Food Policy
SEASONAL UPDATE: Weekly E-Bulletin ~ On Hiatus...
Adella Barwis Dorais feeding her hens when eggs were $1.20 per dozen. 1910? Source: City of Vancouver Archives.
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The foodpolicy e-bulletin is
currently on hiatus.
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Index of Postings (Click on Heading to Jump to Section)
City of Vancouver Food Policy News & Events
Events & Activities
Courses & Workshops
Conferences
Requests for Proposals / Calls for Papers
Job Opportunities
Volunteer Opportunities, Internships & Citizen Engagement
- Pandora Park Community Garden Organizing Meeting – NEW
- YWCA Vancouver Rooftop Garden – NEW
- The Food 2 U Program – NEW
- Grandview Woodlands Food Connection – NEW
- Take Action to Keep Canadian Prison Farms operating – NEW
- Growing Chefs for Children
- City Square Community Garden
- Be a Farm Friend at UBC Farm
Research & Resources
- Food Secure Vancouver Study – Phase One – NEW
- Esurio: Journal of Hunger & Poverty – NEW
- Bits and Bytes Website
- Modernizing Canada’s Agricultural Policies by Peter Jarrett and Shuji Kobayakawa
- Greater Vancouver Community Gardens Social Network
Media
- Foodtv.ca – 100 Mile Diet and Guerilla Gardening – NEW
- World Watch Magazine: Is Local Food Better? Yes, But There’s More Published by Sarah DeWeerdt – NEW
- Richmond Review: Backyard Chicken Plan Plucked by City, Published April 17, 2009 by Mathew Hoekstra – NEW
- Vancouver Courier: Restaurants to Advertise GE Food Ingredients, Published April 8, 2009 by Cheryl Rossi – NEW
- New York Times: Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at white House, Published March 19, 2009 by Marian Burros – NEW
Grants & Funding Opportunities
Miscellaneous
Submission Guidelines
- A few points to keep in mind when you send us your listing.
City of Vancouver Food Policy News & Events
No update items at this time.
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Events & Activities
No event listings at this time.
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Courses & Workshops
No course or workshop listings at this time.
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Conferences
No conference listings at this time.
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Requests for Proposals / Calls for Papers
No RFP listings at this time.
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Job Opportunities
No job listings at this time.
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Volunteer Opportunities, Internships & Citizen Engagement
Pandora Park Community Garden Organizing Meeting – NEW
Anyone living around Pandora Park (Hastings & Nanaimo) and/or interested in helping to create a new community garden in this park is welcome to join in for our organizing meeting.
:: Contact Ian @ 604-718-5895 for meeting times and location.
YWCA Vancouver Rooftop Garden – NEW
The YWCA Is seeking garden team leader volunteers to be in charge of a number of rooftop gardening responsibilities. A variety of positions are available for persons highly motivated in working towards: developing a sustainable urban community food garden; supplying high quality produce for women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside; providing education and awareness of environmental and food security issues. Team Leaders should be able to work 2 hours per week over the growing season (March- October).
:: For more information, contact Fleur Palliardi, fax 604 684 9171 or ywcavan.org/sustainability.
The Food 2 U Program – NEW
The Food 2 U program is a partnership between the Vancouver Food Bank and Vancouver Coastal Health. The program delivers food to seniors or persons with a disability most Friday mornings and is looking for volunteer drivers (with their own car) and passengers. Mileage will be reimbursed for those using their vehicles. Volunteers must be able to work well with people and be physically able to lift 20-25 lb grocery bags. Familiarity with the downtown area is an asset.
:: For further information, please contact Carrah Boume at 604-215-3931
Grandview Woodlands Food Connection – NEW
The Grandview Woodlands Food Connection is a grassroots food security group supporting residents to access healthy and affordable food. They are seeking volunteers interested in building their community organizing skills and helping to coordinate a number of community based food initiatives, including community gardening, canning workshops, arts based food initiatives, film festivals and more.
:: For more information or to volunteer call Ian @ 604-718-5895
Take Action to Keep Canadian Prison Farms Operating – NEW
Send a letter to federal politicians to support a campaign to keep Canadian prison farms operating. A decision to reverse the plans to close the prison farms must come from politicians.
To view a sample letter and a list of politicians to write to expressing your opposition to the federal decision click here. For mail no postage is required. To email a politician on the list, click on the email address then choose the text you prefer for the body of the message. Include your address for a response.
