Growing and Sharing Community Gardens in Halton event: November 20. More here.

More local dairy products for Ontario families:  Ontario is helping dairy farmers and processors launch a new pilot project to make specialty dairy products for families. 

With support from Ontario’s Rural Economic Development Program, Dairy Farmers of Ontario is teaming up with five dairy companies http://www.milk.org/corporate/pdf/News-August25_2011.pdf from across the province to create and market dairy products made with milk from specific cattle and become on-farm processors.  “This will help to expand the market for high-quality, locally-produced milk and cheeses. With more and more consumers wanting to know about the origins of their food, this project couldn’t come at a better time," says David Murray, Vice-Chair, Dairy Farmers of Ontario

LOCAL FOOD NEWSLETTER & ARTICLE LINKS

Edible Toronto:  “Weeds: Can’t Beat ‘em? Eat ‘em!” here.   This is a great reference for utilizing the abundance of edible weeds that grow in our region.

 Good Food Revolution (Toronto)

 City Farmer News   A collection of stories about our work at City Farmer here in Vancouver, Canada, and about urban farmers from around the world.

 Mother Earth News “How to find the best food:  20 ways to get fresh, sustainable food in your neck of the woods”

 IT’S ALMOST 15 YEARS SINCE THE FIRST GENETICALLY MODIFIED (GM) CROP WAS INTRODUCED IN CANADA.  Now, half of all the grain corn and soy grown in Ontario is GM, and almost all of the white sugar beet in Ontario is GM. 1  GM corn, canola, soy and sugar beet are on the market for Canadian farmers, with two types of GM traits: herbicide tolerance and insect resistance. Companies are now combining or “stacking” these GM traits together.  Read more here.

ON SMALL ABATTOIRS 

In many cases, farmers are raising livestock to the specifications of their customers whether that be certified organic, grass-fed, humanely-raised or free-range. The relationship between farmer and customer is key in these local and niche markets. To maintain these relationships and the local, niche market it is absolutely essential for farmers to provide safe meat and to ensure only their meat is sold to their customers.

Without abattoirs that are small enough to completely process each animal individually, this relationship between farmers and eaters cannot exist.  Small abattoirs are disappearing from much of rural Ontario, and if this trend continues, the options for farmers to tap into the local meat market to help make their farms more viable will also disappear. Farmers selling meat to customers they know individually are committed to safe food. Read more here. 

• Go Local - Home
• Why, What & Where is Local Food?
• Local Food Certification
• Local Food Resources/Helpful Links
• Profiles of Local Food & Drink Suppliers
• What's in Season & Recipes
• How to Grow it Yourself & Halton's Community Gardens
• When & Where Local Food Events