A food charter bringing farm and consumer together

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Simcoe County's Food and Agriculture Charter aims to connect farmers and consumer through a wide range of programs and activities, including such things as providing school lunches

by MIKE BEAUDIN

Most consumers don't connect the food they're buying off the grocery store shelf to the farm down the road. Food just somehow magically appears every day.

In Simcoe County, efforts are underway to change that with an official Food and Agriculture Charter that connects farmers and consumers through a wide range of programs and activities.

The charter was introduced over a year ago to guide communities, businesses, government and non-profit organizations in strengthening the local food system and ensuring regional food security.

John Hemsted of Sunningdale Farms, who operates a sheep farm between Barrie and Orillia, sat on the steering committee for the charter, which took more than two years to develop. He says the charter is unique because it's focused on a production-to-plate philosophy rather than the buy-local approach of other charters.

The charter encourages both consumers and farmers to think about the food cycle.

"Ask a farmer what he's harvesting and he will say beans or corn or whatever, but he won't stop to make the connection that he's producing 1,000 loaves of bread," says Hemsted. "The charter helps to make sure both sides understand that all people eat and need to know how and where food comes from."

The charter is more than a public awareness campaign. It's an official guideline adopted by all 16 municipalities within the county, as well as the cities of Barrie and Orillia. Lakehead University, the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, Simcoe County Farm Fresh, Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, Simcoe County Federation of Agriculture, and Food Partners Alliance Simcoe County are all participants in the charter.

At the grassroots level, it involves a number of programs that link producers to the plate with a focus on teaching people where food comes from and how to prepare it.

Lynda Van Casteren, owner of Nicholyn Farms, about 20 kilometres north of Barrie, a pork farm that has expanded to include a large on-site store including a bakery and a kitchen, started a school lunch box program that fits perfectly into the charter's guidelines. She partners with 75 other area producers to make lunches for 11 nearby schools with all the ingredients produced locally.

The Nicholyn Farm kitchen makes hot and cold lunches, all approved by local health unit dietitians, and delivers them to schools within a 20-minute drive of the farm. They sell the lunches wholesale for $4 each and the kids who participate pay $4.50 or $5 with proceeds going into their schools' fundraising coffers. Some schools in areas that are less affluent have provided the meals to all students at no charge.

In the fall, Van Casteren visits the schools to talk about where the food for the lunches comes from. Schools are also invited to tour their farm.

The kids get a healthy lunch, the schools earn some money and the farm makes enough profit to keep its staff employed year around. "It's a win-win for everybody involved," says Van Casteren.

Once a year, the charter recognizes outstanding participants at an awards ceremony recognizing retailers, individuals and farmers.

Brittany Doner, who co-ordinates the charter for the county, says holding the event in conjunction with the Simcoe County Federation of Agriculture's annual summer barbecue is another way of involving producers.

"There's not a lot of thanks for farmers," says Doner. "They're producing food and it's a year-round job. These awards highlight the work they're doing and really show people all the hard work that goes into putting food on their table."

Doner says the charter is still in its infancy, but it has seen a 30 per cent increase in official endorsements since it started. The steering committee is developing a formal evaluation process to measure the charter's effectiveness. BF