January 14/2010 – Conference Manager note about Keynote tickets: there are currently about 110 Keynote tickets left (out of 500). There will probably be a few available on the Friday afternoon (Jan. 29) and possibly at 8.00 am on the Saturday (Jan. 30). But if you want to guarantee your ticket, please order by PayPal now and these will be mailed to you prior to the Conference. Thanks.

Margaret Webb, leading Toronto writer – author of ‘Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover’s Tour of Canadian Farms’ has been confirmed as Keynote for 2010.

Margaret was also author of the recent multi-part Toronto Star series
“Crisis on the Farm.”

Keynote Title – THINK BIG CANADA – The Organic Food Fix – the implications of a totally organic Canada – and what we need to do to get there – in other words, taking steps toward a national food policy for Canada that will feed our future.

This presentation will run Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 9.00 am in Rozanski Hall (just a few steps east of the Guelph University Centre).

Cost: $15 per ticket, which can be paid by cheque, mailed in with your general registration form, or by PayPal which will be ready to take your registration on this Web Site shortly.

margaret (at) margaretwebb.com
http://www.margaretwebb.com

•••

NOVEMBER 24 FLASH – Margaret’s Musings – when asked “what’s happening in your life and what kind of ideas will you be introducing at your Keynote talk”… she said:

A farmer delivered a side of heritage Tamworth pork to my door one day, and we had the kind of conversation that I only seem to have with farmers. Within a five-minute chat, our talk tripped from Toronto traffic to family to the meaning of life to how to shift Canada’s food system into a sustainable future. As way of saying good-bye, he said, “look, if Canadians get behind farmers, we can do this.”

Well, that’s it, I thought. The moment is now. Canadians are itching for a national conversation about food and farming, a national food policy for Canada. What we need is an alliance between farmers and eaters to lead that conversation, to create a new food system that serves the needs of eaters, sustains farmers and rejuvenates the planet. It’s a time for big ideas and big commitment. It’s time to think beyond private food to public food (as one fifth-grade future farmer suggested), beyond the 100 mile diet to the 100 year diet (as one aboriginal farmer recommended), beyond “sustainable” farming (whatever that means, as one organic rancher told me), to a totally organic Canada.

Okay, if you think all my ideas come from farmers, you would be wrong. Just the good ones do. I look forward to the conversation. Margaret Webb – Author, Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover’s Tour of Canadian Farms