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I’ve been noticing the birds this year, migrating south. It’s a beautiful site to behold if you don’t think about what it means: “See ya, suckas, we’s outta here!”
They are not so dumb, those birds. They are off to warmer climes in South and Central America, where hopefully there is a forest waiting for them, or at least some agroforestry that has not completely destroyed their winter habitat.
Yes, bird habitat is decreasing and, strange as it may sound, your cup of coffee has a lot to do with it.
As you already know, the clear cutting of tropical rain forests is destroying traditional bird sanctuaries, not to mention entire ecosystems. As a direct result, bird populations are decreasing. And by birds, I mean local and migratory birds. And by migratory, I mean our birds, or the ones we like to think of as ours – the ones we say good-bye to each fall and welcome back each spring.
Some of these birds return to their forested nesting ground only to find wide-open field. With nowhere to nest, they perish. Some, however, are able to seek refuge in shade coffee farms – farms that use a natural tree shade canopy to grow its crop.
However, after chatting with Madeleine Pengelley, owner of certified Bird Friendly® Birds and Beans roastery and café, I understand that not all shade coffee farms are created equally.
Coffee is naturally a shade-loving plant. Although originally imported from Africa, coffee can grow wild in South and Central American forests. It has also been traditionally grown for centuries in small-scale, rustic shade farms that make use of the natural forest canopy, usually old growth or secondary forest, to produce slower ripening and richer tasting coffee.
In the 1960s, in the name of progress and higher yield, a strain of coffee was developed that was able to tolerate the bright sun. Farmers cleared their land, sold their lumber, and planted the new coffee.
Yes, yield went up and so did sales, but bean quality and taste went down — as did local water and soil quality, animal and bird populations, and any extra income farmers might have earned from wood or fruit products provided by the former forest.*
As a result, shade coffee farms began to emerge as a new trend to counteract the negative effects of sun-grown coffee. These farms use a number of assorted shade trees and other plants to create a canopy that enables the type of symbiotic ecosystem that supports life and sustainable coffee cultivation.
Shade farming works with the environment, not against it; as a result, it doesn’t require the chemical inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides that clear cut coffee farms have come to rely on.
Shade coffee farming is an organic and sustainable model that offers protection to endangered birds and wildlife, not to mention a viable livelihood for local farmers and unpolluted water to all communities downstream.
Unfortunately, economic realities being what they are, even well intentioned shade farmers are at times forced to chop down a few trees. The income from the lumber can be the difference between a child going to school that year or not. And the next year, it can be the same story.
I find no fault with the farmers who are simply doing what is necessary to get by, but if we could make the living tree more valuable to a farmer than the lumber it produces, then we’d be getting somewhere, says Madeleine.
Working towards this model is the Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center’s Bird Friendly® coffee certification program, which encourages coffee farmers to follow specific shade management practices. The various criteria include canopy height, foliage cover, tree diversity, leaf litter, and so on, all of which guarantee a minimum shade of 40% and an organic, sustainable and fair trade product.
Coffee ain’t local food where I live. But when you can’t go local, you go organic, sustainable, fair trade and, now, Bird Friendly®. This is not yet another food certification for you to contend with, this makes a lot of sense and does affect you in your own backyard. They are your birds too.
We do have the ability to change this particular problem because it is motivated by our own consumption habits.
Take a minute to sip on that.
* Read more about food sovereignty and agroforestry in Wayne Roberts’ The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food, 2008, ISBN 978-1-897071-44-1.
This Sunday, October 16, is World Food Day. As decreed by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, it is the official day to encourage agricultural food production and stimulate farming efforts, as well as several other food security issues.
If you’re looking to celebrate local bounty and defend your right to healthy, local food, this Sunday is your day.
And lucky you, if you’re in Southern Ontario, this weekend is Foodstock.
Even the Foodstock poster recalls that other ‘stock that changed so much, which took place back in 1969 in an upstate New York farmer’s field. Remember that? Neither do I. This time, the little birdy is perched on a saucepan handle. Nice.
