FarmStart

Join us at next week’s Bring Food Home Conference!

March 4^th to 6^th in Kitchener

New Farmer Training Day, March 4^th – Come hear from Joel Salatin, grass farming guru from Polyface Farm as well as other experienced farmers on topics such as Pastured Pigs, Pastured Poultry, Intro to Sheep, Crop Planning for Vegetable Growers, Salad Bar Beef, Healthy Soils and Marketing. Or attend a full day CSA Mini-School!

March 5^th and 6^th – Pick from a variety of workshops on emerging issues in farming, including Urban Agriculture, the Local Abattoir Crisis, Accessing Land & Capital, and more!

When: March 4^th – 6^th, 2010

Where: Kitchener, Delta Hotel (105 King Street East)

Cost: $95 per day

For more information and to register visit http://www.bringfoodhome.com

Preena Chauhan has a background in Indian cooking, facilitating, business, and an MA in Environmental Studies. These passions have come together in her creation of a new line of processed Indian foods that follow a mandate of sustainable business practices. This mandate has made Preena particularly interested in procuring local ingredients for her processed food line and her cooking classes. Preena’s presentation shared the food business perspective on buying locally grown world produce.

The name of Preena’s business is Arvinda’s; its genesis came from the cooking classes hosted by her mother. Preena worked alongside her mother and found that cooking masalas from scratch was an important way for customers to make authentic Indian foods.

As Preena noted in her presentation, the regionality of Indian cuisine impacts the produce and ingredients used. In these classes, most of people are not South Asian, so Preena could promote these specialty ingredients to mainstream customers. Teaching these classes helped Preena to create an understanding of the need and demand for local sources of world crops by both ethno-cultural groups and mainstream Canadians.

Preena has taken her desire and interest in local and sustainable products one step further and taught her students to use local seasonal produce and adapt recipes to this ideal. In her classes, Preena looked at ways to make ethno-cultural food more sustainable by supporting local farmers, when so many ingredients are imported.

Arvinda’s is a small processing business specializing in creating specialty and gourmet Indian spices, marinades, and other products which supply food services and retail lines. Through this business and in her classes, Preena became aware of some of the difficulties with procuring local produce for cooking and processing. For instance, she had a hard time getting local garlic that is also processed, peeled and crushed for easy use. As well, Preena found it a barrier getting Ontario product into retail stores.

Preena feels that much of this can be addressed through networking, and education, and working directly with farmers. It is those contacts and infrastructure that will make it easier for food businesses to support the local food movement.

Ted Eng was born on a farm in the Greater Toronto Region, as one of many children in a large Chinese family. He decided to take over the family farm, going from 80 to 120 acres of organic vegetables in the early 1990′s. Since then, Ted has established one of the most successful organic businesses in Ontario. He also grows produce for the GTA’s ethno-cultural markets. These experiences informed Ted’s presentation which was on the challenges farmers face in growing and marketing specialty crops.

One of the realities that farmers face is an economic reality. Ted notes that it is extremely difficult for new farmers to start from scratch. Even in his case, where he bought the farm from his parents, he still has mortgage payments to make. The difficulties that farmers currently face with low farm incomes can make it risky to invest into new markets, but doing so also has the potential to boost farm income levels.

Ted notes that farmers to proceed with caution. Producers need to do their own research into markets, as he did, through both internet research and trial and error. One of the biggest obstacles that Ted found was the lack of research and support on the side of the government. Some of the structural issues facing farmers include losing money to distributors (such as the food terminal buyers) and the difficulty in getting into big market chains. Not only that, Ted explains that is difficult to compete with Asian food imports when overseas labourers are paid low wages.

The problem, Ted explains, is that there is no ‘middle’ that exists in the food chain in Ontario. There needs to be a middle that works for farmers– many small and medium-sized farms just can’t compete in the large supply-chains. This should include medium sized companies and a focus on local, not export-driven commodities.

On a positive note, Ted believes that the ethno-cultural markets may offer increased profit potential for farmers. For instance, when he started growing greenhouse Bok Choy for example, he increased his profits significantly. Ted also believes that ‘organic’ can be a selling point in multiple markets, a point which has also been voiced by halal certifiers, who note that ‘organic’ meets the specifications of halal standards.

Other things farmers can do to improve their market opportunities include extending the season by growing food in greenhouses and developing food storage units. Ted himself has benefits by starting to market on farm and using smaller distributors to market his produce locally. As Ted explains, it is these types of entrepreneurial and innovative methods that allow farmers to succeed in entering new markets.

