J3-What can we do to build infrastructure that supports a more sustainable food system?

proposed by Peter Dowling

how to find another avenue to get food into the hands of eaters?

do we have distribution monopolies? you can't stop the monopolies but you don't have to use them.

sell lamb to food distributor that supplies restaurants - I couldn't deal with sysco's because they won't pay me anything for it.

what kind of role can the government take to reduce monopolies? forget the monopolies - instead seek alternatives. enough independent retailers, buyers - untapped - no lack of opportunity.

need infrastructure, people, volume, etc.

farmers markets not accessible to all people - why aren't there stores that offer all local food that are open regular hours - administratively onerous. one supplier makes it easier. this model of the store is not the right model to go after.

other models: coop-pool all vegetables together - Ontario Natural Food Coop - buying cooperative that caters to smaller producers - pool resources, schedule production - so why can't they pool these resources and have a store - takes a lot of effort, entrepreneurialship, resources, etc

big grocers looking at farmer's markets and trying to find ways to put them out of business -cities aren't interested in markets

The experience elsewhere is that grocery chains are recognizing the value of local food and moving in to market it.

No Frills store closing in Kingston - what to put into this new spot - coop store has been suggested, heard that this is a huge commitment, not worth it, etc. I don't want to be tied to this commitment but want a solution to the problem - how can we make this easier?

could we get an outdoor market there? coop's are successful look at credit unions. all about getting the infrastructure - gettingt the right people thinking the right way

Organic Meadow - farmer owned coop.

Keep hearing that we need to get people organized better. Why is it so difficult to do that? 

Problems - each producer has their own way of doing things, each has their own niche market and don't want to share - but you need someone strong enough to start and pound away. takes a lot of time and lot of personal expense. need leadership.

need to invest in human resources - how to do this? grant money? should the government fund this?

coops are organizing everywhere but it takes years to do - but takes a long time because there are consumers out there who want the cheapest food at the greatest convenience - takes a lot of time and energy.

Policy - facilitates small business loans - need this. Need regulatroy appraoch that would facilitates small kitchens, canning, slaughterhouse. Lack of federal abbatoirs in area makes it difficult for retailers with certain policies to buy locally. Licensing issue. Feds and provincials should get together to set up a coordinated licensing system for slaughterhouses. If provincial wants to go federal very difficult because the regulations keep changes.

3 voices and they all speak different (in Ontario) but in Quebec there is only 1 voice - more aligned. I'd rather be in Quebec. But it doesn't represent dissident or alternative view.

Quebec - done wonderfully with their cheese industry - but we've lost all of ours. Why did this happen? WHen they said all cheeses have to be pasteurized but Quebec cheese produces and consumers said absolutely not. So they have maintained their industry. Quebec has a much more agrarian culture than we do. They are very connected to their food and food culture. Zoning is much more severe. Can't build a house anywhere.

Land-use planning does not address local food in the short term.

What sort of infrastructure do we need to support local food year round? We export 100% and import 100% - we grow a lot of stuff under glass and a lot goes to the states. How do we keep it local? We don't have local infrastructure to move that food up to Ottawa or elsewhere.

So what does it involve? Build greenhouses here and use geothermal. But government needs to provide incentives/subsidies to allow farmers to do this. This would help extend the season. I think they should be using geo and thermal so that we have the ability to build greenhouses throughout Ontario.

Here's a link to a 1971 article from Mother Earth News on Geothermal Power. Reference to geothermal heated greenhouses in Iceland on page 3.

As a society through government we create enabling legislation, policies. A private entrepreneur creates the actual infrastruture - the transportation, greenhouses.

Need access to capital. Very hard to find information about what grants are available - need info hub where all of this infromation is available. Takes a lot of time to find this information and I'm busy. Find, understand, apply - takes a lot of time.

OMAFRA has agents but these people are busy and not always around - still a lot of work. A lot of grants to do feasibility studies but no grants for infrastructure. I could spend that money on something better but required to do a feasibility study. Grants - want to look like moving money into the market but do not want to appear to subsidize a private enterprise that can compete with others - appears to be supporting some and not others.

The Eastern Ontario Develpment Fund from OMAFR.

export our resources to be refined, manufactured and then import them - do this because most people don't want to pay for goods produced in Canada

Finding that we're able to develop the market faster than we're able to meet demand. Good in that creating an opportunity to get other people involved in the production side. Challenge in starting a farmers markets you challenge rests with finding farmers not finding buyers.

Farmers need to be better at marketing.

New farmers becoming more prevalent - but not a lot of help. Realizing that bigger is not better - don't need to be in the commodity markets - new demand in value-added products. Larger farms brings into question the quality of the food.

Consumers more educated - connection between food health and local economies.

NEED:

access to capital, support programs, education for entrepreneurs

know where to look to tap into capital and knowledge and tap into networks

streamline regulations - facilitate on-farm slaughter process ad value-added