Simply putting in place a procurement policy that calls on the city, where possible, to use locally produced food at its functions could help strengthen a student group’s desire to see a sustainable food system thrive in Thunder Bay.
It was just one of several recommendations presented to council Monday night by a social work class from Lakehead University, with the assistance of the Food Security Research Network, an attempt to show how easy it is to encourage consumers to buy local.
Student Jared McIssac said food is at the base of many of the world’s problems, and reliance on imports from certain parts of the planet brings a whole raft of problems, including increased transportation costs and unavailability in times of strife.
“The sustaining of a local food system goes a long way in addressing many determinants of health in the community, both at the community level and at the individual level,” McIssac said. “And also, with the rising cost of fuel, the transportation from Mexico or to other countries to bring the food here is not sustainable.”
Among the group’s other suggestions for council is the development of adequate food storage facilities for locally produced food, freezer subsidies to allow consumers to buy more local when it’s available during growing season, the creation of land-use policies that encourage urban agriculture, working with schools to promote programs like classroom gardens and finding ways to attract immigrant farmers to the area to allow for production of even more locally grown and raised food.
“We’re looking for council to work with the community. There are some things that council can do directly, such as changing policy, creating incentive programs. But overall I think the message is that council is aware of the issue now so that when entrepreneurs in the community, or local citizens or groups come forward, that the council works with them,” McIssac said.
He added local businesses are quite interested in carrying local products, but there is a gap between the local farmers and food producers and the business community.
“That’s an area where if a young entrepreneur wanted to get into, it could be a great business venture,” he said.
Coun. Rebecca Johnson, a member of the Food Security Network, said she’s all for more food being produced in Thunder Bay and surrounding communities and to have it available at functions in the city, including municipally sponsored ones.
Johnson added she’d rather the city be ahead of the curve as the price of imported food continues to rise.
“I think as we get more and more into the fact, we’re going to have a need for local foods, because that’s what we’re going to have to eat in the future because we aren’t going to be able to transport food into Thunder Bay,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be very expensive. That’s inevitable at some point in time.”
Johnson, a regular at the Thunder Bay Country Market, said it’s obvious more food is being grown and sold.
“This is an opportunity for people to look at an actual business to do that,” she said.
Coun. Aldo Ruberto, meanwhile, said it’s a matter of returning to the city’s roots.
“When we were growing up, everybody had a garden,” said Ruberto, adding fast food was a foreign word in his household and those of most of his friends.
He added council definitely has a role to play, and besides, it just makes common sense to have a higher percentage of the food on grocer’s shelves produced just around the corner.
“I don’t people realize if we were to have some kind of epidemic where our food chain was contaminated in some way, a nuclear disaster or something, how would we survive? I don’t know if we’ve ever really thought of a plan. I really like the idea of relying on locally grown foods,” he said.
Council also discussed the possibility of health zones around schools, which could limit the number of fast-food facilities within a certain radius of educational institutions.
It was just one of several recommendations presented to council Monday night by a social work class from Lakehead University, with the assistance of the Food Security Research Network, an attempt to show how easy it is to encourage consumers to buy local.
Student Jared McIssac said food is at the base of many of the world’s problems, and reliance on imports from certain parts of the planet brings a whole raft of problems, including increased transportation costs and unavailability in times of strife.
“The sustaining of a local food system goes a long way in addressing many determinants of health in the community, both at the community level and at the individual level,” McIssac said. “And also, with the rising cost of fuel, the transportation from Mexico or to other countries to bring the food here is not sustainable.”
Among the group’s other suggestions for council is the development of adequate food storage facilities for locally produced food, freezer subsidies to allow consumers to buy more local when it’s available during growing season, the creation of land-use policies that encourage urban agriculture, working with schools to promote programs like classroom gardens and finding ways to attract immigrant farmers to the area to allow for production of even more locally grown and raised food.
“We’re looking for council to work with the community. There are some things that council can do directly, such as changing policy, creating incentive programs. But overall I think the message is that council is aware of the issue now so that when entrepreneurs in the community, or local citizens or groups come forward, that the council works with them,” McIssac said.
He added local businesses are quite interested in carrying local products, but there is a gap between the local farmers and food producers and the business community.
“That’s an area where if a young entrepreneur wanted to get into, it could be a great business venture,” he said.
Coun. Rebecca Johnson, a member of the Food Security Network, said she’s all for more food being produced in Thunder Bay and surrounding communities and to have it available at functions in the city, including municipally sponsored ones.
Johnson added she’d rather the city be ahead of the curve as the price of imported food continues to rise.
“I think as we get more and more into the fact, we’re going to have a need for local foods, because that’s what we’re going to have to eat in the future because we aren’t going to be able to transport food into Thunder Bay,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be very expensive. That’s inevitable at some point in time.”
Johnson, a regular at the Thunder Bay Country Market, said it’s obvious more food is being grown and sold.
“This is an opportunity for people to look at an actual business to do that,” she said.
Coun. Aldo Ruberto, meanwhile, said it’s a matter of returning to the city’s roots.
“When we were growing up, everybody had a garden,” said Ruberto, adding fast food was a foreign word in his household and those of most of his friends.
He added council definitely has a role to play, and besides, it just makes common sense to have a higher percentage of the food on grocer’s shelves produced just around the corner.
“I don’t people realize if we were to have some kind of epidemic where our food chain was contaminated in some way, a nuclear disaster or something, how would we survive? I don’t know if we’ve ever really thought of a plan. I really like the idea of relying on locally grown foods,” he said.
Council also discussed the possibility of health zones around schools, which could limit the number of fast-food facilities within a certain radius of educational institutions.
