December 10, 2008

Give The Gift Of Going Local

Neighbours Organic Weekly Cooperative (NOW Co-op) is promoting eating locally this holiday season. NOW Co-op offers delivery of local, organic fresh produce, dairy, meats and bulk foods to neighborhoods around Metro Vancouver. NOW helps people enjoy delicious, local, organic foods--even in the middle of winter there are lots of yummy local things to eat. And guess what—local means fresher and tastier too. It is NOW's mission to connect local farms and processors with consumers, building community around a sustainable food network here in BC. Currently, NOW Co-op is offering some local, green gift options too:
- gift baskets full of strictly local food treats, carefully packed with cedar bows and holly to make them festive, while leaving out all the packaging to throw away
- gift certificates for organic, local groceries from NOW Co-op
- Green Zebra Guides with over 200 coupons featuring green products and services in the Vancouver area (see below)
- and finally, for those who have everything—make an investment in a sustainable local food system with a NOW Co-op membership share or two put in their name

While eating local in winter may be easy when it comes to dairy, meat and seafoods--produce is a different matter, “though it is exciting to see people having fun discovering some of BC's best kept winter food secrets: things like parsnips, portabello mushrooms, beets, carrots and the oh so sweet and delicious array of squash which are all at their best during December and January!” says NOW's community outreach coordinator, Joanna Michal.

For more information on NOW Co-op, visit www.nowbc.ca or contact Joanna at joannam@nowbc.ca.

November 14, 2008

FARMFOLK BENEFITS FROM THE GREEN ZEBRA GUIDE

The Green Zebra guide is a holiday gift that lasts all year long with over 250 coupons from eco-friendly, community-oriented businesses. When you buy on-line, enter the code "ffcf09" and a portion of your purchase will go directly to FarmFolk/CityFolk! Overall net proceeds of Vancouver's Green Zebra help support TB Vets Charitable Foundation. Get your Green Zebra today (also available directly from FarmFolk/CityFolk.)

November 14, 2008

Vancouverites, including David Suzuki, speak out in support of UBC Farm by Donna Passmore

Staff can't remember the last time it happened, but more than 100 students, farmland and environmental advocates, food policy specialists and interested observers who packed the boardroom at Metro Vancouver for 3.5 hours on Hallowe'en morning got to witness it: a unanimous vote by the Board.

On the table was a resolution, put forward by the Agriculture Committee headed by Richmond Councillor and ALR founder, Harold Steves, calling on the Board to send a letter to UBC supporting preservation of the size and location of the UBC Farm in its impending revised Official Community Plan. With the region's actual authority over UBC is being wrestled by lawyers, political will suffered no such ambiguity on Friday.

Delegations from around the region included the Farmland Defence League of BC's Damien Gillis, Wilderness Committee's Geoff Senenchenko, SPEC's Food Policy Cttee Co-Chair, Vancouver Farmer's Market Society's Mel Lehan, healthy communities advocate Fred Bass, Vancouver Food Policy Council's David Tracy and UBC AMS VP, Tristan Markle. But it was the 3 member team of Andrea Morgan, Matt Filipiak and UBC's soil science guru Dr. Art Bomke that held the room captive as they discussed the numerous academic and social value-added functions the Farm brings to UBC and its surrounding regional community, how years of unchecked development have affected quality of life on campus and the failure by UBC administration to consider the massive outcry by the public, demonstrated by 15,000 signatures on a petition, hundreds of students volunteering at the Farm and the support by the student body and faculty for the preservation.

Elizabeth Ball (Vancouver), Derek Corrigan and Colleen Jordan (Burnaby) and Marvin Hunt (Surrey) spoke passionately against the resolution, then voted for it. The only ghoulish moment at the Hallowe'en meeting were Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan's childish berating of students applauding their peers or his unprovoked attacks on the vote's architect, Harold StevesŠ or his astounding equating the passion for UBC Farm with the US Congress's historic support for invasion of Iraq as a passion-triggered misguided response to allegations of the presence of weapons of mass destruction. An important distinction, Director Corrigan, is that the weapons of mass destruction were an artificial threat, whereas the global food security crisis we face is very real indeed.

Shame on Surrey's Barbara Steele, West Vancouver's Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, Pitt Meadows Don McLean and Maple Ridge's Judy Dueck (spoke strongly against the resolution) for vacating their chairs just prior to the vote, effectively abstaining from the vote. Notably absent from this important debate and vote were Vancouver NPA Mayoral Candidate Peter Ladner, NPA's Suzanne Anton and Maple Ridge Mayor Gordy Robson.

District A (which includes UBC) Director Gary Gibson acknowledged the satisfaction of finishing his term by voting to protect the Farm. Although Gibson is not seeking re-election, he vowed to remain involved in advocating for the protection of UBC Farm. Gary is respected across the region for his unwavering support for all things agricultural and environmental, and demonstrated the extent of his mettle during the 2006 campaign to keep District A's Barnston Island in the Agricultural Land Reserve.