The Foodstock deets
If you haven’t heard, Foodstock is a pay-what-you-can, outdoor, food and music event in Melancthon County. It is the baby of activist chef Michael Stadtländer, who has invited some 100 top chefs from across Canada to prepare locally produced treats just for you. And it gets better.
Foodstock is a fundraiser to support of the movement to Stop the Mega Quarry. All funds go to stop the mega quarry application by the Highland Companies to create a limestone quarry that would cover over 2300 acres of prime agricultural land and dig into pristine aquifers next to the Niagara Escarpment.
Sunday’s event is open to the public and is pay-what-you-can, though the suggested price is $10 – which is a steal if you consider the caliber of chefs who will be there — all the gros fromages from Toronto’s resto scene and beyond, including Jamie Kennedy, Pizzeria Libretto, Oyster Boy, Café Belong and Enoteca Sociale. Ethical suppliers such as Hooked, Cumbrae’s and Choco Sol have also offered support.
By bringing local food producers and consumers together, Foodstock aims to highlight the connection between eaters and farmers, and encourage those who love local food to stand up and voice their opposition to a project whose opponents fear will destroy the region’s farmland and way of life.
The Highland Companies is owned by a Boston-based hedge fund. According to the Toronto Star, the company assembled farmland north of Organgeville to grow potatoes, and then made their application to develop one the biggest rock quarries in Canada—1 million tonnes of limestone from fertile potato fields. We need limestone, yes. But do we need this limestone? It sets an odd precedence to value pavement over food.
When: Sunday Oct 16, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Outdoors, on the Honeywood-area farm of Diane and Bill French, who own remaining farmland that has not sold to the Highland Companies
Transportation: http://nomegaquarry.ca/events/foodstock/
Cost: PWYC, suggested price $10. Pay in advance or at the gate.
What to bring: dress for the outdoors and, if you can, bring your own plates and cutlery to cut down on waste
Despite the rain and chilly weather today, the fifth Picnic at the Brickworks was a feast of flavours that warmed the bellies of all who attended the open air space.
As a first-timer to this annual event, I didn’t know what to expect. I secretly feared foodie elitism might set the tone, but it couldn’t have been farther from the truth. It was a farm friendly, food lovin’ crowd who were happy to mix and enjoy some friendly conversation while sampling some of the tastiest dishes our region has to offer.
The food was fantastic. Seasonal harvests from throughout Southern Ontario’s culinary regions prepared by local chefs committed to sourcing their food from small scale, sustainable, local farms and suppliers.
It would be impossible for every delicious item from every table to be the ultimate winner, but I had the pleasure of enjoying a truly sublime locally sourced squab and bacon cassoulet with pistachio crumble from Auberge du Pommier, and from Canoe, Cumbrae Farms beef tartare with a pine jelly that took it up just the right notch.
Thank you to Evergreen and Slow Food Toronto for making high-end fare a little more user friendly.
The Vote ON Food & Farming campaign has officially launched. (Seems I was a bit premature last week.)
Created by Sustain Ontario, Vote ON Food & Farming aims to raise awareness of key food issues that touch on health, the environment, kids, communities, farmers, and jobs.
All Ontarians, no matter where you live, are asked to promote food and farming as important election issues in the upcoming provincial election (Oct. 6, folks).
The Vote ON site is worth a visit. Take the pledge to vote for a candidate who supports food and farming issues, and then let all the candidates know how you feel.
Curious where each party stands on food and farming? Check out the Report Card to see which parties have policies and which come up dry. The findings might surprise you.
Take the Good Food Quiz to test your own knowledge. It’s a bit of an eye opener how many people rely on food banks in Ontario, and how little income farmers make.
If you’ve got some bright ideas or solutions of your own, submit your Good Food Idea, in writing or video, and let others bask in your genius. (No, really, we need to get the discussion going. Submit your ideas.)
Get informed & get involved. After all, it’s your health – environment – kid – community – job at stake!
What strikes me is that even if you don’t live in Ontario, you know that these same issues affect your province or state just the same.
