Peace and Environment News * April 1996

Sustainable, Healthy Food Revived Through Organic Farming

by Morgan Van Wyck

Eleanor Heise at her organic farm near Quyon, Québec.

Food has lost much of its human dimension over the last few decades, as big business has taken control of food production and distribution. However, there are signs that we are beginning to take back ownership of our food. Organic produce is becoming more popular, and there is increasing support for local, organic food production. More and more people are learning about the disturbing realities of agri-business.

As Margaret Visser reminds us in Much Depends on Dinner, food is never just something to eat. The choice of food, the way it is served and eaten, "with whom and when, and how much time is allotted to cooking and eating it" are all "means by which a society creates itself and acts out its aims and fantasies."

One of the prevailing fantasies in North America over the last fifty years has been that food is business and therefore must be controlled. Food as nourishment, food as sacrament, food as celebration, as vital link between the earth and its inhabitants—all of these older aspects of "food culture" have, step-by-step, been eroded, replaced or hijacked to serve "Food Business."

At the same time, notions about agriculture have undergone tremendous changes, particularly since World War II, the age that Rachel Carson referred to as "the Silent Spring." The "modernization" of agriculture has given birth to a new language, a new system of beliefs, and an unending supply of weapons with which to wage "war" against nature. Food and crops have become "commodities," and people have become "markets." There is a new doctrine that the world can be fed by industrializing agriculture and concentrating on "yields," as opposed to the "old" way of focusing on soil health and ecosystem support.

The results of barely fifty years of full-blown interference with sustainable models of food production are an unhappy litany of man-made mistakes: near-dead and chemically dependent soils, a much-reduced gene pool for many fruits and vegetables, and poisoned water tables. Compelling arguments have been made about links between contaminants in food and health problems such as cancer. Activists have exposed widespread inhumane treatment of livestock. The drive toward corporate domination has led to dramatic decreases in the number of small and medium-sized farms and the loss of food sources.

Against this backdrop of horrors, however, more and more opportunities are becoming available to re-create a healthy food culture and to build it into our everyday lives. The growth of Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) groups and organic food co-ops and the success of organic farms suggests that a real alternative to agri-business is emerging.

Here are a number of options for those who want to get off the chemical-farming treadmill.

• For just a bit of your time and not much more money than you are now spending, you can buy organic produce directly from a local farmer by joining (or forming) a CSA group. CSA's are based on a local farmer or group of farmers and a group of "sharers" who commit themselves to buying that farmer's produce for a season. A number of successful CSA's throughout Canada have been providing farmers with reliable income and people with healthy food for over five years. CSA's often incorporate social events such as corn roasts, potlucks, or group work on the farm. CSA's can be seen as alternative social structures that bypass food "hype" as well as the high cost of food middlemen, relying instead on volunteer labour, local interdependence, direct relationship, and high quality.

  Here are some contacts for people interested in joining a CSA: Greta Kryger (St-Isidore, Ontario), (613) 524-3425; Eleanor Heise (Quyon, Québec), 819-647-3487; Dorothy Stephens, (819) 455-2260; the Ottawa Organic Food Alternative, (613) 230-6533. Those living in the Wakefield area will be able to pick up fresh, seasonal organic produce on selected evenings during the summer and early fall from Kathleen Leeson, (819) 459-1066.

• For those for whom a CSA sounds like too much work, there are opportunities to buy organic food in the more familiar way. Ottawa has health food stores offering organic produce, and the Organic Farmers Market at Kingsway United Church operates every Saturday, 10 A.M.-2 P.M., year 'round. It is also possible to stock up on supplies through one of the many locally organized food buying clubs or co-ops. These groups place bulk orders of (mostly organic) dry goods, tinned goods and other items with the Ontario Federation of Food Buying Clubs and Co-ops (OFFCC) in Toronto. The OFFCC delivers orders every two weeks to one of the members' houses, and detailed catalogues, revised quarterly, keep members up to date on what is available. The OFFCC can be reached at 1-800-387-0354, Monday to Friday, 9:30 A.M.-4:30 P.M. You can also contact Olly Wodin at the Centretown Community Health Centre, 563-4336, for information on local food buying clubs.

  The 1996 Organic Resource Guide, an annually updated directory of organic producers and produce in the Ottawa area and throughout Canada, is now available from the Canadian Organic Growers (COG) for $16.95. The Ottawa chapter of COG can be reached at (613) 231-9047. The Ottawa chapter has also compiled a reference list of organic farmers and market gardeners in the Ottawa/Outaouais area.

• For those who want to learn more or get involved in advocacy, periodicals like Ram's Horn, Synergy, and Regeneration will tell you a great deal. The Canadian Organic Growers, Knives and Forks (an association of mostly Toronto-area organic chefs, restaurants, and caterers) and the Council of Canadians are all involved in advocacy on behalf of organic farmers and the public. (The Council of Canadians is presently campaigning against introducing rBGH into our milk supply.)
• A group is now forming to organize a Feast of Fields celebration to be held in early September. This will be a gathering, in a rural setting, of organically-minded local farmers, chefs and other food professionals. The public will be able to sample, enjoy and learn more about the reasons for choosing local, organic produce. More information will be available later in the spring. Contact 729-5718.

Morgan Van Wyck is the owner of World Beet Catering, an Ottawa-based organic vegetarian catering company.

Converted April 11, 2000 - Lg

To follow up on this article, contact the author or the organizations/individuals mentioned; do not contact the Peace and Environment Resource Centre - we cannot provide follow up or contact information. This article is an archival copy of the printed one in the Peace and Environment News (PEN). Viewpoints expressed should not be taken to represent the opinions of the Peace and Environment Resource Centre, the PEN, or our supporters.

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