Community food systems
Communities are creating alternative food systems as a way to counteract the power and influence of the dominant corporate industrial food system. Community food systems focus on building relationships among producers and consumers and the local land base.
Food Charters
A food charter is a statement of values and principles to guide a community’s food policy. People from a broad spectrum of community interests and organizations typically meet and discuss their concerns and desires around food and agriculture policy in order to come up with a common vision and set of principles. These form the basis of their own, unique, local community food charter. When a food charter is adopted by the local municipal council, if becomes a public document to guide decision-making.
Examples of food charters:
- Prince Albert, SK (pdf)
- Tisdale, SK
- Toronto, ON (pdf)
- Saskatoon, SK (pdf)
- Manitoba
- Union des consommateurs du Quebec (pdf)
The Good Food Box
In 1994, Toronto’s Food Share started the first Good Food box program. Since then Good Food Box systems have germinated and grown up in many communities across Canada. The Good Food Box runs like a large buying club with centralized buying and co-ordination. Individuals place orders for boxes with volunteer co-coordinators in their neighborhood and receive a box brimming with fresh, tasty produce. Local products are purchased whenever possible because we want to know where and how our food is produced, to support local farmers and reduce the fossil fuels burned when we import food. The Good Food Box makes top-quality, fresh food available in a way that does not stigmatize people, fosters community development and promotes healthy eating.
Good food boxes
Community Shared Agriculture (CSAs)
Community Shared Agriculture provides city dwellers with a box full of fresh, quality, seasonal produce direct from a local farm every week during the growing season. CSA members buy shares early in the season and thereby assume part of the farmer's risk. If the weather is good, the harvest is plentiful but if there is drought, flooding, hail or an early freeze, amounts are lesser. But the risk is worth it for many people in exchange for the thrill of being able to talk to the people growing their food. This direct contact breaks down the distance between producer and consumer building better relationships between urban and rural people. And because produce is picked the day it is delivered, it tastes much better than food that has travelled weeks to get to the store. Again, costs are lower because the food has passed through fewer hands. CSAs benefit farmers, too, by allowing them to have smaller farms that are much better for the environment yet still profitable. And for many farmers, providing food for eager neighbours is far more satisfying than shipping it off to the nearest food depot.
Some Canadian CSAs:
- The McQuail Community Shared Agriculture Project
- Falls Brook Centre CSA
- Hamilton area CSAs
- Nature’s Way Organics
Farmers Markets
Farmers Markets are probably one of the oldest institutions in the world, the original way urban people acquired food. Today farmers markets are still vibrant social gathering places. The farmers market can be an excellent way to find locally grown or raised food. When the market is also a co-operative, the farmer-sellers are also the owners and managers of the market itself. Farmers markets vary in their policies as to what can be sold and who can sell. The regulations governing farmers markets also vary from province to province.
Some Canadian Farmers Markets:
- Saskatoon Farmers Market Co-operative
- Calgary Farmers Market
- BC Association of Farmers Markets
- Ontario Farmers Markets
Food Localism
How far did your meal travel before it got to your plate? Food localism is about minimizing the length of that trip. Globalization and centralized distribution systems have dramatically increased the distances between where food is grown or raised and where it is finally eaten. Food localism builds local production for local consumption in order to minimize Greenhouse Gas Emissions from transportation, to support and diversify local agriculture, and to promote local food security and food sovereignty.