FarmStart

Who: AgriCulture and AgriFood Canada wants to hear from Full-Time Farmers  

When/Where: this Thursday the 26^th in Guelph from 6:30 – 8:30 pm

What: Full time farmers are being paid to share their thoughts and provide feedback on several current government programs including Agri-Stability and Agri-Invest. You are invited to attend even if you have not enrolled in these programs.

How much: $100 cash.

Interested? Call to register with Ron Ross at 1-800-798-5060 and he’ll provide the remaining details.

FarmFolk/CityFolk in Vancouver, has just launched FarmFolk/CityFolk Heroes, a 6 minute video homage to 27 sustainable farmers and city growers. Please click here to enjoy the show.

Photography: Brian Harris / Music Liona Boyd.

The NFU Youth will be launching the Campaign for New Farmers during the 40th annual convention of the National Farmers Union which will take place November 26th-28th, 2009 at the Travelodge Hotel and Conference Centre, Ottawa West.

The campaign coordinators are inviting individuals or organizations who are working on all types of new farmer training, educational or mentorship programs to participate by displaying relevant information outside the Centennial Ballroom throughout the duration of the convention.  For more information please contact Kalissa Regier at kjregier@gmail.com or Cammie Harbottle at cammieh@gmail.com.

In addition, the official launch will take place in the Centennial Ballroom on Saturday, November 28th from 10:30-11:30AM.

New Farmer Forum

We are excited to tell you about a great upcoming opportunity for new farmers (of all ages) in east central Ontario. Mark your calendars for SATURDAY NOVEMBER 7 and come to Lindsay for a day-long discussion around training and education needs. Click here for all the details. The day is free (except for a $5 contribution to lunch), so please come and bring all the new farmers you know!!

Here are the steps:
1. Contact Anna at (705) 740-9383 or apetry@kawarthaheritage.org to pre-register ASAP. Registration is LIMITED.
2. Log on to http://tinyurl.com/FarmerTrainingSurvey and complete this survey as soon as you can. It only takes 10 minutes.

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Bring Food Home

FarmStart and the FarmON Alliance have partnered with Sustain Ontario, FoodNet Ontario and other partners to organize BRING FOOD HOME – Connecting Ontario Farm and Food Networks, a provincial conference that will be held at the Kitchener Delta from March 4-6, 2010.

The conference will bring together participants from diverse regions and sectors, including farmers, food enterprises, health promoters, community groups and government organizations. The purpose is to facilitate our learning and working together to create food systems that are healthy, just, accessible, culturally appropriate, financially viable and sustainable.

To date we have confirmed Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm and of Food, Inc. fame as one of several keynote speakers, as well as Martin Gooch from the George Morris Centre who will lead a workshop in Value Chain Management. The FarmON Alliance is planning a whole day of events related to farmer training. It is shaping up to be an exciting conference.

For more information please contact the Program Committee Co-Chair at bringfoodhome@sustainontario.com or 647-348-0235 or visit Bring-food-home-2010-conference for updates.

Daniel Brisebois from Ferme Tourne-Sol, the farm highlighted in the article below, was the keynote speaker at last March’sEcological New Farmers Conference hosted by FarmStart and Everdale Environmental Learning Centre. One of the farmers from Tourne-Sol will hopefully return this winter to run another Crop Planning workshop – we’ll keep you updated!

Please join us in Brampton at FarmStart’s McVean Farm Grand Opening this coming Sunday!

For directions and more information, please check out our Flyer or our website at www.farmstart.ca/McVeanGrandOpening.

We are also still looking for a few more volunteers for the event on Sunday for general help, face-painting, etc. If you would be interested in helping facilitate this event, please email info@farmstart.ca or call Keturah at 519-836-7046 x103.

We are really excited about this opportunity to show you our beautiful urban farm, let you get to know the farmers on our land and share some of the wonderful produce the farmers have been growing this season! Don’t miss this chance to come out to the ground-breaking at McVean farm.

Come rain or shine (preferably shine), we hope to see you there!

The recent explosion of immigrant populations in Ontario has had a tremendous effect on the demand for ethnic foods and produce. Opportunities have become available for farmers to increase their income by becoming involved in the production of ethno-cultural food. If farmers are able to capture this niche marketing opportunity there is great potential for profit in an otherwise highly competitive industry.

When new immigrants arrive in Canada, they seek things that remind them of home. Food is more than a source of energy and nutrients; it is a reflection of cultural values. Market research has shown that there is a shortage of supply for these vegetables owing to a dramatic increase in transportation costs both in North America and internationally. Producers in Ontario should take advantage of this opportunity and provide fresh, high quality vegetables for ethnic residents. This practice will also tie into the local food movement, as farmers will supply a wide variety of produce that is appealing to ethnic consumers.

Please click here to see the full article. This study is led by the University of Guelph with a number of collaborators including FarmStart.

Helping women grow into new businesses
by Tere Dunlap

MONROE – There was a time when rural women often got together to help each other preserve fruit, sew quilts and make soap.
Thursday night, about 20 rural and county-loving people, mostly women, attended the “See Jane Grow” seminar at Kookaburras, a culinary and gourmet food shop locally owned by Laura Winters, on the north side of the Monroe Square.
Dani Gierhart, Brodhead, came to the seminar for more information. She had become unemployed April 4 when Woodbridge Corporation, an auto seat cushion manufacturer in Brodhead, shut down.
“My big dream is to own an Alpaca farm,” she said. “All by myself.” To read the rest of this article, click http://themonroetimes.com/.

Note: There is a growing movement of socially responsible women who combine their love of local food, family, their environment, and community change to run their own farms. In the USA, women entrepreneurs are expanding at twice the national rate. Tired of the corporate recessionary life, women are coming together to share their knowledge and stories of creating their own livelihoods. The article above from rural Wisconsin USA examines this societal trend.  Please click here for a link to the article. *MR *Maya Roy is a contributing editor to Foodforethought.

A New Season at FarmStart

You haven’t heard from us in a while, but not because we’ve been been hibernating. It’s been a season of birth, growth and putting down roots for FarmStart!

First, we’d like to say Congratulations to our Director, Christie Young, who has been on leave the last few months due to the birth of baby Reed.   

FarmStart has finally settled into an office in Guelph, where we’ve been able to welcome new staff members. Our team is moving forward with amazing programs, which we’d love to share with you in this Spring Newsletter. 

You can also check out our hands-on courses and workshops, including “Pasturing Pigs” and “Intro to Tillage” at www.farmstart.ca/workshops/.

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It’s Spring at McVean!

What’s exciting at FarmStart’s incubator project at the historic McVean Farm in Brampton? As it enters its second season of operation, its 5 farmers have multiplied to 13! Seven enterprises are now working … (to finish this article, please click here)

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Looking for Land?  Try Speed Dating

At the heart of the FarmLINK Ontario program is an on-line matchmaker tool to help farmland owners connect with new farmers looking for land. Aware that succession planning requires more than a website, we organized our first live matchmaking workshop ”Lucky in Land?”…  (to finish this article, please click here)

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Launch of the FarmON Alliance

FarmStart is very excited to announce the launch of the FarmON Alliance. FarmON’s mandate is to encourage the development of local food systems through the support of emerging, ecologically-oriented farmers. Regional coordinators will work closely with…  (to finish this article, please click here)   

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Academic Programs in Sustainable Agriculture are Proliferating
The School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences is offering a one-year Sustainable Agriculture Program…  (to finish this article, please click here)  

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FarmStart putting down Roots!
As of Dec. 2008, FarmStart has new roots! We’ve set up an office at the  Orchard Park Office Centre of Ignatius Farm in Guelph. Stop by to meet our new staff…  (to finish this article, please click here) 

TheStar.com writer: KIM HONEY Apr 15, 2009 04:30 AM

Some GTA residents who buy a share in a farm this year will no longer have to sit back and take their kale, or any other vegetable they dislike, for that matter.

More and more Community Shared Agriculture or CSA farms are allowing their customers to “shop” for some or all of the food in their weekly allotment…http://www.thestar.com/living/article/618356

 Local food co-op holds official launch

Posted By FIONA ISAACSON , the Peterborough EXAMINER STAFF WRITER

Article ID# 1502941

The By The Bushel Community Food Co-operative “is a way to grow your growers,” said local grower Paula Anderson at the official launch last night.

The co-operative is made up of growers, consumers and community food organizers, helping bring everyone together to enjoy locally grown food, she said.

For complete article, please go to:  http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1502941

Growing Organic Agriculture

Just yesterday, the McGuinty government pledged $24 million over the next three years to have provincial institutions buy and serve more locally grown foods.  http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/04/06/ontario-food.html?ref=rss The trouble is that organizations like Local Food Plus are already having trouble finding an adequate supply of local, sustainable food to meet the demand of the few institutional buyers that are already on board.  The real push now needs to be on making sure that there are enough farmers ready to meet the growing demand for local food.

While much of Ontario’s farmland is used to grow commodity crops that neither feed the people of Ontario nor provide adequate income for farmers and their families, the University continues to pump out agriculture graduates who have no interest in growing food.

The University of Guelph Major in Organic Agriculture offers a glimmer of hope to future farmers and researchers who are not willing to accept the notion that agriculture is dead.  There are exciting opportunities in agriculture today.  There are organic farmers who are making a living providing Ontario with nourishing food; we owe it to ourselves, our children and our communities to support their work.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope to see you this afternoon!

Guelph Mercury Article

Women’s studies and organic agriculture among those eliminated

March 31, 2009  The University of Guelph’s women’s studies program and the organic agriculture major, two programs that aroused the most outcry from the student body, have been eliminated.The senate board of undergraduate studies made the decision yesterday. For remainder of article, please visit http://news.guelphmercury.com/article/460102.

Shelburne Farm is a world leader in Farm Education!

Shelburne Farms

The ABC’S of Farm Education

If you want to learn more about the ins and outs of making school groups part of your farm plan, you should consider coming to this workshop.

DATES: April 3rd and 4th

PLACE: Everdale Farm: Hillsburgh, Ontario

To register contact: karen@everdale.org or 519-855-4859 x105

Join Shelburne Farms and Everdale Farm educators for two days of fun farm education! We will share exciting, hands-on ways to develop education programs for school groups and guests on your farm with easy-to-use activities from Project SEASONS.

Take these lessons, songs, exhibit ideas, and more back home and see how fun your farm can be for visitors. Whatever your farming background and whatever your farm, this workshop is for you! Discussion topics include marketing your farm program to schools and the community, creating a safe farm environment for the public, and meeting teachers’ needs.

Project SEASONS is a collection of seasonal, interdisciplinary activities and teaching ideas developed by teachers for the pre-K and elementary school classroom. Investigation and hands-on activities help students discover the agricultural and ecological world around them.

Project Seasons

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Exploring the New Farm Dream course

April – June 2009, Guelph, $100

4 Thursday evenings & 3 Saturday farm tours

Thinking about starting your own farm business? Want to learn more about the opportunities and realities of farming? This is the course for you! 

