Earning praise for their local ways

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

by PAT CURRIE

Six public and private ventures are leading the way in boosting the amount of locally raised food served in Ontario institutions and municipalities.

The group was named in a report released March 31 by the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation. Ontario’s Local Food Champions report recognized role models "that are creating the ripple effect of change . . . (that will be) better it for our economy, environment and farmers," said Burkhard Mausberg, the foundation’s president.

The three farm groups named are: Vineland Growers, a 300-member fruit-growing co-operative based in the Niagara Peninsula; Algoma Orchards Ltd., a major privately owned apple operation based in Clarington north of Toronto; and Rowe Farms another co-operative with six stores in the Greater Toronto Area specializing in fresh produce.

Saluted for "innovative means" in boosting the amount of Ontario-grown food in the education, health care and municipal sectors, were:

Jaco Lokker, director of food services, University of Toronto, St. George campus and executive chef at 89 Chestnut residence;

Markham, which in 2008 became the first Ontario municipality to develop a local food policy that has boosted used of Ontario food in the municipal cafeteria from 10 per cent in 2008 to more than 30 per cent in 2010; and

Leslie Carson, food and nutrition services director at Guelph’s St. Joseph’s Health Centre which introduced salads and hot dishes made with Ontario foods and found residents’ food-satisfaction rate climbed to 87 per cent among patients and residents, compared with Ontario’s 60 per cent average.

Next year, local food champions will be nominated by anyone working in the agri-food chain, said foundation spokesperson Julienne Spence. BF