Growing Chefs for Children
Growing Chefs is a school based food/nutrition program looking for volunteers to go into schools and assist with the deliery of their curriculum. For more information see the Growing Chefs website or email admin [at] growingchefs.ca
City Square Community Garden
The City Square Garden is a communally-run demonstration garden coordinated by SPEC, located across from City Hall. We are currently seeking gardeners (experienced or not) for our fourth season to help plan, plant, and harvest the garden. During the season, we meet together Sunday mornings - come meet other like-minded people and grow good food together! Check out our blog at www.specgardens.blogspot.com and contact bakervicky [at] shaw.ca to see how to get involved!
Be a Farm Friend at UBC Farm
Connect children with land, food, and community as part of the Intergenerational Landed Learning Project at the UBC Farm! “Farm Friend” volunteers work in intergenerational teams of one elder and one young adult with 3-4 elementary school students to sow, grow, harvest, prepare, and eat food plants at the UBC Farm. Volunteers commit 12-15 mornings (Wednesday or Thursday, approximately every other week) from late September 2008 to June 2009 to work and learn with their Farm Friend teams. On-call volunteers are also sought to fill in as needed.
:: Find out more - Contact Stacy Friedman, Program Manager, ycats77 [at] yahoo.com 604-822-4842; or, Dr. Jolie Mayer-Smith 604-822-5293
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Research & Resources || Archive
Food Secure Vancouver Study - Phase One – NEW
In 2008, the Vancouver Food Policy Council embarked upon a two-year Food Secure Vancouver Study to identify, review and analyze key factors that are required to support and enhance Vancouver's food security. After striking a committee to identify the key determinants of food security, denote benchmarks, and recommend strategic priorities and policies to be considered by the City of Vancouver to assist with achieving food security, the VFPC commissioned a consulting team to produce a Food Secure Vancouver Baseline Report. Asking for an overview of current and projected food production, food demand, and the food distribution system supplying the City of Vancouver and its surrounding region, this report documents their findings and provides background information for further work.
:: To read the report. Click here
Esurio: Journal of hunger & poverty – NEW
A new on-line journal “Esurio: Journal of hunger & poverty” released its first issue in March. But don’t be misled by its Latin name (“esurio” means to be hungry) and high-profile academics (featuring an interview with Richard Florida), this is not your average academic journal. “Esurio” is a youth-oriented, non-profit publication committed to challenging the notion of what a Journal is by working to eliminate the barriers that young thinkers often face in getting their work published, while representing a diversity of voices and showcasing a variety of research methodologies and writing styles. The founders of the journal are also committed to building the skills of youth involved in the publication by providing training to youth peer-reviewers through a series of workshops.
:: See it for yourself at www.esurio.ca/ojs-2.2/index.php/esurio
Bits and Bytes Website
The Building Community Food Security with Bits & Bytes Project, in collaboration with Food Secure Canada, has created an online food security resource database. An intuitive user-interface ensures that people with minimal computer skills or on slow-speed internet will still be able to navigate the site and locate the information they are seeking. Fashioned after Wikipedia, the database will grow through the submissions and comments of the food security community who use it. In this way, it will continue to expand in richness and content, with a focus on credible, practical, accessible information that will be of use to community activists, academics, policy makers, farmers and anyone interested in food security. Content covers a range, from community kitchen recipes to the use of comfrey in compost tea, from food miles to nutrition, from food charters to farmers markets, from food sovereignty to hunger... he database hosts a range of media, from various document types to video and audio files. All database content will be searchable. Anyone can search the site but to post comments or upload your own material - which we encourage whole heartedly! - you must register on the website.
:: Follow this link to access the Bits & Bytes website
Modernizing Canada’s Agricultural Policies by Peter Jarrett and Shuji Kobayakawa
The agricultural sector in Canada is relatively large, compared to those in most other G7 countries. In recent years, the federal and provincial governments have undertaken a number of sectoral reforms to meet the competitiveness and environmental challenges that it faces. The federal government has tried to end a marketing monopoly in the barley market and may do so for wheat as well. The next generation of agriculture and agri-food policy is being finalised, and implementation of the first part of a new framework, Growing Forward, has begun. But a steady stream of ad hoc programmes in recent years has had significant budgetary costs and no doubt created moral hazard among farmers. There is scope for further liberalisation in supply-managed sectors, which are heavily protected and subsidised by consumers. Moreover, Canada’s bio-energy production, in particular the production of second-generation bio-ethanol (from cellulose), is under pressure in light of less costly bio-energy production overseas. Against this background, governments are striving to ensure the long-term viability of the sector. This Working Paper relates to the 2008 OECD Economic Survey of Canada.