To learn more about the course and to register visit 

HYPERLINK: http://www.farmstart.ca/exploring-the-new-farm-dream

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Ali English at

 HYPERLINK: ali@farmstart.ca or (519) 836 7046 ext 104

April 8^th, Guelph, 6pm – 9pm, free

Do you have land you want to make available to a new farmer? Or are you a new farmer looking for land? Come join us for an evening of matchmaking and information sharing!

This workshop will be held at the Bookshop’s eBar on 41 Quebec St in downtown Guelph. You’ll find a map and directions here. 

To learn more about the workshop and to register visit  HYPERLINK “http://www.farmstart.ca/workshops”

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Ali English at

 HYPERLINK:  ali@farmstart.ca or (519) 836 7046 ext 104

Crop Planning and Starting Seedlings for Beginning Market Gardeners

February 14th, 10am – 4pm, Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, $25

Join Leslie Moskovits, 3 year CSA farmer, who will introduce some tips on how to plan your market garden – from deciding what to grow to scheduling your plantings and more!

For more information on this workshop, and to register, visit www.farmstart.ca/workshops

Ecological New Farmers Conference: New Growers, New Ideas

There’s big news in farming these days! The Ecological New Farmers Conference is a one day event for new or aspiring farmers. On Sunday March 8th, come hear the stories of new farmers and learn from experienced growers. Workshops will be offered on a variety of topics including crop planning for market gardens, raising mixed livestock, urban agriculture, regulations affecting small-scale producers, and cooperative farming models. There will be 2 streams of workshops designed to suit committed new farmers & those who are just starting to explore the possibilities. Held at the Toronto Botanical Gardens. Earlybird registration just $40.

To register or for more information visit www.everdale.org/newfarmersconference
Contact conference coordinator, Angie Koch, at newfarmersconference@farmstart.ca or 519-569-8690

Ready to Farm? Planning your New Farm Business is a two-day workshop for aspiring farmers who want to launch a new farm business.

In addition to introducing participants to the valuable Small Farm Planner workbook, the workshop will also include a presentation by new farmer Angie Koch describing her first year of running a 2-acre market garden; a discussion on small farm regulations by experienced farmer Ann Slater; and an introduction to the programs and services that OMAFRA has available for new farmers. 

Workshop Schedule

Session #1: Saturday January 17^th 2009, 12:30pm – 4:30pm

Session #2: Saturday January 31^st 2009, 10am – 4pm

For more information and to register for the workshop, please visit FarmStart’s website or contact our workshop facilitator, Ali English (aliATfarmstartDOTca).

Kawartha Heritage Conservancy, Ontario Farmland Trust, and FarmStart are pleased to announce the launch of FarmLINK Ontario, a web-based initiative to connect new farmers with land, mentorship opportunities and resources of all kinds.

At the heart of our website is a Matchmaker tool, which brings together new farmers who are looking for land and/or mentorship with farm owners who have land available and/or expertise to share. Visit www.farmlinkontario.ca to create an account and a farm listing or farm seeker profile. You can already search through lists of available farm opportunities and the profiles of farmers looking for land! If you have any questions about using FarmLINK’s on-line MatchMaker tool, please contact Ali English at farmlink@farmstart.ca or at (519) 836 7046 ext 104, who will help you access this program over the phone.

Over the next year, FarmLINK Ontario will also grow to include an online resource collection for new farmers, established farmers, and all farmland owners. So it’s a great time to send in your comments and ideas for us to consider as we work to make FarmLINK as useful as possible. You’ll find a feedback form on the website, or call (519) 836 7046 ext 104.

We’re grateful for your interest in FarmLINK and for your patience in waiting for the site to be up and running.

The FarmStart Feast and fundraiser was a huge success – with over 200 people coming out for a magnificent supper.  Click here to see some of the photos taken by Laura Berman.

We want to thank all the farmers, chefs and volunteers who put together such a beautiful meal and wonderful evening, as well as all those who came out to support FarmStart and a new generation of farmers! 

An especially huge THANK YOU to Matchbox Garden farmers, Hannah, Adrian and Eric, and to Cross Town Kitchens, who brought this wonderful evening to life and fed us all.

All proceeds from this fundraiser will go towards improving the facilities at the McVean incubator farm so that we can accommodate more new farmers. 

Sincerely, 
Christie Young, FarmStart Director

The urban farmer’s almanac

Diane Peters, National Post
October 24th, 2008

The backyard of this downtown Toronto row house looks like many, with a small patio and a rectangular lawn adorned by perennials along the border. But at the far end of the yard is the not-so-regular sight of a fenced-in wooden chicken coop.

Red, Ramona and Daisy, three 18-month-old hens, spend their nights in the enclosure and their days nibbling and digging in the yard. They eat a mixture of chicken feed, grass and kitchen scraps (the house’s green bin goes out nearly empty) and provide their owners Chris and Cara (who asked that their last names not be used) with three humongous brown eggs almost every day. His hens utter the occasional cluck, but their poop fertilizes the lawn and the neighbours, far from offended, show up at Chris and Cara’s front door with empty cartons.

“There’s really nothing to it,” Chris says as he eats his fried egg sandwich for breakfast. “You wouldn’t believe how good the eggs are.”

So why isn’t everyone living this locavore dream of having organic, free-range eggs for nearly nothing, right from their own backyard? Well, for one thing, it’s illegal.

Continue reading…

Diverse harvest for budding farmers

Immigrants learn basics of growing crops here; others benefit with fresh callaloo, okra, garlic

Nicole Baute, TORONTO STAR
Oct 13, 2008 

Anan Lololi shows off rows of callaloo growing in a Brampton field. The plants are closely shorn, with leaves that look like spinach, but bigger.

“They call it pigweed … but it is one of the most popular foods in the Caribbean,” Lololi says, still incredulous at the inglorious name after living in Canada for almost 30 years.

Lololi, who is originally from Guyana, likes to sauté his callaloo in garlic and olive oil.

“There definitely is a market for it, you know? We’re importing callaloo from Jamaica and the Philippines and it grows wild here.”

Callaloo is just one of the crops being grown by the non-profit Afri-Can FoodBasket and other groups at the McVean Farm. The new 35-acre incubator farm is owned by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and rented to a Guelph-based not-for-profit organization called FarmStart, which teaches new farmers the agricultural basics and rents them land and equipment at steep discounts

Continue reading…  

The Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario and Everdale present:

Pastured Poultry with Ruth Knight, who has successfully raised pastured poultry at her farm in Clifford, Ontario for over 7 years.

Saturday, October 18, 2008 10:00am – 4:00pm
Everdale Environmental Learning Centre, Hillsburgh, ON

This workshop will offer an overview of different pastured poultry techniques from feeding, housing, fencing, watering, and predator protection. You will also learn about the current rules and regulations regarding pastured poultry and how to stay up to date on those issues.

FEE: $85 – $65 for EFAO members and Farmers Growing Farmers

To register click here

For directions to Everdale click here

Business Planning for Today’s Farm

Start-Ups

Kate Hayes from the New England Small Farm

Institute (NESFI) talks about her pioneering work in

supporting farm business planning for new farmers.

 Thursday Oct 2nd

9:30am – 11:30am

Ramada Inn – Pine Tree Hall (Conference Centre)

716 Gordon Street, Guelph, ON

 Admission free 

Come enjoy a wonderful meal featuring local Ontario harvest from the new farmers at FarmStart’s McVean incubator farm facility!

Click here to download the following flyer 

Workshop aims to help those new to farming

New farmers looking to ease themselves into the business will be able to take advantage of a specialized workshop debuting in Ontario later this year.

Continue reading… 

FarmStart is very happy to announce a brand new learning opportunity for future farmers: Exploring the New Farm Dream, a course for people who are thinking about starting a farm.

Developed by the New England Small Farm Institute, the Explorer course helps aspiring farmers learn what it would take to start and mange their own agricultural enterprises, and decide whether this the right path for them.

The Explorer course takes a learner-centred approach to exploring agriculture as a career.  Participants in the course will be guided through an in depth self-assessment process, focusing on the specific aptitudes, interests, skills and resources that they can bring to their new farm businesses.  They will receive support through the process of researching opportunities in agriculture.  And they will have the chance to meet other serious gardeners, farm enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs who are also asking themselves, “is farming right for me?”

The course will take place over four Thursday night sessions at the Multicultural Inter-Agency Group of Peel (MIAG), in Mississauga.  It will also include two Saturday daytrips to innovative local farms.

If you dream of starting a farm but are not sure where to start,  Exploring the New Farm Dream is the ideal learning and networking opportunity for you!  Register quickly, as we expect the course to fill up soon.

- Follow organic production rules and certify your farm organic as rapidly as possible.

- Pursue rental or barter agreements for land but protect yourself with legal leases or contracts.

- Find a way to live on the farm or very close by.

- Get to know your neighbours; they can rapidly become strong supporters and powerful allies.

- Keep lots and lots of records during the growing season, aka learning from your successes and mistakes.

- Aim for exceptional quality and freshness in all your products.

- Learn to live simply, thus avoiding need for off-farm income in establishment years.

- If you’re building a greenhouse or walk-in fridge (cold room) build as large as you can afford at the time – you’ll grow into it.

DON’T:

- Target markets at great distance or offer home delivery – farm tasks can’t get done if you’re stuck in traffic.

- Take the first land opportunity you find unless you know it’s ideal. Shop around and learn about soils, communities, resources, etc. before committing to put down roots.

- Enter into binding working partnerships with people you’ve never worked with before.

- Work 80-plus hours per week unless that is what you really want.

- Let weeds get ahead of you or produce seed.

- Spend a whole lot of money on a tractor, new or used, until you know what you really need.

- Take on debt or an off-farm job to service debt.

- Undercut other farmers’ prices at market.

Local beets hard to beat

July 23 2008
Pamela Cuthbert
special to the star

Clutching bunches of just-picked heritage beets at her Sorauren Park stall on a sunny afternoon, Matchbox Garden & Seed Co. founder Hanna Jacobs, a trained chef, explains the prime motive behind her start as an urban farmer. In 2006, as a new mother, Jacobs set up a retail herb garden in the heart of hip Queen St. W. Customers were invited to stroll through the small backyard patch and order a bunch of chives, mint, basil – whatever took their fancy. Then Jacobs, the daughter of a horse farmer in Maple, Ont., would pull out the snips. Talk about fresh.

Today she has two business partners, one acre of cultivated land in Brampton, five urban plots and “more beets than I know what to do with.”

Continue reading….

Canada’s World, the Evergreen Foundation, Engineers Without Border and the Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation invite you to a

Food for Talk

OUR ROLE IN THE INTERNATIONAL FOOD CHAIN

The price of rice has risen by as much as 70% over the last year.

Why? And what does that mean for Canada and the rest of the world?

