Researchers to take a close look at Kingston’s food system
By SAMANTHA BUTLER, THE WHIG-STANDARD – May 25, 2011
The New Farm Project, a National Farmers Union program to guide people into agriculture, has hired three researchers to take stock of Kingston’s food system.
The study is called “Plan to Grow: Scaling up local food in Kingston and Countryside.” Miguel Hahn, the project’s co-ordinator, said the three researchers will work their way through Kingston from now until November, consulting with a vast network of local foodies.
“It’s overwhelming to think, ‘How do I change to food system?’ ” Hahn said, adding that he’d like to see more robust, diversified local growing communities across the country.
“Everyone has a limited amount that they can do on a project … we want to expand the number of people that are involved.”
That means engaging people beyond the farming community, he said. Harris Ives, Cathy Cleary and Linda Stevens, all from various public service and agriculture backgrounds, have been hired to do the job.
Their first meeting on May 16 left him feeling positive, he said, that the study is heading in a good direction.
The team will take inventory of the numerous local food volunteers, producers, distributors and researchers, Hahn said, to discuss resources, establish common goals and prevent the “duplication of effort” among local food groups.
The City of Kingston, St. Lawrence College, Queen’s University, as well as the Village Coop in Portsmouth, Desert Lake Gardens, Wendy’s Mobile Market, and Brown’s Fine Foods are just some of the stakeholders Hahn hopes to approach.
In keeping with his desire to co-ordinate information, Hahn said he’s arranged for Plan to Grow to share its data with two other, broader studies currently underway in southern Ontario.
“We’re hoping we can work this all in to a much larger conversation,” he said.
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is studying “best practises in local food systems” right now, he said, under the guidance of former Queen’s University professor Alison Blay-Palmer.
A group from Northumberland County is spearheading a Business Retention and Expansion study through a large swath of southeastern Ontario, looking to find out who’s hiring, growing their business or offering particular services.
“The Kingston research will be divided into three modules,” Hahn explained, “farmer support and training, local food infrastructure and community engagement.”
Hahn said he thinks the Plan to Grow will be an effective tool because it’s “action research.”
“That means its carried out by people who want the results. It’s not a government study that’s going to maybe sit on a shelf somewhere. In this case, it’s the farmers who want to know about the food system that are doing the research.”
A new farmer himself, recently taking over his father’s organic garlic and maple syrup business near Westport, Hahn spent his twenties living in Toronto.
“I’m watching my own habits change, as I start to meet the local farmers and find out more about where my food comes from,” he said.
“When I first decided I wanted to start buying more local food, I was motivated by the idea of sustainability, but the truth is my cooking skills just weren’t very good, and that was a barrier.”
Hahn said he’d go out to buy fresh local, vegetables and raw ingredients, return home and realize he couldn’t do much with them.
“Then I’d lose my motivation.”
Getting people on board with local food, he said, is not a simple process but one that takes organization and understanding.
Hahn co-ordinates the the New Farm Project with Ian Stutt. They’re funded by Heifer International, Hahn said, a non-profit group originally set up to give cows to developing-world farmers.
Locally, they facilitate start-up loans of cash, livestock or equipment for new farmers, as well as co-ordinate workshops and send out a monthly email newsletter.