About the Strategy

A coordinated, cross-ministerial approach to food policies and programming has tremendous potential to make sure that Ontario’s future is one of healthy people, a strong economy, resilient ecological systems, well educated kids and much more. The Ontario Collaborative Group on Healthy Eating and Physical Activity has started a process to create a provincial food and nutrition strategy. Sustain Ontario is pleased to have joined Design Team that is helping to create this strategy.

What’s Happening Now

Between April 24th and May 31 there will be an initial consultation on an early draft of the food strategy. Groups who would be involved in the implementation of the strategy are invited to provide input into the strategy. This includes farmers and farm groups, individuals and groups involved in community-based food programs, public health and nutrition professionals, food businesses, and government partners. The revised draft strategy will be re-circulated in June for more feedback. To learn more, please contact strategy@sustainontario.ca.

The goal of this consultation is to gather more ideas to include, to get a sense of what areas are commonly shared priorities, to get a sense of what is not widely supported, and to gather evidence and stories in support of the recommendations.

Get Informed

Want to learn what’s happened to-date to bring this strategy  to life? Read these background documents, reports and presentations.

 Why a Strategy, Why Now?

Ontario’s food system is in crisis, but also can provide solutions for many of the challenges facing our province today. Farmers are not able to make an adequate income farming, while eaters aren’t able to access the food that they need to be healthy. We have a farm income crisis, an obesity crisis, a chronic disease crisis, and challenges in the food-processing sector. At the same time, food and farming is the single largest employer in the province with tremendous potential for further expansion and growth, and dietary i

When: May – October 2012
Where: Tilson Homestead, Manitoulin Island (map)
Cost: (includes food & camping or limited indoor beds)
Regular tuition: $1950 *
Individual weekends: $350
* Limited scholarships available – please inquire

Manitoulin Permaculture’s 6-month, 120 hour permaculture design certificate has been created to provide those who are interested in living and breathing sustainability into all they do with the knowledge and skills to do so. Join us this year for a healthy dose of reading landscapes, working with water, building soil and cob ovens, composting, installing solar panels, designing food forests, working on design projects and much more!

The most common format of a permaculture design certificate is a two-week, 72-hour course. While adequate to cover the required material, it limits time for hands-on learning and leaves little chance to catch one’s breath or integrate the material covered. Manitoulin Permaculture’s extended version is designed to give more time for: observing through the seasons, hands-on learning, Q & A, going further with the subject material and connecting with others.

Harbourside Organic Farmers Market
Every Saturday

Founded in 2007 by members of the Oakville Sustainable Food Partnership (OSFP), the HOFM was originally part of the Kerr Village Organic Market but moved to its current site and focused more on sustainable practices and organic products.

WE’RE MOVING TO THE WHOLE FOODS TERRACE!!

In 2012, the Harbourside Organic Farmers Market will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays (June 16 to October 27).

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Whole Foods Market, our new location is on the terrace in front of Whole Foods Oakville . (301 Cornwall Rd.)

TORONTO, April 12, 2012 /CNW/ – Local, sustainable and gluten-free reign supreme on Canadian restaurant menus for 2012. More than 300 professional chefs identified what’s hot in the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association’s (CRFA’s) third annual Canadian Chef Survey, conducted by independent market research firm BrandSpark International.
Top 10 Canadian menu trends for 2012:

1. Locally produced and locally inspired dishes
2. Sustainability
3. Gluten-free/ food allergy conscious
4. Farm-/ estate-branded ingredients
5. Simplicity/ back-to-basics
6. Nutrition/ health (e.g. low-fat, reduced sodium, antioxidants, high-fibre)
7. Ethnic/ street food inspired appetizers (e.g. tempura, taquitos)
8. Food trucks/ street food
9. Artisanal cheeses
10. Bite-size/ mini desserts

“It’s clear we love our local foods, but these top trends span a wide spectrum of flavours,” says Garth Whyte, CRFA President and CEO. “Chefs are reimagining their menu selections to accommodate various customer preferences and dietary needs, while having some fun. From nutrition and gluten-free to street food inspired appetizers, we’ve got something for everyone.”

What’s different this year?
Newcomers with ‘street smarts’ — ethnic/street food inspired appetizers debuting at No. 7 and food trucks/ street food at No. 8 — knocked craft beer/ microbrews and quinoa/ ancient grains from the top 10 list. Gluten-free/ food allergy conscious moved up the list from No. 6 to No. 3.

About the survey
CRFA’s Canadian Chef Survey was carried out in co-operation with the Canadian Culinary Federation and conducted in February and March 2012 by BrandSpark International, a leading marketing and product innovation research company with expertise within the restaurant and foodservice industry.

CRFA is one of Canada’s largest business associations, with more than 30,000 members representing restaurants, bars, caterers, institutions and other foodservice providers. Canada’s restaurant industry employs more than one million people in communities across the country.

Note:  Detailed findings from the 2012 Canadian Chef Survey are available at CRFA’s online resource centre.

Organic Ann Slater has long earned her living from a small organic vegetable operation near St. Mary's. Profitability, sustainability and quality of life are all important in a farming life, she said during a panel discussion at the Guelph Organic Conference on Friday. PHOTO: Rob O'Flanagan, Guelph Mercury

Guelph Organic Conference panelists say

by Rob O’Flanagan, Mercury staff, Fri Jan 27 2012

GUELPH — Those who dream of the good life on a small organic farm may be surprised to learn that such an agricultural existence can be more than a subsistence enterprise. It can also be quite profitable.

A large University of Guelph classroom was filled to standing room only Friday afternoon, as veteran, beginner and wannabe organic farmers packed in for a dose of agrarian reality from organic lifers. And the audience was collectively invigorated to learn that their dreams may be attainable – not without exhaustive work, not without startup capital and skill, but also with the potential for a decent living.

About 100 people took in one of the first panel discussions in the weekend-long Guelph Organic Conference. The 31st edition of the conference is called Seeds of Co-operation, and it includes seminars and workshops on everything from root cellar basics and growing mushrooms on logs, to planting bountiful forest gardens and producing organic seeds.

Tony and Fran McQuail were among the first organic farmers in Ontario, starting a small operation 37 years ago near Lucknow. They were university kids when they started; their two daughters are now grown up. Part of the back-to-the-land movement of the ’70s, neither had a farming background.

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