MUSKOKA – Nutrition is a basic necessity, but getting the proper nutrients on a daily basis is no simple task, especially with limited finances. A local organization is working to change that.
Savour Muskoka is in the midst of establishing a food charter for the area with the intent of outlining regional values and principles in regard to the local food system.
“A food charter creates some really clear understanding of where our food system sits today and where the major gaps and needs are within it to create a number of different results, including more convenient access to healthier, locally grown foods for everybody,” said Kelli Ebbs, former project manager. “It also gives us direction toward action.”
Part of that action includes creating policies that would have an effect on area agriculture processes and education.
“Education is a huge, huge piece because people understand they need better food and they need to eat better but a lot of people don’t know how,” said Ebbs.
Savour Muskoka hosted five community consultations in various municipalities across Muskoka to collect feedback from the public on what it would like to see included in the food charter.
Ebbs said the consultations would be engaging conversations.
“We implore(d) everybody who eats to come and put their two cents in as far as their own personal connection with food in the region, the barriers they see … in eating well and feeding their families as best they can,” she said.
The consultations were led by a professional and the information collected by Savour Muskoka’s steering committee to create a first draft of the food charter. Once that’s complete it will be presented to the community again for more feedback. Ebbs expects the process will take about two years.
Savour Muskoka has a number of partners, big and small, from anti-poverty groups to farmers, helping to create the charter.
“One of the biggest things that’s really interesting about the food and agriculture charter is the economical impact it can have on a region,” said Ebbs. “We’re all learning that resource extraction and things like that are pretty huge economic pieces for a lot of communities, but so can food extraction. We’re hoping the impact will be seen through a more well fed society and way more communities engaged with their farming and seeing a stimulated food economy.”
Once the final draft of the food charter is ready, she hopes it will be highly used and have a positive impact. She hopes it will give the community something tangible to work from, generating more knowledge, passion and commitment toward local food producers while seeing the economy grow and eliminating hunger.
Ebbs also hopes it will empower people to be part of the solution. She said making little choices like attending the consultations, purchasing food from area farmers’ markets, or eggs from a local egg farmer can really go a long way.
“Think about the power in your spending,” she said. “When you’re spending your money and you’re supporting a local farmer or a local grower or a local egg producer you are making a massive impact in our regional economy, especially if everybody did it. Once that happens demand rises and more people find it a viable existence to farm or to raise food and so more people will do it. Once the demand increases so does the production and the capacity. It’s just a beautiful circle once things start. It starts with us looking at ourselves.”
Ebbs said there needs to be a change where the food system is re-localized so apples are cheaper than chips. In Ontario, 75 per cent of the apples grown here are exported and apples from Chile are imported.
She said this kind of disconnect is the reason people need to get back into growing food in their backyard, from growing tomatoes to raising chickens for eggs.
To do so, municipalities need to be on board and pass bylaws that allow for such a movement said Ebbs.
For more information visit www.savourmuskoka.com.
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