Increasing concerns by Vancouver voters about the seeming indifference to farmland and Green Zone issues from the Vision-Cope slate were not just laid to rest, but cremated Friday by the political wall erected around UBC Farm by Heather Deal, David Cadman, Tim Stevenson and George Chow.

The cynics among us could dismiss Friday's historic vote on UBC Farm to pre-election pressures from an increasingly pro-agricultural regional electorate. That would certainly seem to explain the uncharacteristic support from Mayor Kurt Alberts, who just last week approved a 10 acre ALR exclusion (in an application that defied requisite public notification) in his own Langley Township. Or Marvin Hunt, who has supported every anti-environmental and anti-agricultural proposal to darken Surrey City Council chambers in the past 9 years. And the rare election eve pro-farmland statements from the Chair, the Mayor of Delta who is perceived by many to have been a political architect of a highly controversial ALR and Green Zone removal in her own community.

But it doesn't explain the impassioned support from Board members not seeking re-election, including Judy Higginbotham, who's often confused but ultimately very strong support for UBC Farm stunned people who have witnessed her consistently anti-agricultural and anti-environmental several year voting pattern both in Surrey and at the Metro Board.

And it certainly doesn't explain why the traditionally quiet Judy Forester urged her peers to go the distance and not only support UBC Farm, but to do so unanimouslyŠ a challenge to which they rose in magnificent fashion. In the absence of electoral pressure, perhaps White Rock's Mayor has recognized that her city, with no farmland of its own, is dependent upon the agricultural holdings of neighbouring communities.

Agricultural political tacticians could point to the unfalteringly impressive calibre of the presentations by the delegations, underscored as they were by an 11th hour appeal from David Suzuki himself.

But those watching from the gallery didn't see - as I had the privilege to - the determined faces of the students who watched every word and move made by the Board.

Having waited for this critical vote, the Farmland Defence League will be issuing its municipal candidate endorsements on Monday.

november 14, 2008

Michael Pollan proposes a Sun-Food Agenda to Barack Obama

Michael Pollan's recent open letter to the U.S. president elect has been creating a buzz down south. Check out Pollan's full artcile in the New York Times, or this summary posted at TreeHugger. Also of note is evidence that Obama actually read the letter. He proposes a shift in agriculture policy that is dependent on the oil economy to policy based on the power of the sun. Makes sense.

June 23, 2008

Win Tickets to Jack Johnson Concert & Support FarmFolk/CityFolk - Contest Closed. Congratulations to our winners!

The contest is over, but you can still support FarmFolk/CityFolk by viewing our video on Jack Johnson's "All at Once" website.
- Go to the Jack Johnson web site.
- Scroll down to the FarmFolk/CityFolk show (bee on flower photograph)
- View the entire 3 minute show. FarmFolk/CityFolk gets $1 for every complete viewing.

June 23, 2008

Jack Johnson Offers $2,500 Matching Grant - Please Donate Now

Jack Johnson has offered FarmFolk/CityFolk $2,500 as a Matching Grant. This is an excellent time to donate to FarmFolk/CityFolk. We will use your tax receiptable donation to trigger Jack Johnson’s generous donating opportunity. You can send your cheque with “Jack Johnson Campaign” as a memo. Or you can donate through Canada Helps. If you have any questions, please call the FarmFolk/CityFolk office at 604-730-0450, or email info@ffcf.bc.ca.

June 23, 2008

Green Your Campbell Cash

The Tyee has created a website to encourage people to donate the “Climate Action Dividend” that each BC resident is receiving from the provincial government. Check out our BC Seed Security Project listing on the Green Your Campbell Cash website. One of the keys to a greener world is a strong local food system. Control of our food starts with seeds. 

Click here to donate your Climate Action Dividend to FarmFolk/CityFolk through Canada Helps.

Updated: June 9, 2008

Petition to Help Save UBC Farm

SIGN THE PETITION

About the petition:
The University of British Columbia, located on Musqueam traditional territory, is home to the last working farm in Vancouver. The 24 hectare UBC Farm/ Centre for Sustainable Food Systems serves as a model for urban agriculture, a research site for sustainable food production and sustainability education, a unique and beautiful ecosystem balancing cultivated and native plants and animals, a source of fresh, local produce, and a hub for community and service learning.

Unfortunately The UBC Farm is currently under threat as housing at UBC expands. It is entirely possible to save the farm and still meet housing needs as laid out in the community and campus plan.

In recognition of the unique experiential learning and academic research space at UBC Farm please support the following proposal to retain and enhance the existing UBC Farm/ Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at the University of British Columbia as an innovative centre for sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, food systems and community health:

Retain UBC Farm in the current location in South Campus where soils have been built up for 40 years.

Retain UBC Farm at its current size (24 hectares) to ensure that it can continue its varied, innovative research and community programming, as well as its demonstration of sustainable production-scale agriculture.

Preserve significant wildlife corridors around the Farm which serve as integral habitat for frogs, eagles, hawks, owls and at least 60 other species of birds living in balance with an integrated farm ecosystem.