Rising populations, trade and climate change have sent food prices

soaring across the globe. These factors have recently prompted the

United Nations to declare a world food “crisis”. Join us for a public

dialogue bringing together youth, senior and local community members

with representatives from business, government and NGOs. Hear from

expert guest speakers and have your say.

TUESDAY JULY 29, 2008

Great Hall, University of Toronto

7 Hart House Circle, Toronto

9:00 am – 4:30 pm

(Registration begins at 9:00)

Lunch will be provided

This dialogue is free, but registration is required.  Register by emailing jameshaga@ewb.ca.  Include your full name, phone number and dietary restrictions.  Or call 416-642-9145 ext.237 to leave a message.

For more information Canada’s World, visit www.canadasworld.ca

Click on the front page (below) to download the entire newsletter.

Update: The workshop will take place at the McVean Incubator Farm in Brampton.

The farm is located on the West side of McVean Dr,, between Queen St. E and Castlemore Rd.  A map is available here.

The New York Times follows its March profile of young, hipster farmers with an article on second-career farmers abandoning high profile careers for a future in sustainable agriculture.

“In recent years, as the local food movement has grown and farmers’ markets have proliferated, a new breed of back-to-the-landers has emerged. Some, like their predecessors in the 1960s and ’70s, are earnest, college-educated young people, turning their backs on professional career paths in favor of a life of hardscrabble idealism. But many others, homesteaders in their 40s and 50s, have already enjoyed the perks of professional life, and may even have made a fortune, or at least a comfortable nest egg.”

Continue reading…

Welcome to the June edition of the FarmStart Newsletter!

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Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture
by John E. Ikerd

From CBC’s The Sunday Edition, May 4, 2008:

Here’s one picture of a farmer: tough, weatherbeaten, pitchfork in hand, a bit grim, proud member of a vanishing breed. Here’s another picture of a farmer: Thirty years old, five foot two, fresh-faced, female, city-bred. Meet Tarrah Young, proud and very determined member of a NEW breed. Tarrah – and people like her – are real risk takers. They’re not starry-eyed back-to-the landers, and they know know what they’re up against. Across Canada, the number of farmers under thirty-five has declined by more than 50% in the last ten years. For those who want to loosen the grip of the agribusiness giants, to spurn cheap pesticide-laden imports, and to eat local – this is really bad news. And we all have enough of that! So venture out with a few of agriculture’s young pioneers. Frank Faulk’s documentary is called “Down to Earth”

Click on the M4A icon below to listen to “Down to Earth”.

 

 'Down to Earth' Documentary: Play Now | Download

FarmStart and our partner, Farmers Growing Farmers, are planning to host a series of workshops and farm tours through the summer and fall of 2008, and we’d like your input on their content! As a future farmer, new farmer, or transitioning farmer, what skills are you looking to develop? Please fill out our new survey and let us know! Your feedback keeps our programs responsive and strong.

The survey closes June 13th, so please be sure to complete it soon!

ON Organic is shaping up to be a useful, informative publication for organic farmers! The latest edition shares 2006 StatsCan figures on the changing face of agriculture in Ontario and the steep increase in organic production since 2001. It provides an article on smart marketing for organic producers, and features links to resources on the benefits of good soil management, pasture management tips, and options for emergency wind control, among other topics.

Click here to open the newsletter as a pdf

FOOD in the CITY

hosted by
NEXT GENERATION

DATE: Tuesday, May 20
TIME: 7 – 9pm
PLACE: Ralph Thornton Centre
765 Queen Street E.

2 blocks east of Broadview on south
side of Queen St. Room location will be
posted at the elevator.

FARMING FOR PROFIT and URBAN AGRICULTURE

presenters include:

CANADIAN ORGANIC GROWERS
Tanmayo Krupanski
http://www.cog.ca/index.htm

THE STOP COMMUNITY FOOD CENTRE
Rhonda Teitel-Payne
http://www.thestop.org

MATCH BOX GARDEN
http://matchboxgarden.ca

PLUS: A short documentary film on cities producing food locally.

nextgeneration06@gmail.com

http://the-next-generation.org/

Welcome to the May edition of the FarmStart Newsletter!

Spring has finally arrived at FarmStart’s Brampton and Guelph farm facilities! Many of our new farmers have seedlings on the go, ready for transplant in the coming weeks. Readying our Brampton facility to welcome these operations has proven an exciting, challenging process. Program Manager Mike Shook and McVean Farm Manager Carlton Allen have devoted countless hours this past month to turning McVean Farm from a heritage site into a working farm. Finally, as the signs of spring add up and the land grows ready for planting, Mike and Carlton can breathe a sigh of relief that irrigation, sanitation, shared equipment, and marketing opportunities are all in place for the season.

Although the McVean farm still looks a little bare from the road, it will soon be a hive of activity. We have just purchased a small, portable office for the facility, where Carlton will take up daily residence in the coming weeks. Working from an office on-site will allow Carlton to provide mentorship and support to our new farmers; he will also be kept busy setting up our world crop research trials. Stay tuned for progress reports on our okra, bitter melon, scotch bonnet peppers, Caribbean pumpkin, and other exciting varieties as the season moves along.

Eager to witness some of this exciting work? We’re happy to announce that plans for an open house at the McVean farm are underway! We’ll be sure to let you know once we’ve fixed a date.

Please read on to learn more about our recent activities and upcoming events.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in receiving this Newsletter, please pass it along. Anyone can sign up at http://www.farmstart.ca/signup/

Best regards,

Christie

FarmStart Director

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Incubator Farmers on the Web!

Wondering how you can keep up on our new farmers’ progress? Curious about where you can purchase the fruits of their labour? Check out our new farmers’ websites!

Beet Street CSA’s colourful new website explains the ins and outs of Community Supported Agriculture, and shares the story behind Carolyn and Rachel’s exciting new operation. Live in the GTA? Interested in receiving a weekly box of gorgeous, fresh, locally-grown veggies delivered to your front door? Visit www.beetstreetcsa.ca to find out how to join.

Matchbox Garden Inc.’s lovely new blog shares regular updates on the Matchbox farmers’ adventures in urban gardening in Toronto and near-urban farming at the McVean Incubator Farm. Matchbox will be selling their rare and heirloom variety seedlings, herbs, and vegetables at two Toronto farmers’ markets (Trinity Bellwoods and Sorauren) and the Brampton Farmers’ Market throughout the summer. Visit www.matchboxgarden.ca for more information.

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FarmStart’s Ready to Farm? Business Development Course graduates ten future farmers!

Farm business course participants visit Greenfields Organic Farm

The Spring 2008 Ready to Farm? Business Development Course concluded last Tuesday night with a celebratory supper of local delicacies. Ten future farmers – Alvin, Jason M., Jason H., Miguel, Valeria, Graham, Jake, Cheng, Tim and Jennifer – stuck it out through our intensive, nine-session course on farm business planning, co-facilitated by David Cohlmeyer of Cookstown Greens and our own Training and Resource Coordinator, Sophie Llewelyn. The course guided participants through a process of identifying values, visions, and goals, through developing production, marketing, and financial plans, to building a business plan that new farmers can take to the bank. A series of workshops and farm tours anchored the theoretical stuff of our regular course sessions in the practical day-to-day considerations of planning and running a farm.

Continue reading…

Check out our newswire for updates on future learning opportunities.

——

Featured Resource:

The role of copper‐ and sulfur‐based fungicides in organic vegetable production
By Ahmed Bilal, World Crop Agronomist

Curious about the role of copper- and sulfur-based fungicides in organic vegetable production? Agronomist Ahmed Bilal has your answer! As Ahmed points out in his first technical brief for FarmStart, copper- and sulfur-based fungicides are inexpensive, widely available, and have long been used to prevent the onset of a range of diseases. Follow the link below to learn more about the use of these chemicals as part of an integrated plant management system.

Continue reading…

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Upcoming Events:

FarmStart’s Director, Christie Young will be speaking at the Imagining Sustainable Food Systems Conference, Wilfred Laurier, May 7-9.

You can also look for Christie at the upcoming Canadian Farm Business Advisor Association’s Wellington County meeting, where she’ll be speaking on May 15.

Check out our newswire for updated event listings.

——

Featured books:

Farming in the Dark: A Discussion About the Future of Sustainable Agriculture
..Rhonda R. Janke
..University Readers

.
.
.

Chicken Coops: 45 Building Plans for Housing Your Flock
Judy Pangman
Storey Publishing

.
.
.

Visit the FarmStart bookstore to view other essential titles in sustainable agriculture!

If you’re curious about Community Supported Agriculture, you won’t want to miss Rachel and Carolyn’s talk at Toronto’s Pape Public Library this week. The Beet Street team will be discussing CSA’s and their contributions to healthy rural economies. They’ll also be accepting new members for their own CSA. Beet Street’s shares are sure to sell out soon, so Toronto residents would be well advised to drop by the library on Wednesday night, meet the farmers, and sign up for a season of gorgeous, fresh veggies!
.

Wednesday, May 14

6:30 – 8:00 pm

Presented by: Canadian Organic Growers (COG)

With: Rachel Climenhaga and Carolyn Bailey, BeetStreet CSA,

and Phil Anderson,COG member and farmer in Stouffville

Location: Pape Public Library, 701 Pape Ave (Danforth and Pape)

Cost: COG members free; non-members $5

Welcome to the May edition of the FarmStart Newsletter!

Spring has finally arrived at FarmStart’s Brampton and Guelph farm facilities! Many of our new farmers have seedlings on the go, ready for transplant in the coming weeks. Readying our Brampton facility to welcome these operations has proven an exciting, challenging process. Program Manager Mike Shook and McVean Farm Manager Carlton Allen have devoted countless hours this past month to turning McVean Farm from a heritage site into a working farm. Finally, as the signs of spring add up and the land grows ready for planting, Mike and Carlton can breathe a sigh of relief that irrigation, sanitation, shared equipment, and marketing opportunities are all in place for the season.

Although the McVean farm still looks a little bare from the road, it will soon be a hive of activity. We have just purchased a small, portable office for the facility, where Carlton will take up daily residence in the coming weeks. Working from an office on-site will allow Carlton to provide mentorship and support to our new farmers; he will also be kept busy setting up our world crop research trials. Stay tuned for progress reports on our okra, bitter melon, scotch bonnet peppers, Caribbean pumpkin, and other exciting varieties as the season moves along.

Eager to witness some of this exciting work? We’re happy to announce that plans for an open house at the McVean farm are underway! We’ll be sure to let you know once we’ve fixed a date.

Please read on to learn more about our recent activities and upcoming events.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in receiving this Newsletter, please pass it along. Anyone can sign up at http://www.farmstart.ca/signup/

Best regards,

Christie

FarmStart Director

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Incubator Farmers on the Web!

Wondering how you can keep up on our new farmers’ progress? Curious about where you can purchase the fruits of their labour? Check out our new farmers’ websites!