Mike Columbus’ presentation covered his personal experiences as a New Crop Development Specialist with OMAFRA. He has thirty years of experience working with OMAFRA, over a decade of that time has been devoted to working with farmers, growing new and specialty crops.

To begin his presentation, Mike discussed the broader market for world crops. He notes that there is a growing ethnic-cultural diversity in Ontario and immigrants are searching for culturally appropriate food. Canadians in general are becoming more adventurous, and increasingly integrating ‘world’ foods into their diets. Mike explained that crop diversification is already taking place in Ontario. He estimates that there are several thousand acres of specialty crops already in production and generating millions of dollars at the farm-gate.

Mike then outlined some of the earlier attempts at organizing farmers into an Ethnic Crop Association. He explained that in 1994, OMAFRA invited 34 farmers from a variety of ethno-cultural groups – 8 different nationalities in total – to meet in Milton to discuss setting up a producers’ association.

At the meeting, OMAFRA staff realized that the barriers for organizing were too great, considering the language and cultural differences. Mike also noted the distrust around sharing ‘market secrets,’ explaining that when independent growers discover how to grow and market new products, they are unlikely to want to share with their competitors. Mike concluded that although the attempt to organize was unsuccessful in 1994, it is worth trying again considering the growing demand for world foods.

Mike also presented on issues farmers should take under consideration before growing world crops for an ethno-cultural market. Mike noted that crop diversification can be difficult. It requires time, energy, patience, and money, and often takes at least three years to get production and marketing right. He stressed that it is important for farmers to carefully consider the resources required (i.e. available land for crop rotation; labour requirements; appropriate inputs, and crop research).

In the last section of the presentation, Mike discussed the experiences of Ontario farmers growing leafy green vegetables, daikon, star fruit, chili peppers, mung beans, okra, garlic, ginger, artichokes, kiwano, sweet potatoes, grain sorghum, green peanuts, and shitake mushrooms. He outlined the successes and difficulties with these different crops and provided insight into lessons learned at the grassroots level.

Mike’s presentation was informative and interesting. He revealed the research and planning that needs to occur before farmers grow for ethno-cultural markets.

Mike Shook is Program Manager with FarmStart. He has a background in both tropical and northern agriculture and extensive experience in learning to adapt to new growing conditions. Mike’s presentation focused both on practical tips for growing, as well as the lessons New Canadian producers could share with their Canadian counterparts.

This past summer, Mike grew a demonstration garden of world crops at the Ignatius Farm, the site of FarmStart’s first incubator project. His crops included yard-long beans, hot peppers, okra, and sorrel. Through this experiment, Mike came to a number of realizations. First, Mike believes that a number of ‘world’ crops will be grown in the future as a gardening crop rather than a field crop. Many crops are too labour intensive for large scale growers to produce economically. As well, new crops may be grouped into two categories: those needing season extension, and those that can do without.

As an example of season extension, Mike notes that yard-long beans, bitter melon, and a wide range of squashes need long seasons and react poorly to being transplanted. So Mike suggests a couple of options. The first is to start these plants in the greenhouse under heat lamps, planted in peat pots which are later transplanted to the field. Another option is a combination of black plastic mulch (to warm soil) and row covers. These are practical lessons for any farmer interested in growing tropical crops.

Although many new crops would be thrive growing in a greenhouse throughout the season it is important to determine how much capital/labour investment can be made for a crop of a particular value. These are economic concerns that all farmers should consider. Mike recommends a visit to Spinfarming.com, a website that promotes a Small Plot Intensive method based on 2′ beds, which is similar to Jeavon’s bio-intensive method. The SPIN farming approach lends itself to many ‘world’ crops.

Mike finished his presentation by noting that many Canadian gardeners and farmers may take years to experiment with new crops, but we can learn from New Canadian farmers, for they will bring some exciting new dimensions to agriculture in Ontario. These farmers from the global South are accustomed to growing and marketing in a different way. They will perhaps be more patient than Canadian farmers – willing to start small, market to friends and neighbours, and expand markets over time.

New Canadians also know how to market within their ethno-cultural community and can reach out from there to other ethno-cultural groups and to mainstream consumers. Mike views it as important to put new recipes and products out there, sharing with Canadians several different culinary customs and reaching new markets.

Iffat Zehra has a unique perspective on the South Asian market demand, as she originally hails from Pakistan and has spent much of her time in Canada working to establish programs for New Canadians at the community level.