:: To access the report follow this link (PDF)
Greater Vancouver Community Gardens Social Network
A Social Network for Community Garden Members and those interested in starting new ones. Available on site: forums, blogs, photos, calendar, links, chat, and events listings... Please Join Us!
:: To see the blog - click here
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Media || Archive
foodtv.ca – 100 Mile Diet Challenge – NEW
Meet bestselling authors James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, known globally for their work in the local food movement, and acting locally as cheerleaders for the families who volunteered for the Challenge. Episodes include hearing others involved in the challenge, recipes, and gardening in Vancouver.
:: to learn more, visit the 100 Mile Diet Challenge website
World Watch Magazine: Is Local Food Better? Yes, But There’s More. Published by Sarah DeWeerdt – NEW
In 1993, a Swedish researcher calculated that the ingredients of a typical Swedish breakfast-apple, bread, butter, cheese, coffee, cream, orange juice, sugar-traveled a distance equal to the circumference of the Earth before reaching the Scandinavian table. In 2005, a researcher in Iowa found that the milk, sugar, and strawberries that go into a carton of strawberry yogurt collectively journeyed 2,211 miles (3,558 kilometers) just to get to the processing plant. As the local-food movement has come of age, this concept of "food miles" (or "-kilometers")-roughly, the distance food travels from farm to plate-has come to dominate the discussion, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and parts of Western Europe.
:: To read the complete article, click here
Richmond Review: Backyard Chicken Plan Plucked by City. Published April 17, 2009 by Mathew Hoekstra – NEW
Richmond civic politicians refused to approve a motion to allow chickens in backyards.
:: To see the full article, click here
Toronto Star: 'Food is not just about fuelling the body' Published, April 10, 2009, by Kim Honey – NEW
Winchester Elementary in Toronto is one of four schools involved in a pilot project funded by the Ministry of Health Promotion called Community Nutrition from the Ground Up. These four schools are in what the school board calls "at-risk" neighbourhoods. To read more, click here
Vancouver Courier: Restaurants to Advertise GE Food Ingredients, Published April 8, 2009 by Cheryl Rossi – NEW
:: To see the full article click here.
New York Times: Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House, Published March 19, 2009 by Marian Burros – NEW
Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of the South Lawn on Friday to plant a vegetable garden, the first at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II.
While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern. To read more, click here.
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Grants & Funding Opportunities
A New Opportunity for Commercialization – Deadline April 30, 2009
Are you aware of a new idea or technology that you would like to commercialize in the agriculture, food and bioproducts sectors of BC? Or perhaps you know of someone who has a new idea with the potential to be commercialized? The BC Innovation Council (BCIC) can assist in helping you drive this opportunity to commercial success. The Commercialization of Agricultural Technology (CAT) Competition provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop innovative ideas in the agriculture, food and bioproducts sectors. Ideas can be homegrown, from research or could have already been commercialized outside BC. BCIC, in collaboration with our partners, can help further evaluate your business opportunity by providing access to extensive research, information, and advisory resources.
:: Full application forms available for download at www.bcic.ca/industry/life-sciences/agri-food
BC Recreation and Parks Association/UBCM Stay Active Eat Healthy Initiative - Deadline May 1, 2009
This program offers grants of up to $7,500 each to communities as part of Phase 3 of its funding program. Thirty grants are being offered to local governments. Five grants are being offered to First Nations. The deadline for applications for both sets of grants is May 1.
:: For more information, contact Anna Kirbyson at akirbyson [at] bcrpa.bc.ca or visit the website.
Host a City Happening Community Grant Program – Deadline May 13, 2009 - NEW
This program offers local groups and residents up to $10,000 to take advantage of the public enthusiasm and excitement for the 2010 Winter Games and Vancouver’s role as Host City. This program is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for your not-for-profit community group or cultural organization to initiate a special event or activity – a ‘happening’ – and receive financial support from the City of Vancouver. One-of-a-kind legacy projects will also be considered.