Beet Street CSA’s colourful new website explains the ins and outs of Community Supported Agriculture, and shares the story behind Carolyn and Rachel’s exciting new operation. Live in the GTA? Interested in receiving a weekly box of gorgeous, fresh, locally-grown veggies delivered to your front door? Visit www.beetstreetcsa.ca to find out how to join.

Matchbox Garden Inc.’s lovely new blog shares regular updates on the Matchbox farmers’ adventures in urban gardening in Toronto and near-urban farming at the McVean Incubator Farm. Matchbox will be selling their rare and heirloom variety seedlings, herbs, and vegetables at two Toronto farmers’ markets (Trinity Bellwoods and Sorauren) and the Brampton Farmers’ Market throughout the summer. Visit www.matchboxgarden.ca for more information.

——

FarmStart’s Ready to Farm? Business Development Course graduates ten future farmers!

Farm business course participants visit Greenfields Organic Farm

The Spring 2008 Ready to Farm? Business Development Course concluded last Tuesday night with a celebratory supper of local delicacies. Ten future farmers – Alvin, Jason M., Jason H., Miguel, Valeria, Graham, Jake, Cheng, Tim and Jennifer – stuck it out through our intensive, nine-session course on farm business planning, co-facilitated by David Cohlmeyer of Cookstown Greens and our own Training and Resource Coordinator, Sophie Llewelyn. The course guided participants through a process of identifying values, visions, and goals, through developing production, marketing, and financial plans, to building a business plan that new farmers can take to the bank. A series of workshops and farm tours anchored the theoretical stuff of our regular course sessions in the practical day-to-day considerations of planning and running a farm.

Continue reading…

Check out our newswire for updates on future learning opportunities.

——

Featured Resource:

The role of copper‐ and sulfur‐based fungicides in organic vegetable production
By Ahmed Bilal, World Crop Agronomist

Curious about the role of copper- and sulfur-based fungicides in organic vegetable production? Agronomist Ahmed Bilal has your answer! As Ahmed points out in his first technical brief for FarmStart, copper- and sulfur-based fungicides are inexpensive, widely available, and have long been used to prevent the onset of a range of diseases. Follow the link below to learn more about the use of these chemicals as part of an integrated plant management system.

Continue reading…

——

Upcoming Events:

FarmStart’s Director, Christie Young will be speaking at the Imagining Sustainable Food Systems Conference, Wilfred Laurier, May 7-9.

You can also look for Christie at the upcoming Canadian Farm Business Advisor Association’s Wellington County meeting, where she’ll be speaking on May 15.

Check out our newswire for updated event listings.

——

Featured books:

Farming in the Dark: A Discussion About the Future of Sustainable Agriculture
..Rhonda R. Janke
..University Readers

.
.
.

Chicken Coops: 45 Building Plans for Housing Your Flock
Judy Pangman
Storey Publishing

.
.
.

Visit the FarmStart bookstore to view other essential titles in sustainable agriculture!

Course participants check out the wild boars at Smiling Goat Farm

The Spring 2008 Ready to Farm? Business Development Course concluded last Tuesday night with a celebratory supper of local delicacies. Ten future farmers – Alvin, Jason M., Jason H., Miguel, Valeria, Graham, Jake, Cheng, Tim and Jennifer – stuck it out through our intensive, nine-session course on farm business planning, co-facilitated by David Cohlmeyer of Cookstown Greens and our own Training and Resource Coordinator, Sophie Llewelyn. The course guided participants through a process of identifying values, visions, and goals, through developing production, marketing, and financial plans, to building a business plan that new farmers can take to the bank. A series of workshops and farm tours anchored the theoretical stuff of our regular course sessions in the practical day-to-day considerations of planning and running a farm.

Participants graduated from the course with plans to start a hog operation, an organic Asian mushroom farm, an organic vegetable farm and processing operation, a greenhouse and agritourism enterprise, and a small-scale intensive mixed farm and art studio/store. Congratulations to all our of our future farmers!

We’d also like to extend a hearty thanks to the organizations and farms whose collaborative efforts made our course a success: the EFAO OMAFRA, ECOCERT, Farmers Growing Farmers, Greenfields Organic Farm, Smiling Goat Farm, Best Baa Farm, and of course Cookstown Greens.

OMAFRA has recently released a new newsletter, written with the organic producer in mind.  ON Organic features articles relevant to organic producers, prepared by OMAFRA staff and University of Guelph researchers. It also offers links to resources on organic production, marketing and financial planning, information about funding opportunities for organic farmers and more.

Click on the image to download the entire newsletter as a pdf

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The Ontario Farmland Trust has recently announced the topic for their 2008 Farmland Preservation Forum:

Land for the Next Generation of Ontario Farmers

April 17, 2008
8:30am-4:30pm
Arboretum Centre
University of Guelph

The forum will bring together a network of actors from the farm community, the nonprofit sector, and government to address the issue of access to land for new farmers in Ontario. The day will start with a discussion panel featuring three speakers whose innovative work has helped to extend access to land for new farmers in the US and Canada. Participants in the forum will devote the rest of the day to building a strategic means of working collaboratively to address this critical issue. The recommendations that result from this process will be presented to policy makers at a separate event on the morning of April 18th.

For further information and to register, please visit The Ontario Farmland Trust.

Sally and Hybie in their Toronto backyard coop. They supply a family of four with eggs year-round.

By Carolyn Young
carolyn.cay@gmail.com

From Greensboro, North Carolina to Anarbor, Michigan, to Vancouver, BC, the practice of raising urban chickens for eggs ruffles more than a few feathers. Even in a town of 6000 such as Chester, South Carolina, individual poultry proprietors are prohibited from raising urban chickens by city ordinances and bylaws. In response to the widespread ban on chickens in the city, urban farmers across North America are pushing for change.

Toronto and its surrounding municipalities are part of a majority of cities that uphold bans on urban livestock. GTA residents are permitted to raise up to six rabbits or pigeons in their back yards, but are otherwise prohibited from keeping animals other than traditional pets. Only the Toronto Zoo, High Park, Riverdale farm, Black Creek Pioneer Village, and the GTA’s ever-diminishing agriculturally-zoned land are exempt from this regulation.

Brampton, a small city in the GTA with a rich agricultural heritage, is one of the few Canadian exceptions to the rule. There, the rule states that two chickens (or rabbits, pigeons, or game fowl) can be kept “on the premises of or in the dwelling unit located on registered plan of subdivision or a built up urban area,” provided that the coop is well-maintained and set back from any dwelling by eight meters. The by-law also stipulates that feed be stored in a rodent-proof container and that chicken waste be buried so as to prevent odour. Members of the Brampton and Peel County Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock Association must meet the same requirements with respect to coop maintenance, location and waste disposal, but may keep “any number of rabbits, game fowl or domestic fowl”.

Brampton is not alone in its more enlightened regulatory approach to backyard flocks. A precedent has also been set by some big US cities such as Des Moines, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Seattle, Omaha, and Redwood, California, which all allow chickens to be raised within city limits. Most place a limit on the number of hens that can be kept by a single-family household, and regulate their distance from the neighbours’ property line. Most do not allow roosters. Seattle has even changed the status of miniature goats from farm animals to small animals, thus allowing them within city limits.

While the battle for birds is being waged on a political level, many poultry promoters are challenging bylaws by keeping their roosts below the radar. One Torontonian keeps chickens in her backyard throughout the winter.

“The chickens are outside during the day and go into the little coop at night. It is amazing how their feathers have filled out in response to the weather,” says Susan, an urban egg enthusiast.

Her small coop is one of many models available commercially through various online companies such as the Eglu from Omlet. While Susan may not be supported by Toronto City Council, she can find support through online blogs, websites, and even a facebook group, which help urban chicken and livestock activists to share tips on policy change, coop cleaning and chick rearing.

Although domesticated livestock were an integral part of the cityscape into the last century, with industrialization and urbanization the distance between field to table has grown. However, with the resurgence of interest in ‘local food’, urban chicken coops could be the next frontier on the journey to a sustainable local food system.

Urban Chicken Websites:

www.ChickenKeeping.com

The City Chicken: Home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken

FeatherSite: www.FeatherSite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html

Backyard Chickens: www.BackyardChickens.com

Biosecurity for the Birds: www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/birdbiosecurity/

Mother Earth www.MotherEarthNews.com/eggs

The Omelet http://myurbanchickens.blogspot.com/

Coop Sales:

www.Henspa.com

www.MyPetChicken.com

www.Omlet.us

www.WineCountryCoops.com

The Metcalf Foundation recently commissioned a paper on local sustainable food in Southern Ontario. This paper aims to contribute to a broader understanding of food system dynamics in this province, and is intended as a backdrop for discussions on how Ontario could move toward a truly local sustainable food system through collaboration and the identification of key leverage points for food system change.

OMAFRA’s Policy Capacity Secretariat is hosting a presentation of the report’s key findings by Ruth Richardson from the Metcalf Foundation. This will be followed by a panel discussion in response to the report. There will be ample opportunity for dialogue between the audience and the panellists.

Eating breakfast toast: a simple ritual to start the day. The bread probably came from a bakery or grocery store, but beyond that who knows where the wheat came from – never mind the seeds that grew the wheat. Do we need to know? A new documentary, “Hijacked Future” says yes, because those seeds that became the toast you ate this morning are being hijacked – right into a looming world food security catastrophe.

While our industrial system of agriculture is providing abundance and variety today, this Global Currents documentary warns us that it’s an unsustainable system that will not be able to nourish and provide for us and our grandchildren in the future. It’s a system that literally runs on oil, from fertilizers and pesticides, to the trucks and planes that transport food. And the source of our food – seeds – is being hijacked by a handful of corporations from the farmers who have for millennia, grown and saved them.

The documentary looks at the increasingly fragile base of our North American industrial food system in order to bring all of us consumers of food to a better understanding of just what’s at stake with our daily bread. It asks us to question the wisdom of a system precariously based on oil and corporate seeds while we’re at the same time witnessing the impact of climate change.

Read more…

Leaving Behind the Trucker Hat
By ALLEN SALKIN

Young urbanites, learning that dirt can also be soil, are using their overalls as originally intended.

Who will help raise Canada’s food? Why not you?

John Steinman, host of the Kootenay Co-op Radio program Deconstructing Dinner, turned his attention last week to the challenges and opportunities facing new organic farmers. Steinman travelled to Sidney, B.C. in March 2008 to attend the annual conference of the Certified Organic Associations of British Columbia (COABC). On this broadcast, we listen in on one workshop titled, “Starting Your Organic Farm.”

Click here to listen to Deconstructing Dinner, via The Tyee.

The McVean Farm will soon support four new farm enterprises

FarmStart is all about new farmers getting started on the land, so we are very excited to welcome a new group of incubator farmers for 2008. This season will see six new farmers working at our farm facilities: two at the Ignatius Incubator Farm near Guelph, and four at the McVean Farm, our new research and training farm in Brampton. This brings the total number of new farmers working the land this year to eight, including two farmers continuing farm operations started in 2007.