That said, if you are in Toronto this weekend…
Not Far from the Tree and Spadina Museum are hosting City Cider, an opportunity to sip freshly pressed, local apple cider in a heritage orchard. Music, food, activities too!
When: Sunday, 18 September, 1 pm – 5 pm
Where: 285 Spadina Road
Cost: only $5
Something good is happening. It’s happening slowly, but it is happening nonetheless. People – institutions even—are beginning to see that having accessible healthy food is a necessity, something worth fighting for, and do-able.
In the US, the Huntington, West Virginia school made famous by chef Jamie Oliver’s tough love reality TV show “Food Revolution,” in which Oliver lambastes school directors for the poor quality food served to students, has now overhauled its food services to provide local, fresh, made-from scratch meals. And they achieved this in only two years. Today, the school is pretty much a model for what can be done.
And while hard-core foodies of various stripes may look down their noses at popular, for-the-masses TV shows like Food Revolution, the movement seems to be catching.
Here in Canada, with the new school year just started, schools throughout Ontario have implemented widespread improvements to the food available in cafeterias and in vending machines to help combat childhood obesity. Gone are the French fries, candy bars and colas. Say hello to baked potato wedges, thin crust multi-grain lo-so pizza, and juice.
While I think cafeterias could go farther in their step towards healthier meals, this is undeniably a step in the right direction.
Even hospitals are jumping in –- that last bastion of inedible food. In Scarborough, Ontario, a hospital has undertaken a one-year experiment to improve its food services and provide fresh, local food and scratch cooking to its patients.
Get the picture?
Even the higher ups, those who may arguably gain in the short term from lowering standards and cutting corners, recognize the value of food and the connection between food and health.
Times are changing. Food is becoming a mainstream issue. In the upcoming provincial elections happening throughout Canada, I encourage voters to make food an election issue.
In Ontario, visit Sustain Ontario to learn more about their Vote ON Food campaign.
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In other happy food news:
If you’re in Toronto this weekend, it’s the 27th Annual Vegetarian Food Festival. Free event!
Where: 235 Queens Quay West
When: Friday 4 pm – 9 pm
Saturday 12 pm – 9 pm
Sunday 12 pm – 7 pm
I’m impressed with Toronto; it has shown heart.
It had felt like things were getting a bit chilly in this town over the summer. City Hall’s swing to the right and its attempts to drop Toronto’s local food procurement policy, remove funding from community gardens – essentially putting an end to a growing urban agriculture movement, reversing bike lanes that even the cabbies like, closing community swimming pools and public libraries — basically all things that build community and make big cities livable.
But I think a very clear message has been sent to the powers that be over the last week—and we have Jack Layton to thank for it — amongst all the other things we have to thank him.
In his passing, we have rallied and stood up proudly, and shown just what kind of leaders we want. I am very proud of Torontonians. They — we — have shown heart, something we are often accused of lacking.
It is events like this, sad as they are, that can help build the character of a city — a united identity and vision of what a location represents.
I’m feeling optimistic.
Thanks Jack, you managed to bring us all together once again!
They have ripped up the better half of Dundas St. between Dovercourt and Lansdowne for sidewalk and streetscape reconstruction. It’s noisy and messy. But on the bright side the construction company seems to have learned from its mistakes on the north side of the street, because the crews have been pretty good, on the south side, helping mothers with strollers navigate the ramps and trenches to access the store where I work.
Rumour has it they’ll be ripping it all up again in October for more work, leaving me with no questions as to how our city money is spent and re-spent. Well, maybe one question.
Why?
I’m told that when the city has street work to be done, it has construction companies bid on the job. According to one insightful healthy food shopper, the scenario goes something like this:
1. Company 1 bids on the job saying that it will cost the city x dollars and take y time.
2. Company 2 makes a bid saying they can do it for half the cost and in half the time…because they have a dragon to help them.
3. Impressed, the city goes with company 2.
What happens then is that the job drags on, taking longer than scheduled, and ends up costing much more than quoted because, as we all know, there’s no such thing as dragons!