Organizations must be based in Vancouver and have been registered as a non-profit society for more than a year. All proposed events, activities and projects must also take place in Vancouver. The City of Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Operations Office will allocate funds based on the submissions from applying organizations. Decisions will be made based on the theme, content and type of event, with priority being given to projects requesting $10,000 or less.
If your project/event meets the eligibility criteria, an application form and further Host a City Happening Community Grant Program information will be forwarded to you by email or post.
:: For grant eligibility information or more information, contact Jaye Russell, Program Coordinator at 604-296-2868 or hostcityhappenings [at] vancouver.ca or visit the website.
International Development and Research Council Ecopolis Awards - Deadline May 15, 2009 - NEW
IDRC is launching the Ecopolis 2009 graduate research and design awards. These awards will fund graduate student research and design projects that aim to improve urban environments and reduce poverty in developing regions.
:: Application details can be found at www.idrc.ca/upe-ecopolis. For more information contact the Centre Training and Awards Program at (613) 236-6163, ext. 2098 or cta [at] idrc.ca
Young Leaders sought for trip down the Fraser River August 6 – 30th. Deadline for scholarship application, May 29th - NEW
This summer ten young community leaders will travel 1,400 km by raft, canoe and on foot down the Fraser River. From August 6th to 30th the Rivershed Society of BC (RSBC) will host the Sustainable Living Leadership Program (SLLP), an exciting three-week outdoor education program.
The program covers key sustainability concepts like food security, voluntary simplicity, stewardship and green economics. Each student learns how to lower their own ecological footprint and designs a project to take back to their community.
The RSBC offers ten $9,000 scholarships to successful applicants covering the majority of the $10,000 trip. Participants must be 19 years of age or older and physically fit. Community volunteer experience is an asset.
:: For more information or to apply visit: http://www.rivershed.com/programs.sllp.shtml
Andrew W. Mellon Post-doctoral Fellowship in Sustainable Urban Food Systems - NEW
Eugene Lang College, the New School for Liberal Arts seeks a Post-Doctoral Fellow in sustainable urban food systems for the 2009-2010 academic year to assist in research, curriculum development, and public programming coordination within the University’s new Environmental Studies Program. Three potential areas of interest include: Food Systems Planning and Policy Research, Urban Food Access, and Urban Agriculture and Community Development.
:: To apply, interested applicants should visit the job seekers page on The New School website www.newschool.edu. If you have any questions, please contact Laura Buentello at Buentell [at] newschool.edu or 229-5321 x3229.
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Miscellaneous
BC Food Systems Network's Provincial Election Toolkit - NEW
The Election Toolkit includes three separate documents intended to encourage Members and supporters around the Province to look at opportunities to bring food issues to the forefront during the upcoming elections as well as to support the election of “food and agriculture-friendly” candidates, that is those who will be working towards a more localized, equitable and sustainable food system.
:: To download the toolkit, visit http://fooddemocracy.org/new.php
Community Food Security Coalition “Food Policy Council” monthly conference call podcast – NEW
Listen to experts from Cleveland, Missoula, Portland, and Boulder on the subject of land use and food and farm policy. It is mp3 format, playable in Winamp, iTunes, or any other mp3 player software you might have. Click the link below to start downloading. Note that the file size is very large, so if you have a slow internet connection it will take a while.
:: Audiofile - http://foodsecurity.org/uploads/FoodPolicyCouncilCall-Apr2009.mp3
Crops and Cultures: The Preservation of Heirloom Varieties
An examination of unique food varieties, their cultural and agricultural context, and the range of efforts being taken to preserve seeds. If you are able to spend time doing an interview or could provide any relevant information on seed saving or crop preservation in Canada. Please contact Adam Forbes at forbesfarmer [at] yahoo.com.
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Submission Guidelines
If you have a posting that you’d like to see included here, please feel free to send it our way. But before you do that, please note the following requirements:
- Text should be brief - 1-2 paragraphs. Owing to space limits we need to ensure that postings are not written in essay format. If your listing is on the longish side (say more than 150-175 words), we would encourage you to send us a synopsis with a weblink to your own website, or another way for people to get more information.
- We post text only - no graphics, images or posters. In order to facilitate this, please ensure that your listing is sent as either email text, or in .RTF or .DOC format. Please do not send us PDF files or fliers, etc., as it takes too long to reformat them for the website.
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