Follow this link to read on

	Switch grass, a high-yielding native grass adapted to much of the U.S., is one of the main feedstocks being considered for cellulosic ethanol

The US organization, SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education), has recently released an excellent new 20-page bulletin: Clean Energy Farming: Cutting Costs, Improving Efficiencies, Harnessing Renewables. The bulletin is available for free download from SARE’s website. It features innovative SARE-funded research and examples of farmers who are improving energy efficiency while saving money, by implementing farming practices that both save energy and protect natural resources, and by producing and using renewable fuels.

While the examples used are from the US, Canadian farmers can also benefit from SARE’s research and recommendations.

For further information about SARE’s initiatives in this area, please visit their website.

About the Series:

Sowing Seeds, Reaping Profit is a series of seven case studies featuring innovative Ontario farmers with non-traditional backgrounds. It shares practical production tips, innovative marketing approaches and creative ways to successfully negotiate the myriad challenges that new farmers face in their start-up years and beyond.

Elizabeth Bzikot – Best Baa Farm and Ewenity Dairy Co-op

Linda Crago – Tree and Twig Heirloom Vegetable Farm

Caitlin Hall – Reroot Organic CSA

Shin Kang – Skyland Farms

Linda Laepple – Laepple Organic Farm

Achim Mohssen-Beyk – Reachview Farm and Quinte Organic Farmers Co-op

Ute Zell – Smiling Goat Farm

View all seven profiles at our Ready to Farm? resource site.

FarmStart Program Coordinator, Patrick Habamenshi, will be spending a lot of time at the CBC over the coming week. Patrick has an interview, a panel discussion, and a town hall speaking engagement scheduled over the next few days. Friends of FarmStart can tune in on Thursday and Friday at the following times to hear Patrick speak on the topic of diversity.

Thursday March 6^th 2008:

• CBC Radio Canada 7:30 am (French): “Il y a pas deux matins pareils”; SUJET: la diversité torontoise et ces défis.

• CBC Radio One, 7:30 pm: Town Hall on diversity with Andy Barrie. The event will be held at the Glenn Gould Studio, CBC Broadcastng Centre, 250 Front St. West. The event will begin at 7:30, doors open at 6:45. Other panelists will include:
  • Uzma Shakir, community activist, recently named Economic Justice Fellow by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation.
  • Raheel Raza, writer and diversity consultant and interfaith advocate.

Friday March 7^th 2008:

• Téléjournal de 18h00 (French); Other guests : Marc Lesage (sociologist) and Mohamed Boudjenan (director Fédération Canado-Arabe).

About the Series:

Sowing Seeds, Reaping Profit is a series of seven case studies featuring innovative Ontario farmers with non-traditional backgrounds. It shares practical production tips, innovative marketing approaches and creative ways to successfully negotiate the myriad challenges that new farmers face in their start-up years and beyond.

Ute Zell – Smiling Goat Farm

“I am an herbalist. And I wanted to grow what I tell people to eat. I wanted to do that in Germany originally, but the money was a problem. When you bought land over there, it was five times as much as over here. So I started a little farm here, a 20-acre hobby farm, with a few goats, a few chickens, and a few ducks. Then I met Tom, and he wanted to go bigger. So that’s why we bought this farm. And then we got even bigger and bought a second one.Well, we are in a big change right now, because my partner and I separated. So I have to do it a little bit different now. I’m by myself, and that’s a little bit more difficult.”

Download the full profile

In cities across the country urban farmers are growing communities, greening the landscape and revolutionizing food politics.

By Phoebe Connelly and Chelsea Ross

At 9 a.m. on a cool, bright Saturday in mid-June, Robert Burns and Diana Baldelomar set up a farm stand outside the YMCA in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. The stand is simple: a tent to keep out the sun, two folding tables set in an L-shape and a handful of zinc washtubs filled with two inches of water. In the tubs stand heads of green and red lettuce, greens, broccoli, and bunches of mint and basil.

When two women approach and ask the price of the greens, Baldelomar tells them that the turnip, mustard and collard greens are a dollar a bunch. “Honey,” the woman says, “in this neighborhood, if someone asks you for greens, they are only talking about the collards.” Her companion asks, “Did you ship it in from the country?”

“No ma’am. These are from right around the corner, West Cottage and Brook. We went out and harvested them this morning. You should stop by sometime.”

Burns and Baldelomar work with the Food Project, a community-based urban agriculture program founded in 1991 to get Boston’s youth involved in food production. Their West Cottage plot is one of four farms on vacant lots in the Dorchester neighborhood.

The Food Project is part of a growing urban agriculture movement to improve access to quality food in cities by creating local sources of fresh produce. The movement is showing that sustainable, local food systems are not only a way to ensure food security but also a means of addressing social justice issues

Click here to read more

FarmStart is currently accepting applications for the following position:

Project Animator and Farm Manager

The Newcomers FarmStart-Up Project is a new initiative that will provide training programs and support services to help newcomers to Canada start new agricultural enterprises in near urban areas to meet the growing demand for locally grown, directly marketed and culturally appropriate fresh produce in Southern Ontario.

The Animator will be responsible for developing and managing the New Canadians FarmStart-Up Project as well as FarmStart’s Brampton Incubator Farm Facility. The Animator will report to the New Canadians, New Farmers Initiatives Coordinator and liaising with FarmStart’s Program Manager. S/he will also liaise with other FarmStart staff to integrate the project with ongoing FarmStart programs and services

Closing date: March 3, 2008

Intended start date: March, 2008

Please visit our Employment page for more details.

About the Series:

Sowing Seeds, Reaping Profit is a series of seven case studies featuring innovative Ontario farmers with non-traditional backgrounds. It shares practical production tips, innovative marketing approaches and creative ways to successfully negotiate the myriad challenges that new farmers face in their start-up years and beyond.

Achim Mohssen-Beyk – Reachview Farm and Quinte Organic Farmers Co-op

“I am a mechanical engineer, and I worked for a couple of years in Germany, then I started my own landscaping company. Seven years ago, I decided to come here to Canada to do some farming. Ideally, we wanted to be self-sufficient. We’re not striving towards making big money. We want to save the land and produce good quality food. For me, it’s more important than the money.”

Quinte Organic Farmers Co-op started three years ago at an EFAO meeting. There were around 25 farmers talking about how to market products. We are halfway between Toronto and Ottawa, and there are basically no markets here. Each of us was going to Toronto and the journey ate up all of our profit. ‘So,’ we said, ‘we have to do something to be able to market together, to make it feasible. If we work together and put our produce together, then we can share all the costs.’ I think the co-op is my biggest achievement – being part of it.”

Download the full profile

About the Series:

Sowing Seeds, Reaping Profit is a series of seven case studies featuring innovative Ontario farmers with non-traditional backgrounds. It shares practical production tips, innovative marketing approaches and creative ways to successfully negotiate the myriad challenges that new farmers face in their start-up years and beyond.

Linda Laepple – Laepple Organic Farm

“When I was 20 I came to Stratford and worked for 11 years with a German family. I had started to work for them in 1980, in Bavaria, then their farm was sold for the Munich airport expansion, and they immigrated to Canada. They asked me if I wanted to come with them. I said, ‘Yes, for a year.’ And I stayed for 11 years.We were potato growers in Germany and we got a call from my former boss, who said there is a farm for sale. My husband got the call on Friday, he flew over on Saturday, and the auction was on Monday. He didn’t know a word of English, except yes and no.”

Download the full profile

February 29 and March 1 2008
Norfolk United Church
75 Norfolk St.
Guelph, Ontario

The Beyond Factory Farming Coalition’s 2008 Safe Food, Healthy Communities Conference seeks to deepen understanding of livestock issues in Canada, identify and examine keystone issues in Ontario and Canada, sketch out a road map for transition to socially responsible livestock production, reach new audiences and develop new networks amongst groups involved in the sustainable food movement

Keynote speaker

*Andrew Nikiforuk, award-winning journalist and author of Pandemonium: Bird Flu Mad Cow Disease and other Biological Plagues of 21st Century

Friday February 29
7 – 9 PM
Norfolk United Church, Guelph
Open to the public, free of charge.

Conference speakers

* Maxime LaPlante-Union Paysanne
* Fred Tait-National Farmers Union
* Mari Veliz-Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority
* Dr. Ann Clark-Guelph University
* Dr. Jennifer Sumner-University of Toronto
* Ted Zettel-Organic Meadow
* Dr. Art Wiebe, MD-Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
* Peter Katona-Foodlink

For more information, including registration details, please visit the conference website.

Three programs serving new immigrant farmers in and around Minnesota’s Twin Cities help agricultural entrepreneurs obtain the financing and knowledge they need to run a successful farm.

A full article describing these exciting programs is available via the New Immigrant Farm Initiative.

The Canadian Farm Business Management Council presents:

GROWING YOUR OPPORTUNITIES
Orangeville And Area Value Plus 2-Day Workshop

Over the two days you will:

• Explore case studies of how innovative rural and farm businesses that have developed their value added ideas and opportunities

• Follow a new product from conception to integration into the marketplace

• Take home lots of practical and useful tips

Workshop Limited to 25 participants. Pre Registration required.

Orangeville, Alder Street Recreation Centre
Day 1-Sat. Feb. 23rd and Day 2-Sat. March 1st
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Registration 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m

Download the poster for full details.

About the Series:

Sowing Seeds, Reaping Profit is a series of seven case studies featuring innovative Ontario farmers with non-traditional backgrounds. It shares practical production tips, innovative marketing approaches and creative ways to successfully negotiate the myriad challenges that new farmers face in their start-up years and beyond.

Shin Kang – Skyland Farms

“I came to Canada in 1971. I was raised a farmer, I lived on a farm. My background is all farm life and my brain too. I graduated high school, and I came to Canada with $15 in my pocket. How could I start farming? It was impossible. So one week later, I went to work at CN, on the railroad. I worked six years there, so that we could buy land.

Even after I started farming at the Holland Marsh, I always worked an evening shift with CN. I was an inspector for the freight trains. I worked from 4pm to 12am and in the morning I wake up 9am, and from then until 3pm, I’ve got to work farming, because I love farming. So tired, eh? I did like this, two jobs, for three or four years. Until one day, I had to make a decision. Which one I took for the future: CN or farming? At that time, I quit CN, and I farmed. At CN, I had a regular, secure income. Farming is not secure – no guaranteed income. But I changed my job to farming. To start farming took me almost ten years.”

Download the full profile

Food For Talk Presents:

Christie Young
FarmStart Director

February 8, 2008, 2-4 pm
University of Toronto, University College
Room A101

While the consumer demand for local food is growing by leaps and
bounds, with new market opportunities increasing for value-added,
local, fresh, quality, and culturally-appropriate produce, production
capacity in Ontario is not keeping up. The net number of farmers
across the province continues to fall, local agri-food system
infrastructure declines (or is completely absent), and policies and
support services for new farmers are insufficient. Moreover, the
perception that farming is a viable, sustainable and meaningful career
path is missing. There simply are not the numbers of new farmers
starting to successfully meet the current, much less future, demand.

