Farming and Farmland Network (formerly Farmland and Ag Network) – Wed Feb 22 @10am
- Municipal Food Policy Network – Thurs Feb 23 @10am
To read more, or register for the meetings…
The kids are not alright
The Heart & Stroke 2017 Report on the Health of Canadians examines how industry is marketing unhealthy food and beverages directly to our children and youth, and how this is affecting their preferences and choices, their family relationships and their health. Read more…
Ontario Public Institutions and On-site Food Production: Visualizing the Future for Health Care
For three years, Project SOIL has used case studies, pilot projects and visioning sessions to investigate the viability of on-site food production at public institutions, through collaborative arrangements with local food producers.
Over that time, interest in food production on public land has continued to grow, with schools and universities, health care institutions and seniors residences, community food centres and food banks, as well as public agencies—from conservation authorities to crown corporations—making land available for food production. Read more…
Re-imagining sustainable food planning, building resourcefulness: Food movements, insurgent planning and heterodox economics
8th Annual Conference of the AESOP ‘Sustainable food planning’ group, 2017
Hosted by the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University, Coventry, UK
…Planning for sustainable food production and food provision is more than ever urging us to look for more effective, equitable and just approaches that radically change not only the way we grow food, but the very core of our living space.This 8th annual conference of the AESOP sustainable food planning group is dedicated to discussing ideas, approaches and practices that can help to re-invent food planning in light of the need to build a resourceful, agroecological, urbanism. Read more…
Deadline Extended to February 6: AFHVS/ASFS Annual Meeting and Conference, June 14-17, 2017 at Occidental College
The conference theme, “Migrating Food Cultures: Engaging Pacific Perspectives on Food and Agriculture,” invites us to reflect on and engage with the entirety of the Pacific region. The conference setting of Los Angeles, California, is a dynamic, diverse, and multiethnic global city that serves as a gateway, destination, and waypoint. Much of the food itself in California is produced in part by migrating workers and immigrants; indeed, the food scene in Los Angeles is the result of migrating food cultures. Read more…
New Intake Added for Final Year of Growing Forward 2 Program
As the Growing Forward 2 (GF2) Funding Assistance Program for producers moves into its final year, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs want to be sure there are still plenty of opportunities for Ontario producers to make on-farm improvements. GF2 is a five-year federal-provincial-territorial initiative designed to encourage innovation, competitiveness and market development in Canada’s agri-food and agri-products sector through cost-share funding opportunities. GF2 is delivered to producers by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA), and will start to wrap up early in 2018. Read more…
Strong Public Support for the Growth Plan
A January 2017 poll by the Greenbelt Foundation and Environmental Defence shows Ontarians strongly support the Growth Plan and protection of farmland.
9 in 10 respondents agreed that new growth should be directed to already-built up areas. Read more…
The Community-Focused Rural Economic Development Program is Open for Applications
The Rural Economic Development (RED) program helps rural communities remove barriers to community economic development, through support for planning and implementation projects that benefit rural Ontario.
The program is now open and will accept applications until March 31, 2017. A second intake is scheduled for July 31, 2017 to September 29, 2017. Read more…
My Sustainable Canada’s Local Food and Ontario’s Long Term Care Sector Report
This report documents the current state of local food usage in Ontario’s long-term care sector. Most of the 600+ homes in Ontario do not track local food usage and many report barriers to adding these items to their menus. With an estimated annual raw food spend in excess of $210 million, Ontario’s long-term care sector represents a significant opportunity for local producers. Read more…