Background:
April10, 2008 - An Important Announcement about the Future of the Farm

To see the kind of innovative programs that UBC Farm offers from school garden programs, to an urban Aboriginal community kitchen, to a student-run farmer's market, to apprenticeships in organic agriculture, to a diverse array of research, please check out their website.

Also check out the Friends of UBC Farm website for details on how to get involved in the farm.

Over the following weeks UBC will be making a decision about the future of Vancouver's last working farm - the UBC Farm (and Centre for Sustainable Food Systems.) The UBC Farm is a unique asset to the city and region. It provides students and the broader community the opportunity to learn hands-on about how changes in the way food is produced and distributed are a key piece in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, mitigating climate change, and in creating healthy local communities and economies.

To see the kind of innovative programs that UBC Farm offers from school garden programs, to an urban Aboriginal community kitchen, to a student-run farmer's market, to apprenticeships in organic agriculture, to a diverse array of research, please check out their website: www.landfood.ubc.ca/ubcfarm

From all appearances, opportunities for public input into the decision about the future of UBC Farm will be very limited.

There are two things that you can do right now to help support the farm:

1) Register for "design workshops" that UBC Campus Planning is holding. Participation is by invitation only, but you can request to be invited by writing to: stefani.lu@ubc.ca or call Stefani Lu at 604-827-3465. NB: the deadline for registration is March 1. You can check out the Main Campus Plan review website at: http://www.campusplan.ubc.ca/

2) Write a letter in support of preserving UBC Farm in its current location and of maintaining it at a scale that would allow viable, diverse farming activities to continue. You can send this letter to:

* Stephen J. Toope, President and Vice-Chancellor, Office of the President, The University of British Columbia, 6328 Memorial Road, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2

* Nancy Knight, Associate Vice President Campus & Community Planning, The University of British Columbia, 102 - 2210 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4

* The UBC Board of Governors, c/o Reny Kahlon, Acting Secretary, 6328 Memorial Road Vancouver, V6T 1Z2

* UBC/GVRD Joint Committee; c/o Paulette Vetleson, Corporate Secretary, 4330 Kingsway, Burnaby, V5H 4G8

Also please CC the farm so that they can keep track of letters of support: UBC Farm, 2357 Main Mall, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4.

May 9, 2008

Capers Whole Foods Markets donates over $13,000 to Get Local!

Details

May 2, 2008

Help Preserve Richmond's Garden City Lands

Garden City Lands is a 136 acre green space in the heart of Richmond. The City of Richmond is applying to have it removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) so that most of the property can become high density development.

The Garden City Lands Coalition was formed in an attempt to prevent this from happening. They have proposed a number of viable alternative uses that would allow the land to remain in the ALR and preserve the long term suitability of the land for producing food. Food sustainability should be everyone's concern, especially in the face of a growing population, climate change, and increasing use of farmland for biofuels.

If you would like to support the Garden City Lands Coalition in preventing the removal of the Garden City Lands from the ALR, please consider signing this petition. It is open to "residents and friends of Canada".

See the Garden City Lands website for more information.

updated may 28, 2008

Mandatory Labelling of Genetically Engineered Food

Deconstructing Dinner on the defeat of Bill C-517.

Previous post. (April 25, 2008)
By the luck of the Parliamentary draw, a private member’s bill supporting mandatory labelling of GE food in Canada was randomly selected for debate in the House of Commons in April.

Bill C-517, presented by a Bloc Québécois MP, was debated during a second reading on April 3, 2008 . A second hour of parliamentary debate may take place in as early as two weeks, according to the House of Commons calendar. Following this second debate, the House will be called on to vote on Bill C-517 on mandatory GE labelling in Canada.

It is important that federal MPs vote in favour of Bill C-517 on the second reading. The stakes are high but this time, the bill has a very good chance of becoming law. You have the power to persuade our federal MPs to support this bill and to choose us instead of Monsanto!

Visit the Greenpeace website for details on contacting your MP to have your voice heard.
5 Easy Steps • 1 Message • 7 Minutes • Take Action Now!

April 24, 2008

World Food Crisis

The Canadian mainstream media has taken notice of the world food crisis. Most outlets have focused on crop failure, rising oils prices, and foodlands used to grow fuel rather than food as the main contributing factors. But, corporate profits from the industrial food sector are on the rise. Check out the GRAIN report below to see how a gobalized food system created a crisis.

Monocrops Bring Food Crisis from The Georgia Straight
Making a killing from the food crisis from GRAIN
Modern agricultural practices must change a UNESCO report
Interactive Food Crisis Map from the Financial Times
The Global Hops Shortage from The Tyee

March 20, 2008

Svalbard Global Seed Vault Opens

This controversial seedbank buried deep underground on a remote Norwegian island. Who holds the keys to the vault? Is the vault for the good of humanity or the good of corporate funders?

Some pertinent links:
Wikipedia - What is the vault?
Official Site from Norwegian Government
Analysis from Canadian based non-profit ETC Group.
Faults in the Vault - from GRAIN

February 20, 2008