Christie Young, founder and Director of FarmStart will talk about the
challenges facing new farmers and a regional food supply. She
will also present the strategies that FarmStart is developing to
encourage and support new farmers to develop locally oriented,
ecologically sound and economically viable agricultural enterprises.

There are many challenges in agriculture today, but there are also many
exciting opportunities. By thinking about agriculture in new and
innovative ways we believe we can meet the challenges head on with a
variety of solutions that promote a sustainable, healthy and regional
food supply.

For more information about the Food for Talk seminar series, please visit the series website.

Saturday, February 16 – one-day conference:

Visionary Farmers and Visionary Consumers
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
89 Chestnut St., U of Toronto Conference Centre
Presented by Canadian Organic Growers
$65 ($85 after Jan. 15); COG members $55
Rates for students, retirees and unwaged

Includes an organic lunch and mini-market!

Info and registration: www.cog.ca 1-888-375-7383 conference@cog.ca

This conference is focused on the successes, challenges and future directions of those committed to an organic way of life. Keynote, Helge Hellberg, Executive Director of Marin Organic, sets the tone as he shares with us the story of his county devoted to going 100% organic. They have inspired schools, businesses and governments to take a stand for an alternative way of doing business and in doing so show us what a sustainable food system looks like.

Panels on topics including “Where’s the local in organic?”; “Being organic in a non-organic world”; “Organics making a difference – environmental impact”, “Can organics feed Ontario”; and “Ensuring organic integrity”. Participants include: Ann Clark, Gavin Dandy, Dag Falck, Wayne Roberts, Wally Seccombe, Julie Daniluk.

Also confirmed is Paula Sobie, a spin farmer from Victoria and Chef Ken Hueston of the amazing Vancouver Island Chefs Cooperative. What’s spin farming? SPIN is S-mall P-lot IN-tensive farming, a way to generate significant income on less than an acre of land. Perfect for urban dwellers, without land or capital, but who have lots of neighbours willing to let someone else grow in their backyards.

Plus a career track – meet the intrepid “new” farmers who, despite lacking land and farming skills, took the leap and followed their dreams of being organic farmers. Panel topics include: “Learning the Ropes: Apprenticing”; “Behind the Plow: Trials and Rewards” (moderated by FarmStart staff member, Sophie Llewelyn); and “Going to Market: Opportunities for Innovative Farmers”.

For a complete agenda, see www.cog.ca

About the Series:

Sowing Seeds, Reaping Profit is a series of seven case studies featuring innovative Ontario farmers with non-traditional backgrounds. It shares practical production tips, innovative marketing approaches and creative ways to successfully negotiate the myriad challenges that new farmers face in their start-up years and beyond.

Caitlin Hall – Reroot Organic CSA

“I guess I’ve been interested in farming for a while. I took Environmental Studies at school and during the five years that I was at school I developed an interest in organic agriculture. But I grew up in the suburbs; I had never even had a garden before.”

I just finished my third CSA pickup. They’ve all been quite successful. People are happy with what they’re getting and there’s an abundant amount in the fields. I think I’ve made a few believers out of people who initially, because it’s my first year and because I’m young and maybe because I’m a woman – I don’t know – but who were a little hesitant at first to join. I think they’re pretty happy.”

Download the full profile

FarmStart is currently accepting applications for a full-time Agronomist and Extension Coordinator.

In 2007, FarmStart initiated research into the markets and production capacity for world food crops that can be grown in Ontario. The aim is to identify, share and develop knowledge and opportunities for world crops in our climate and markets in connection with private, not-for-profit and public sector partners, the food and agriculture industry, OMAFRA, research institutions and farmers.

The Agronomist and Extension Coordinator will be responsible for the development of our World Crops Research and Extension Project. The position will involve broad based and detailed research, the development of communication materials (such as publications, web and print articles, presentations etc.) and the development and coordination of select new crop trials.

The position will largely be based at our Training and Research Farm in Brampton and our farm facility in Guelph, with travel to other farms and a facility in Ajax to carry out research activities, including crop trials.

Closing date: February 15, 2008

Intended start date: March, 2008

Please see the job description for full details and contact information.

FarmStart not only supports new farmers, we also promote viable markets for local food. We brought further attention to this issue in October 2007, when we hosted a Local Food Pavilion at Canada’s Ethnic & Specialty Food Expo. The pavilion featured local farmers’ products, Buy Local maps, and materials from FarmStart, the Hamilton Eat Local Project (HELP), and Toronto’s FoodShare.

Anyone curious to learn more about the Expo and about food industry trends in Canada can now view a new report, “Ethnic & Specialty Food Expo 2007: Key Industry Trends.” This document, released by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in January 2008, highlights the growing market for local food, and shares a lovely picture of FarmStart’s local food display!

The Growing International Conference took place on November 27th, 28th and 29th, and focused on how to develop a local food supply for the GTA’s ethnocultural markets. It was a fantastic three days that included dynamic presentations, critical dialogue and valuable networking opportunities.

For those of you who missed the conference – and those who want a refresher you can review the conference resources, reports and presentations as well as speaker’s bio and contact information for further research purposes.

Conference Follow-up

About the Series:

Sowing Seeds, Reaping Profit is a series of seven case studies featuring innovative Ontario farmers with non-traditional backgrounds. It shares practical production tips, innovative marketing approaches and creative ways to successfully negotiate the myriad challenges that new farmers face in their start-up years and beyond.

Linda Crago – Tree and Twig Heirloom Vegetable Farm

“I always loved to farm. I always loved the land. I was a social worker for quite a few years, and I just knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do. So when we moved out here, the gardens just kept getting bigger and bigger… It just sort of evolved out of wanting to do something different. And I always thought I wanted to do something related to growing.

“When I started… I had never heard of CSAs before. I just had this idea that it would be good if I could get a group of people who would agree to buy my vegetables for the season. And that’s exactly what I did. And then I started doing a newsletter, too, without realizing that that’s just what you did! So then I was doing this, and I heard about this thing called a CSA, so then I realized, that was what I was.”

Download the full profile

Guru asks why our ethnic diversity hasn’t prompted local farmers to grow the world’s most savoured grasses

By WAYNE ROBERTS
NOW Toronto

I’m sitting in Addis Ababa, an Ethiopian restaurant on Queen West, trying to do a selling job on an ethnic farming specialist.

Try this, I tell Rutgers University’s Bill Sciarappa, offering him a piece of injera, the tart flatbead served with beans, veggies and meat. I’m hoping to convince him that teff, the grain from which it is made, could be grown in Ontario instead of imported, as it almost all is, from Idaho.

“Oh, you mean Ethiopian lovegrass,” he says, as he and the owner joke about the fact that the grass is treated as a weed in New Jersey and fed to livestock.

Sciarappa’s business is repositioning ethnic food as what he likes to call “world food.” That’s why FarmStart, an org promoting the needs of immigrants who want a career in food production, invited him in the last week of November to address three southern Ontario workshops in Toronto, Guelph and Durham Region.

Sciarappa, who wants to let a thousand bitter melons bloom, likes to tell farmers in New Jersey, the Garden State, to “get progressive or get out.” The phrase is a jab at the infamous slogan of 1950s agribusiness: “Get big or get out.” His mission is to help local farmers start serving an untapped billion-dollar market for “ethnic” fruit and veggies.

Read the Full Story

There was a “Meeting of the Minds” at the Royal Winter Fair on Tuesday Nov 6. FarmStart and the Centre for Land and Water Stewardship helped bring together members of the Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association with new Canadians from Africa, South America, China and South Asia. They had a chance to get to know one another and to start to build understanding and possible profitable relationships around new crops and new market opportunities.

About 35 people attended the meeting starting with a tour of the Royal, dinner together, and then round table discussion, ranging broadly from the challenges of early years as a new Canadian, to the challenges facing agriculture today, to the opportunities that lie ahead as a result of new relationships and new partnerships.

The gathering was supported by the Greenbelt Foundation, with arrangements made by Karen Daynard, program coordinator for the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director of the Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association and Peter Mitchell from Farmstart and CLAWS at The University of Guelph.

Guests were addressed by Bill Duron, General Manager of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Dr. Rob McLaughlin, President of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and Burkhard Mausberg, President of the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation.

ossible new crops were discussed. In particular: Chinese eggplant, edamame, chard, okra and naranjilla. And to be sure farm tours and visits will be happening in the spring.

To learn more and get involved please contact us.

About the Series:

Sowing Seeds, Reaping Profit is a series of seven case studies featuring innovative Ontario farmers with non-traditional backgrounds. It shares practical production tips, innovative marketing approaches and creative ways to successfully negotiate the myriad challenges that new farmers face in their start-up years and beyond.

Elizabeth Bzikot – Best Baa Farm and Ewenity Dairy Co-op

“The reason why we chose sheep is that they’re nice animals. The other thing is that there’s a good market in Ontario for lamb. And perhaps most importantly, I firmly believe that a lot of agriculture is in the pockets of large multinationals. They use their monopoly power to take advantage of farmers, with the result that the farmer doesn’t get a just return on his investment.

Sheep are not in that realm. No big business is interested in sheep. They will not let themselves be treated the way cattle so often are, because they will die. It’s quite simple. So that was part of the reason why we originally chose sheep.”

Download the Full Profile

FarmStart’s November conference, Growing International: Producing and Marketing Ethnic Food in Ontario, was a great success. The aim was to create discussion on how to develop a local supply for the province’s growing ethno-cultural or world-food markets.The three day conference attracted a diverse crowd: in Durham over 40 participants joined us; the Toronto event drew over 70; and Guelph hosted over 60 people for the morning, with most staying for the strategic meeting in the afternoon.

Many organizations and stakeholders were represented including: OMAFRA, University of Guelph faculty and researchers, Farmers’ Markets Ontario, Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Growers, Ontario Institute for Agronomists, the AfriCan Food Basket, ethno-cultural community leaders, farmers from all backgrounds, and many other people representing various segments of the food supply-chain and related organizations.

Overall, it was clear there are many pieces and players necessary to encourage a local, world food system and a clear communication between all stakeholders needs to improve. Bill Sciarrapa, the keynote who shared his experience leading a large-scale research and extension project focusing on world crops in the NE United States, clearly attributed their success in the north East US to the wide range of industry, government, not-for-profit and university partnerships and networks.

The discussions largely centered on the production and market opportunities for ethno-cultural- or ‘world’- crops. The keynote along with a variety of panelists and conference attendees brought up issues and opportunities facing Ontario production and distribution of world crops. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to start many different conversations, but the long-term outcomes will depend on how organizations follow-up with the ideas and relationships formed throughout the three days.

The following is a short summary of the key points and questions raised during the conference.

Production Potential

Several presentations addressed the varieties that can be grown, the issues preventing access to appropriate seeds, necessary and potential growing conditions, and how to deal with weeds and pests. While some research has taken place in Canada and more in the US, it was clear that everyone supported the funding of large scale market oriented research and effective communication to farmers around new varieties and production issues.

