So by writing this post I am breaking my (self imposed) rule of not writing two food related posts in a row. But late last week I attended an inspiring conference, “Bring Food Home“, organized by Sustain Ontario: the alliance for healthy food and farming.  I discovered so much community building going on that I couldn’t resist sharing the highlights and I promise my next post will reinstate the balance.

Sustain Ontario is a province-wide, cross-sectoral alliance that promotes healthy food and farming.  The organization is only a year old and was inspired by the UK’s Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming and the Metcalf Foundation‘s work on exploring opportunities for collaborative, cross-sectoral work related to food and agriculture  (see Food Connects Us All). 

Sustain Ontario is an umbrella organization that aims to bringing together all of the players in the food system from farm to fork and beyond.  They are working to build a community between the players in the food system to encourage collaboration and idea sharing with the end goal of a food system that is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable.  They spent their first year talking to many of the players in the food system one-on-one.  The conference Bring Food Home was the first time that Sustain Ontario tried to bring these players together.

As I already said, the event was inspiring.  There are so many people and organizations passionate about food and there is so much going on in Ontario that wasn’t going on just a few years ago.  Here are a few of my highlights from the conference of the food system/community building activities.

Planting Urban Ontario: An Urban Agriculture Network

There are so many types of urban agriculture, including back/front yard gardens, community gardens, rooftop gardens, urban hens, yard-sharing programs, SPIN farming and urban farms.  Sustain Ontario initiated a network during the conference to help “urban aggies” learn from each other.  A half day session was held just for introductions since so much is going on all over Ontario.  The next steps for the new network is to use Sustain Ontario’s website to continue the conversation and to share ideas from across the province.

Food Policy Councils/Community-based Food System Planning:

There are groups springing up all over Ontario that are bringing together key sectors and interests from their food systems to examine the big picture of the food system and identify the changes that are needed.  The Toronto Food Policy Council has been around since the 1990s, but there are also a lot of new players on the scene that have shared their models including the Waterloo Region Foodsystem Roundtable, JustFood (Ottawa), Halton Food Council, Toronto Youth Food Policy Council, and Sudbury Food Connections Network.  These groups shared both how they went about building community within the food system and how they are using the food system to build community.

Community Food Centres:

The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto (see my favourite communities in my profile) is now working to spread the Community Food Centre model throughout Ontario (also with help from the Metcalf Foundation).  A Community Food Centre goes beyond the food bank model to deliver a range of food security programming in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community and challenges inequality.  They started as one of Canada’s first local food banks and now also have community kitchens, community gardens, cooking classes, drop-in meals, peri-natal support, outdoor bake ovens, food markets and community advocacy campaigns.  They also run the Green Barn, a sustainable food production and education centre.  I think their model has the potential to transform food banks across the province and can’t wait to see their pilot projects.

Diversity and the Food System:

One of the most immediate observations from the conference was the demographic of those of us that showed up.  We were primarily white and women. But there was an immediate recognition of the need to bring more players to the table and to find ways to be more representative of the residents of Ontario in both the next conference and in the programs that we are delivering in our own communities.  During the Action Planning session at the end of the conference a working group was formed, that I’m a part of, which will focus on diversity in the food system so that we can expand our new community to be more inclusive and representative.