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I’m Lauren Baker, a Small Change Fund advisor and director of Sustain Ontario. I’ve noticed that every month at The Stop’s food bank one item is featured from local farmers. One month it is kale from the New Farm, another it is potatoes from Klondyke Farm. The fresh, local, sustainably grown item stands out among the rest of the good provided in the three day hamper – mostly canned and dry goods and processed foods. The connection between farms like the New Farm in Creemore and The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto, points to a new interest in linking food access, health and sustainable farming in Ontario.

Before they became connected with FoodShare, the Norfolk Fruit Growers received pennies from juice processors for their undersized apples. FoodShare, an organization in Toronto that distributes fresh food to schools, was looking for apples suitable for elementary school kids. Now, the undersized apples, perfect for little hands, are sold by the Norfolk Fruit Growers Association to FoodShare. Once a week a delivery of 30,000 apples arrives at FoodShare to be distributed to schools across the city of Toronto. The Norfolk Fruit Growers Association receive 50% more for the apples than they did from the juice processors.

These new connections, models and “good food ideas” are captured in a series of reports recently published by the Metcalf Foundation. The Food Solutions reports offer a range of strategies that link health, accessibility, economic development and sustainable agriculture. Our team at Sustain Ontario – The Alliance for Healthy Food and Farming provided the anchor document, identifying ten leading ideas from the grassroots sustainable food movement:

1. Support producers of locally consumed fruit, vegetables, and meats.
2. Make room for new farmers and alternative markets within the supply- managed system.
3. Harvest the whole value of ecological goods and services from agriculture.
4. Plant urban Ontario.
5. Implement a school food program, and embed food literacy in the curriculum.
6. Support community food centres.
7. Establish local food infrastructure through regional food clusters.
8. Expand public procurement of local, sustainably produced food.
9. Link good food with good health.
10. Plan for the future of farming and food.

The Metcalf Food Solutions Reports offer recommendations about the new governance structures, focused investment, and policy and program shifts required to harness the power of these good food ideas. To read more about how these ideas contribute to health and economic viability along the food chain, download the reports at Metcalf Foundation or Sustain Ontario.