Market Opportunities

The market opportunities and distribution of world crops was another prominent issue addressed. The variety and size of the markets was discussed through the work of Bill Sciarrapa’s research team, and in Ontario through demographic statistics, presentations by ethno-cultural and food chain leaders, OMAFRA new crop specialists and FarmStart market research findings. Key components for the development of these market opportunities is to understand the diversity and specific demands in the ethno-cultural markets, the structure and players in the food chains, and the potential to widen the markets to include mainstream consumers.

Farmers needed!

Another piece of the discussion centered around how to enable new farmers- both Canadians and newcomers- to start new farm enterprises and existing farmers to transition into world crop production from another farm enterprise such as tobacco. A major concern raised was finding access to adequate information on growing world crops and identifying and accessing appropriate markets. Barriers facing new farmers also include new access to resources such as land, equipment, and capital. A third opportunity discussed was the potential of tapping into the valuable knowledge of new comers to Canada who have agricultural backgrounds. The struggle is how best to connect them to the farming community.

Research and Extension Needed!

Along with that discussion, came the topic of university research and the role of OMAFRA and other relevant organizations. It was generally acknowledged that more research was needed and more effort needs to be put into outreach. Overall, it is clear there are many pieces and players necessary to encourage a local, world food system and a clear communication between all stakeholders needs to improve. Sciarrapa clearly attributed their success to the wide range of industry, government, not-for-profit and university partnerships and networks.
All presentations and more in depth discussion of the conference proceedings and this topic will be available in the MarketLINK section of the website soon.

FarmStart’s New Farms Incubator Farm Program supports new farm enterprises by offering access to land, equipment, and infrastructure at reasonable rates, and by providing participants with mentorship and training in business planning, technical skills, and ecological farming methods.

The following profiles introduce our participants, a group of new farmers whose diverse entrepreneurial strategies contain the seeds for a more just and sustainable regional food supply.

(Please click on each participants name to download their profile)

Mike Driscoll –

A second-career farmer and small business consultant with an innovative vision for a regional system of organic hops and barley production.

Matt Reeves –

A young grower with a background in biodynamics and horticultural therapy, and a strong belief in the healing power of sustainable vegetable production for marginalized people.

Simon Jacques –

A young farmer and organic inspector, and a pioneer in organic coloured bean production in Ontario.

Tarrah Young –

FarmStart’s first graduate, who is drawing from skills honed in the New Farms Incubator Farm Program to develop an organic vegetable, pork and turkey operation on land she recently purchased close to Hanover, Ontario.

In the fall, Patrick was on CBC’s The Current talking about the FarmStart New Canadians, New Farmers Program.

Patrick runs the New Canadians, New Farmers Program for FarmStart. Patrick holds a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, Senegal (he loves horses and wildlife) and a Master of Arts in Economics from University of Toronto (he loves numbers).

Patrick is an outspoken advocate for minorities’ rights, the integration of immigrants in the Canadian society and the economic empowerment of African-Canadians. He also counts agriculture, economic development and food security in his areas of expertise. Patrick recently returned from his native Rwanda, where he worked as a visiting lecturer at the National University and occupied senior positions in the Government including being the Minister of Agriculture.

 

 Patrick Habamenshi on The Current: Play Now | Download

Patrick was recently on Metro Morning with Andy Barrie talking about his experience emigrating from Rwanda to Canada and the experience of new immigrants to Canada. You can list to the interview below.

Patrick runs the New Canadians, New Farmers Program for FarmStart. Patrick holds a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, Senegal (he loves horses and wildlife) and a Master of Arts in Economics from University of Toronto (he loves numbers).

Patrick is an outspoken advocate for minorities’ rights, the integration of immigrants in the Canadian society and the economic empowerment of African-Canadians. He also counts agriculture, economic development and food security in his areas of expertise. Patrick recently returned from his native Rwanda, where he worked as a visiting lecturer at the National University and occupied senior positions in the Government including being the Minister of Agriculture.

 

 Patrick Habamenshi on Metro Morning: Play Now | Download

Growing International: Producing and Marketing Ethnic Food in Ontario
November 27th, 28th and 29th – Durham Region, Toronto and Guelph
Full Details —> http://www.farmstart.ca/growinginternational

FarmStart, along with the Ontario Institute of Agrologists, Durham Region Economic Development and the Centre for Land and Water Stewardship, is organizing a three-day conference to bring together farmers, farm leaders, food distributors and purchasers, ethno-cultural and new immigrant leaders, food system analysts, and policy makers to discuss how Ontario’s agri-food industry can take advantage of opportunities in the province’s growing ethno-cultural markets.

The three-day conference will take place in three separate locations: Durham Region, Toronto and Guelph.

Our keynote speaker for each of these days is Dr. Bill Sciarappa, an agricultural and resource management agent with Rutger’s University. Dr. Sciarappa, who holds a PhD in economic entomology and agricultural pest management, is an expert in specialty crop production and marketing. Together with a diverse team of researchers and extension agents, he is currently engaged in a major, USDA-funded research initiative to study crop production for ethnic markets throughout the North Eastern Seaboard.

Each day of the conference will feature panels and presentations from diverse stakeholders on specific issues.

Blackstock, Durham Region – November 27, 2007
Focus on ethnic crop production in Ontario, and will ask how farmers can viably access ethnic markets.

Toronto – November 28, 2007
Focus on new market opportunties and demands, as well as food system infrastructure needs.

Guelph – November 29, 2007
Focus on the development and coordination of critical market and production research and support.

We hope you will join us! We welcome the participation and perspectives of anyone interested or engaged in these issues.

Please note: pre-registration is required.
For full conference details and registration, please visit www.farmstart.ca/growinginternational

If you have any questions or suggestions, you can contact the conference organizer, Melissa Benner
Conference Contacts

FarmStart’s MarketLINK program was proud to host a Local Food Pavilion at this year’s Ethnic and Specialty Food Show in Mississauga, ON. This expo is a one-of-a-kind trade show where food industry representatives come together to learn about the newest trends in food culture.

FarmStart’s Local Food Pavilion complimented the trade show’s larger All Things Organic (TM) Pavilion, which featured organic farms, certifiers, and non-profit organizations. Our objectives for the pavilion were to engage ethnic retailers, processors, chefs and consumers in discussion around purchasing local food, and to explore the potential for future linkages between these groups and local farmers.

FarmStart worked in partnership with two local farmers, Heritage Line Herbs and Whole Circle Farms, as well as Hamilton’s non-profit Eat Local Program, to set-up an attractive display booth.

Our display showcased fresh, local produce, and featured information on developing a sustainable food system. The conference organizer, Donna Wood, generously donated the space for our pavilion, with the aim of drawing attention to local food opportunities.

Talking with the food company representatives who attended the show was in some ways a dispiriting experience, as it underlined for us the enormous distance that our food system has created between consumers and farmers. Few food company representatives could tell us where or under what conditions the produce that they use for their products is grown.

Most of the Canadian-based ethnic food companies that exhibited at the show produce prepared foods, to be heated and eaten direct from the package. These companies generally outsource their production to co-packers – large companies that manufacture and package food products on a contract basis. In the prepared food industry, responsibility for food safety and sustainability is diffused among an international network of producers, processors/packagers, distributors and retailers, all engaged in a race to the bottom on price.

This system simply cannot accommodate the small- to medium-scale, sustainable farming that FarmStart supports. However, FarmStart’s Local Food Pavilion did draw many attendees and exhibitors who are looking for ways to make change. We fielded dozens of inquiries from restaurateurs and entrepreneurs who are eager to establish relationships with local producers. The West Indian pumpkins on display at our booth – kindly donated by Elgin County’s Howe Farms – attracted particular interest, especially from Caribbean-Canadian retailers and chefs looking for a taste of home.

Follow-up since the show has generated some very fruitful partnerships. FarmStart has helped connect chefs, local retail shops and new bakeries to farmers and organizations working with farmers, such as Toronto’s Local Food Plus.

Overall, the show proved to be a valuable learning experience. It was a great way to spread the word about local food and connect with people who are interested in exploring that avenue. At the same time, it revealed just how much work needs to be done to provide alternatives to the unsustainable practices of the global food system.

If the world unfolds as Lars Jorgensen thinks it will, January 2007 will go down as an historic moment in the Canadian livestock industry.
That’s when Jorgensen’s $400,000 baby – a 53-foot-long mobile abattoir – headed out of Fort St. John, B.C. for its first on-the-farm slaughter assignment. “I got into this because there was a need – the bottom line was there wasn’t enough slaughter capacity and in some parts of my province, farmers were getting out of livestock because they just couldn’t get affordable slaughter,” says Jorgensen, president of Gate to Plate Food Services Inc. “The other side of the coin is this is going to open up doors for producers. We’re offering traceability, we do organic, we offer more humane slaughter that gives you better quality meat, and we’ll (soon) have federal inspection so you can ship your meat anywhere – whether that’s the local grocer or a restaurant in Vancouver or Montreal.

“We’re never going to threaten the big boys in the slaughter business, but mobile abattoirs are going to create opportunities for small-scale producers that never existed before.”
That’s pretty big talk, but Jorgensen isn’t the only one to feel that way. Those are exactly the kind of benefits that proponents of mobile abattoirs have been championing for years.Full Story from FarmCentre.com

Patrick Habamenshi, who runs FarmStart’s New Canadians New Farmers Program, was recently interview on Radio Canada International’s The Link.

You can listen to the complete interview below.

About Patrick:

Patrick holds a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, Senegal (he loves horses and wildlife) and a Master of Arts in Economics from University of Toronto (he loves numbers).

Patrick is an outspoken advocate for minorities’ rights, the integration of immigrants in the Canadian society and the economic empowerment of African-Canadians. He also counts agriculture, economic development and food security in his areas of expertise. Patrick recently returned from his native Rwanda, where he worked as a visiting lecturer at the National University and occupied senior positions in the Government.

Currently, Patrick is consulting for the International Federation of Agricultural Development (IFAD). Alongside this position, Patrick is working with FarmStart to identify the needs of New Canadian farmers.

About the Link:

The Link is a two-hour daily radio show aimed at connecting new immigrants to Canada and Canada to the world. Plug in to our show for immigration news and stories. Find out what’s new and exciting on Canada’s cultural landscape. And get the pulse on what’s happening in Canada today. Whether you live inside or outside the country, just click on The Link and get connected.

 

 Patrick Habamenshi on The Link: Play Now | Download

Ever wondering what percentage of farms in Ontario are organic? Where the highest percentage of organic farms exist? You don’t need to wait any longer. The map below shows the percentage of certified organic farms in different regions of Ontario. Please click on the image to see a larger version.

heStar.com – News – A 100-mile market for all seasons

Store encouraging consumers to buy food grown close to home

October 07, 2007

Roberta Avery
Special to the Star
MEAFORD–The rich dark earth clings to the misshapen carrots and the irregular-sized tomatoes carry battle scars, but this is fresh food and David Harper, the farmer who harvested them just hours ago, is now selling them to an appreciative crowd.

