SAFSF NEWS
Funders Coming Together on Smart Growth and Good Food!

by Virginia Clarke-Laskin, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders

Vancouver, British Columbia––March 2004

The Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders were invited ‘back by popular demand’ to collaborate with the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities at their annual conference, held March 10-12, 2004 in beautiful and bountiful Vancouver, British Columbia.

This year, TFN invited SAFSF to be part of the conference planning committee. Welcoming the opportunity to put food on the agenda and not just on the plate, SAFSF staff worked together with staff from the Vancouver Community Foundation and other local food/ag resources to put together a mobile workshop to introduce funders to the vibrant and growing food and agriculture system in British Columbia.

Some twenty funders participated in the half-day workshop on March 11th entitled, Food in the City: Sustainable Systems for Food and Agriculture in the Greater Vancouver Region. The tour was moderated and led by Herb Barbolet, a long-time food systems and sustainable agriculture activist.

In British Columbia only some 3 percent of the land mass is arable. This means that essentially everything––agriculture, transportation, commerce, housing, etc.––all takes place on a very small percentage of the land. These competing uses for the land and what growth and additional pressures could mean for the agricultural sector has been cause for considerable concern for many in BC.

A cadre of citizens in Vancouver have worked together over the last several years to form the Vancouver Food Policy Council, approved in December by the Vancouver City Council. As we headed out in the bus to our first stop Herb announced that the Vancouver City Council had only just that morning approved budget appropriations for the Food Policy Council enabling the Council to hire full time staff and work on the important food systems issues facing the city and province.

Our first stop was Kaslo Street, a city-owned, formerly abandoned warehouse. Today, the 60,000 sq. ft. warehouse is under lease to UsMoms––a non-profit society providing food, education and training to single-parent families––that intends to use part of the facility for warehouse, distribution and food processing. In addition, there are several sub-tenants engaged in food systems work including Your Local Farmers Market Society, Discovery Organics, a small producers processing group, and Community Kitchens. Each of the tenants gave a short presentation to the funders, outlining their work and goals, expressing great hope that through this venture of shared space and opportunity for greater collaboration the mission or business plan of the individual non-profit organizations or businesses will be advanced.

Spring’s first buds, colors, sights and sounds were present as funders spent part of the afternoon wandering the grounds of the Strathcona Community Gardens, a volunteer-run, three-acre, organic community garden located in the heart of Strathcona––one of the poorest neighborhoods in greater Vancouver. The site also has a public herb garden, picnic area, children's water play area, pond and bird habitat, espalier, and traditional orchard. Susan Kurbis, a volunteer with the Gardens who also works with the Environmental Youth Alliance, provided a brief overview and history of the garden and discussed the garden’s features––allotment-type plots, local school plots, and raised plots that are wheelchair accessible. While still very early in the growing season, one could see the evidence of real pride––and success––in the way the garden flourished.

Before leaving Strathcona, funders were treated to an open air juice break donated by Happy Planet Food Company, a microjuicery of certified organic juices & smoothies located just a few blocks from the community garden. Gregor Robertson, co-founder and co-owner of Happy Planet shared with funders some of the history of how Happy Planet started––he used to farm––and how Happy Planet is unique in bringing back well-paid job opportunities in a neighborhood that has lost significant numbers of jobs over the years as industry and businesses moved out. The company’s mission is to produce and sell the world's most nutritious and flavorful natural foods while promoting sustainable family farming and environmental responsibility. Judging by the satisfied smiles and ‘ahhh’s’ coming from the funders as they guzzled the fresh carrot or cranberry or green juices, the company would appear to be is well on its way.

The final stop on the food tour took funders to the Granville Island Public Market, located in the heart of Granville Island––a high-density, multi-use, inner city hub of activity and life. Granville Island boasts of everything from the Public Market to a still-operational cement factory, a hotel and many shops and restaurants, along with one of the premier art colleges in the country. After a brief overview of the Market, its history and role in the region’s food and agriculture by Karen Schreurs, Market Coordinator, funders were treated to snacks provided by David Van Seters, owner of Small Potatoes Urban Delivery (SPUD), a very successful food delivery program in Vancouver, and tea from a local market vendor.

Many funders, sated in both mind and body after the afternoon tour, poked around the market, and took pleasure in the sights and smells before getting some exercise walking back to the hotel for to the next event––the Slow Food Reception!

At the stunning Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, funders were treated to some of the best in Pacific Northwest fare at the Slow Food Reception. Five of Vancouver’s finest chefs and restaurants, teamed together with some of the regions leading farmers and producers to create a meal that was not only a culinary but a visual delight. One dish combined a sampling of three of the five local salmon species (all wild––not farmed!) Fresh organic beets, local BC cheeses, venison burgers, and wild duck, were just some of the ingredients that helped to teach funders about just how good food can taste when its raised and prepared well.

Contact information for the participating organizations, restaurants and producers for the Food in the City tour as well as the Slow Food Reception can be found on the SAFSF website in the Events section @ www.safsf.org.

Join the SAFSF Listserv

Do you receive the SAFSF listserv bi-weekly updates? If not, you might want to consider signing up. According to one funder, these updates are “almost immediately required reading on my ‘email desk’. There’s a nugget in every issue.” If you are interested, contact Virginia Clarke-Laskin at vclarke@ega.org to subscribe.

SAFSF Conference Call Series

The 2004 issue-based conference call series is well underway with much more to come. We'd like to hear what topics are of particular interest to you, and if there are experts you'd like to recommend. Please submit ideas and questions to vclarke@ega.org.

Two separate call series have been launched this year in response to funders’ requests to allow for more in-depth discussion and dialogue on a specific topic. These series, Federal Ag Policy and Food Safety will be directed by funders with SAFSF staff providing basic support. These series are designed to enable funders actively involved in the issues an opportunity for greater information-sharing, coordination, and learning opportunities.

SAFSF at the EGA 2004 Fall Retreat

Coming in October! Food issues will definitely be ‘on the plate’ at EGA’s annual Retreat in October in Hawaii. SAFSF is working on several issue-specific sessions and will also be hosting an SAFSF Institute––Delicious Events: Eat Well, Eat Sustainably––to be held on Sunday before the Retreat’s formal start. Learn some valuable tips on how to cater meetings and events with locally grown, organic or sustainable food––allowing you to teach about sustainable agriculture and the food system, eat well, and support local farms and the local economy in the process.

Save the date November 30th

SAFSF invites all interested funders to a one-day meeting in Washington, DC for in-depth discussions on what the outcomes of the November 2004 elections might imply for future work in agriculture policy work. This one day meeting will dovetail with the EGA Federal Policy Briefing to be held December 1-2. Program details and information about how to register for these meetings will be forthcoming.

As always, SAFSF welcomes all EGA members to participate in our events, conference calls, listserv or to ask about the issues. Contact our coordinator, Virginia Clarke-Laskin at (805) 687-0551 or vclarke@ega.org.