Iffat is currently working as Executive Director of the Community Economic Development for Immigrant Women (CEDIW) and is partnering with FarmStart to develop agricultural and food security programs for the South Asian community in Brampton. From this vantage point, Iffat presented on the characteristics of South Asian market demand, and what farmers should consider when growing for these markets.

Iffat began by noting the large diversity in the South Asian community. Bengalis, Punjabis, and people from different regions all eat different things and cook different specialties: knowing these demographic differences is important for developing effective marketing strategies. There is also a strong religious diversity among the South Asian population, which includes Muslim, Hindu, Jain, and Sikh beliefs. This makes for diverse growing and marketing options, as each religious group also has their own priorities and different eating habits, whether it is halal or vegetarian.

Generational and age differences will also effect marketing strategies. Iffat notes that South Asian youth are looking for food that is close to mainstream, but that fits with cultural needs and norms due to pressure from parents. The teenagers want to eat pizza–but halal pizza, vegetarian pizza, or daal pizza! On the other hand, South Asian seniors are looking for bitter gourd and medicinal herbs similar to what is grown in their home countries.

Iffat also points out that women are the most important target demographic when marketing South Asian food. Traditionally, the women are the cooks in the family, and this demographic is interested in accessing South Asian vegetables, flowers, and most importantly, spices. On the other hand, the male customers, particularly the male Muslim population, are big purveyors of halal meat products.

Iffat also pointed out some unique characteristics of the South Asian marketplace. She notes that in Brampton, Mississauga, and on Gerrard Street, you will see an entire market-place: ten specialized grocery stores all along one strip, all catering to Punjabis, Gujurati, and Bengalis. Religious centres also often become marketplaces: mosques and mundir (Hindu temple) parking lots become farmers markets on prayer days.

Iffat ended her presentation with two notes of caution to farmers. One is that farmers need to be sure to get the common names of the produce right to cater to a wide market. An item may have ten different common names for Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati because the languages are all different. Iffat also indicated that finding and identifying the correct seeds to grow is important but can be difficult to find in the Canadian seed market.

Mike Shook is the Program Manager of FarmStart. Mike grew up on a small farm in Pennsylvania where a market garden provided a seasonal input to the family’s modest income. He grew up with farming in his blood, so after university and a brief fling with bright lights and big cities he settled back into the countryside.

Mike has helped design and implement a variety of agricultural projects in both Jamaica and Guyana. He has also worked with the World Bank and UNDP in designing support programs for farm communities in Guyana.

Mike likens the plight of Canadian farmers to that of their counterparts in the developing world: all are struggling with the deleterious effects of Globalization. He feels that farmers need to value their time and develop management tools which help them choose the best farm business options.

With this background, it is no accident that Mike is heading up FarmStart’s project to develop and pilot a farm business planning and management course.

Contact information:
Phone: 519-836-7046 ext. 102
Email: mike@farmstart.ca

Filip Haderer moved to Canada two years ago from Austria. He has worked in the organic retail industry for more than five years, which has given him solid knowledge of the benefits of local, fresh food.

In Filip’s Business Science studies at the University of Vienna, he focused on marketing and logistics. Filip used this acquired knowledge to write his thesis on a competitive strategy for small structured players in the Austrian organic food market.

With his background in retail and marketing, Filip is working with FarmStart’s MarketLink program. He designed and implemented MarketLink’s research into the ethno-cultural food supply chains in Toronto.

Melissa Benner comes from a farm background in South Western Ontario. Watching her family transition from tobacco into growing herbs has given her a sense of the challenges facing new and transitioning farmers.

Alongside her farm experience, Melissa holds a BA in English and Philosophy and an MA in Communications. Her MA research focused on the political activism of Canadian farm women. Working and traveling in Australia, South East Asia, and India has helped Melissa understand the realities of agriculture both overseas and at home. Melissa brings this perspective into her work as MarketLink Coordinator with FarmStart.

Contact Information
Phone: 416-536-1948
Email: melissa@farmstart.ca; melissa@localfoodplus.ca

Patrick Habamenshi holds a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, Senegal, and an MA in Economics from University of Toronto. Patrick recently returned from his native Rwanda, where he worked as a visiting lecturer at the National University and occupied senior positions in Government.

Patrick is an outspoken advocate for minorities’ rights; he also counts agriculture, economic development and food security in his areas of expertise. Currently, Patrick is consulting for the International Federation of Agricultural Development (IFAD) and working with FarmStart and CLAWS to identify the needs of New Canadian farmers.

Contact information:
Phone 519- 836-7046 ext. 105
Email: Patrick@farmstart.ca