“I think this is a fabulous idea,” says Andrew Leach as he fills his shopping bag Thursday at the newly opened 100-Mile Market in the Georgian Bay community of Meaford. Leach says the community is buzzing about the concept.

“I don’t think they’ll need to do any advertising,” says Leach, brother of Robin Leach of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous fame.

Harper and his partner, Barbara Kay, aim to offer one-stop shopping for followers of the 100-Mile Diet – the plan by Vancouver authors Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon that encourages consumers to shop for food grown closer to home.

Harper believes their 100-Mile Market is a first for Ontario, but hopes similar outlets will spring up in small towns across the province.

Full Story from The Toronto Star

FarmStart has started a bookstore featuring, you guessed it, books about farming.

We wanted to bring together a collection of useful books for new and old farmers as well as urban gardeners. We also receive a portion of the money from each book that sells to support our programs.

Some of the titles include:

Successful Small-Scale Farming: An Organic Approach
By Karl Schwenke

Fields of Plenty: A Farmer’s Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It.
by Michael Ableman

Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space With Less Work
by Mel Bartholomew

Including many more.

You can see all of them at http://www.farmstart.ca/store

But we could use your help. Do you have titles to suggest?

We are looking for books that old and new farmers have found useful. Or books about urban agriculture, cooking and canning that have helped you to use and preserve our harvest.

Please add your comment below with your ideas for the FarmStart Book Store.

SARAH ELTON

Special to The Globe and Mail

August 29, 2007

MEAFORD, ONT. — The fields at the foot of Scotch Mountain are starting to turn gold. Soon, their grain will be harvested for the herd of cows that graze by the side of the road. It’s idyllic farmland here, south of Georgian Bay in Grey County, part of Ontario’s prime beef country.

But only a few kilometres from this bucolic scene, large refrigerated trucks speed down the highway, packed with American-raised beef on the way to the local grocery store.

This incongruity is something the two families who founded Scotch Mountain Meats, a farmers’ co-operative, are trying to change.

Since 2005, they have been promoting a local market for their naturally raised meats in a move away from the modern conventions of the North American meat industry.

Read the rest of this entry »

Note: There is still space in the Toronto course… please contact Mike Shook at 519 836-7046 ext 102 to sign up. You can also email Mike.

FarmStart has just started offering the FarmStart Business Planning course in both Guelph and Toronto.

These two sessions run once a week from now through December. At the end of the course you will have prepared a business plan that is ready to take to a bank or to submit to FarmStart to be a participant in the New Farms Incubator Program.

Download the Course Overview – PDF

Toronto Details -

Date: Thursday Evenings from
October 4th to December 12th.
Time: 6:30-10:00
Location: FoodShare Offices – 90 Croatia Street (Map)

Guelph Details -

Sorry – The Guelph Course is now full.

If you would like to be notified of future courses, please sign up for the newsletter.

It sounds too good to be true. But experiments at Guelph University have resulted in double the crop yield in drought years

Toronto Star – Sept 15, 2007
Cameron SmithA farming practice that results in better soil, more earthworms, much higher capture of carbon dioxide, less nitrogen runoff, more birds and insects, and double the crop yield in drought years – it sounds too good to be true.

Yet this is exactly what experiments at Guelph University are suggesting.

The most astonishing conclusion is that if farmers adopted the practice throughout the 455,000 square kilometres of marginal or degraded land currently being farmed, Canada could come within a hair’s breadth of meeting its Kyoto commitment with an 18.6 per cent reduction in the nation’s CO2 emissions.

The practice is called intercropping – planting crops between rows of trees. At Guelph, the rows of trees are 12.5 metres to 15 metres apart, and this year the crop is soybeans.

Full Story

The Centre for Land and Water Stewardship at the University of Guelph, and its partner FarmStart, are beginning a major outreach and training initiative to support involvement in agriculture by the GTA’s immigrant communities.

As one starting point we wish to fund a short initial literature and information review to develop a list of alternate crops and crop varieties (especially vegetables) that are both of interest to these communities and potentially grown in southern Ontario. The timeline is short, as we wish an initial report by Nov. 23, 2007; further phases of the research will be planned based on the success of phase one. Funding available is $3000.00 or $20.00 per hour.

Job Description.pdf

When the older folks retire, will there be anyone left to till the soil and grow our crops?

Catherine Porter
Environment Reporter – the toronto star When Kurtis Andrews walks into his family’s barn, he can’t just ask one of the employees where his dad is. He has to ask for “Mr. Andrews.” That’s because few of the market staff know Kurtis anymore. They think he’s another customer.

Andrews spent 20 years working on the farm. When he was seven, he bought a bicycle with the money he’d saved weeding the fields by hand for $1 an hour.

He’s climbed the trees, built a swimming raft for the irrigation pond, and rumbled across the fields on a tractor.

But now, he’s a stranger here.

“It feels odd,” says Andrews, 34, examining a 20-year-old family portrait that hangs in the barn. In it, he, his two sisters and their folks pose in a raspberry field, each of them dressed in red-and-white checkered shirts and holding a basket of berries. It’s full of joy and optimism – hardly the picture of farming today.

“I do feel nostalgia about the farm,” he says.

Andrews is no longer a country boy. He lives six hours away, in Ottawa, where he’s in his second year of law school. And he has no plans to return to the fields.

Full Story from The Toronto Star

Immigrant farmers face steep learning curve, many barriers to working the land in Canada

Sep 07, 2007 04:30 AM

Catherine Porter
Environment Reporter
You’ve heard about the Indian doctor driving a cab in Toronto. But how about the Indian farmer making ends meet as a lawyer?

When Lakwinder Gill came to Canada 11 years ago, he was both a qualified lawyer and farmer. Amazingly, he found it easier to navigate his way into the Canadian legal system than work the land as a farmer.

“There is no way to get into it, unless you’re a millionaire. I couldn’t find anyone to guide me,” Gill said yesterday.

That’s about to change. Two new training farms will open soon in Greater Toronto to help immigrant farmers. Yesterday, the non-profit Greenbelt Foundation announced a $400,000 grant to start one in Ajax. And in Brampton, two non-profit organizations are negotiating to lease a 20-hectare piece of land.

Come next spring, both farms will be opened for immigrant farmers to learn about the Canadian climate and growing season, and try their hand at growing crops indigenous to their home countries.

Full Article

The Rodale Institute’s New Farm website has some great stories. One in particular is written by a fellow who was full time organic dairy farming for two years…and then had to cut his losses and sell everything. It is a great account of some of the pitfalls facing new farmers and the lessons to be learned.

Follow the link below to read ‘The End of Farming For Me, For Now” by Mark Lichtenstein:

http://www.newfarm.org/features/2007/0807/endoffarming/lichtenstein.shtml

From the Guelph Mercury – Full Story

Tarrah Young knows that most kids don’t dream of growing up to be farmers.

But this 30-year-old from the suburbs is about to make that leap.

She admits it’s an unusual career choice in an era of factory farms. But the idea came to her in an epiphany, via a fourth-year organic agriculture class at the University of Guelph.

It’s been a long and winding road. Next growing season, Young will quit her day job and set out as the first graduate of the FarmStart program at Ignatius Jesuit Centre.

Full Story

Part of my work with MarketLINK includes research into new market models for farmers. If you read the newspapers you’ll recognize the trendiness of ‘niche’, ‘local,’ ‘specialty’, ‘direct’ and ‘alternative’ markets. What I’m curious about are the practical ways that farmers access these markets.

An agricultural marketing co-operative is one interesting and viable option. Basically, these co-ops arise from farmers who jointly market their products. It can be as simple as pooling money for an advertising campaign to collaborating on a product delivery system. Market cooperatives come in all shapes and sizes, and I’ll outline three here.

In Canada, the Co-op Atlantic is a big success. This co-op works as an umbrella organization for smaller member co-ops across the Maritimes. Originally founded by a group of farmers, the co-operative has established extensive retail and grocery outlets. This way, the co-op maintains control of the entire food supply chain: from supplying seeds, to purchasing produce, to selling through the retail stores. The co-op also has a great website that introduces the producers who are involved: http://www.coopatlantic.ca/.

On a slightly smaller scale, there is Ontario’s own Quinte Organic Co-op. This cooperative consists of thirteen farmers who live between Toronto and Ottawa. The farmers recognize there are ample markets in these urban centres, but delivery is costly and time-consuming. So, each spring the farmers meet to divvy up production, and throughout the season, one person delivers all the produce to local farm markets.

Farmers in America are also experimenting with marketing co-operatives. One interesting venture is the Oklahoma Food Cooperative. It links producers to consumers through an online order form, and offers a wide range of products. The orders are delivered monthly to different points across the state, via a strong network of members and volunteers. As of May 2007, the Oklahoma co-op boasts over 1000 consumer and producer members.

These co-op marketing initiatives take a lot of hard work, vision, coordination and commitment. Yet at the same time, the pay-off is amazing. Farmers access all kinds of markets that are otherwise impenetrable, and consumers learn who and where their food comes from!

For those of you that speak french – here is a link to a radio interview with Patrick Habemenshi who is working on FarmStart’s New Canadians, New Farmers Program on Radio Canada International.

To listen select the first hour of the show. Patrick’s interview starts near 45 minutes into the hour. He will also be doing an English interview which we will add to FarmStart News once it is aired.

The Globe and Mail just finished a 4 part series on eating locally. Reporter Sasha Chapman and her family changed their diet for 3 weeks and shared their experiences.

Part 1 – Living off the land
Part 2 – One cannot live on riesling alone
Part 3 -Taking a bite out of edible myths
Part 4 -Lessons in (farmers’) market economy

Some of these articles require that you have to pay to read them or to continue to the second page. Sorry about that but what can you do?

The Toronto Star farm series looks at how migrant and immigrant labour gets local produce to market and includes information about FarmStart.

Full Story from The Toronto Star

“Farms near Andrews are selling for $50,000 an acre – the down payment on one of the new homes replacing it in the area. You can rent land for as cheap as $30 an acre, but then there’s still the infrastructure costs for irrigation pipes, seeds, fertilizer, tractors.

FarmStart, a Guelph-area non-profit organization, is launching a program to bridge the gap. It’s already rented 38 acres of land from the Toronto Region Conservation Authority. Starting next year, it will bring aspiring immigrant farmers there for a subsidized, five-year program. They’ll learn about local farm conditions and till small plots with specialty crops from their home countries. They’ll also be linked to established farmers in a mentorship program.

“We have to rethink how we do agriculture in Canada – from a production perspective and an economic perspective,” says Christie Young, FarmStart’s director. “We can learn a lot from farmers from other parts of the world.”

Full Story from The Toronto Star

[tag] FarmStart, New Canadians New Farmers, farming[/tag]