Now, you might think the city would do some research beforehand to cost their projects before believing in impossible fantasies. But they don’t. And so they do not know the real cost of things—which in the end costs us more.
It is a bit like the cost of food.
A real tomato does not cost 30 cents. This is what a tomato-like fruit costs, with added chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides because it is grown in depleted soil, and is likewise depleted of nutrients, like vitamin C, and has little flavour.
The cost of a real tomato grown under the sun in healthy soil, containing all the good taste and nutrients we expect from fresh food, is $1. That is the real cost. It is more expensive, but it is the cost of doing it right. The good thing is that there are no hidden costs that follow. In fact, you are compensated for the higher price with a cleaner environment, more vibrant local economy, and healthier food.
Doing things right the first time costs more, but at least we only have to pay it once.
Earlier this year, the USDA approved the planting of genetically modified alfalfa—that normally nutrient-rich sprout loved by healthy types across the land. Canada responded in lackluster fashion by promptly dragging its heels in a proposed ban of the Roundup Ready Herbicide tolerant product created in the labs at Monsanto.
Can anyone tell me why we need to make alfalfa GM? Last time I checked, it was a “health food”, eaten by health food lovers –- the same people who tend to avoid genetically modified anything because of the risks involved.
In response to our country’s lack of response, the Canadian Organic Growers signed legal action against Monsanto in March. The lawsuit is led by the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) based in New York. PUBPAT is known for standing up to corporate greed against patents that are not in the public interest.
This particular suit is against Monsanto’s practice of defending its patent rights through legal action against farmers.
Any farmer who has the audacity of having the wind or wildlife (and their droppings) transfer GM seeds onto their land can face fines of up to $200 per acre.
The case against Monsanto rests on four main points:
1. that Monsanto’s GM seed patents are invalid for a variety of reasons, including the facts that they do not meet the tests of novelty and of usefulness
2. that Monsanto’s GM seed patents cannot be infringed if the plaintiffs’ fields become contaminated through no fault of their own
3. that Monsanto’s GM seed patents are unenforceable
4. and that Monsanto would not be entitled to any remedy against the plaintiffs
Monsanto responded by calling the lawsuit a publicity stunt, and has filed a letter asking the court in New York to dismiss the case. If this is denied, they’ve asked to move the case to a “friendlier” court in St. Louis, where Monsanto is located.
Last month, the Monsanto was granted permission to file a motion to dismiss the case. PUBNAT one month to file an opposition to Monsanto’s motion to dismiss.
Feels down to the wire. And depressing. And high time to start growing our own sprouts at home, or getting them from some reliable local growers like Kind Organics.
If you can, please support COG’s campaign.
The entire Toronto Urban Agriculture Program is under attack.
Last week, consultants, hired by the Mayor as part of the City Services Review, reported their findings in determining which services need to be reduced or cut entirely.
What they found was that 90% of services are in fact core or essential. Unable to find savings, the consultants are recommending cuts to recycling and environmental programs — including the Urban Agriculture program, which allows residents and community groups to grow healthy, fresh and affordable food on excess City parkland.
When did investments in our future become costs?
Hundreds of people went to City Hall last week to ask the committees to reject service cuts. But councilors have refused to take anything off the chopping block.
So now we have to wait for September, when the Mayor and his Executive Committee will decide if recycling programs, urban forestry goals and urban agriculture programs are ‘gravy’, or the building blocks of a progressive, sustainable, world-class city that this town wants to become.
Hoo … ray!
City Council has voted nearly unanimously to keep Toronto’s local food procurement policy. This means city child care centres and long-term care homes can continue to provide locally sourced food in the meals they serve.
“This is a win for the City’s food movement, the environment and Toronto food sector jobs,” said Darcy Higgins, Executive Director of Food Forward. “In deciding to support local food, Council sends a clear message that it cares about local farms and healthier food for its residents.”
This is a victory for Ontario on economic, environmental and nutritional levels, and goes to show that emails, letters and petitions from the public can make a difference.
