Allotment gardens near Thorncliffe Park (Photo via Toronto Tower Renewal)
Joe Nasr, food security professor and an executive member of MetroAg gives us the heads up on 2 very important meetings on establishing urban agriculture in Toronto. Please forward to everyone you know who’s part of the movement (friends, family, allies, partners, interested parties)!
1. Urban Agricultural Opportunities in Toronto (Jun 16, 2009)
Summary
What: Urban Agricultural Opportunities Meeting with Parks & Rec & Environment Offices of Toronto
Why: This is a chance for people to tell the City why city gardening and farming is important to you. It’s a chance for you to spur the City towards action. It needs a whole lot of us to be there to really strengthen the case.
When: Jun 16, 2009 @ 9:30 AM (0930 hours)
Where: City Hall, Committee Rm 1
The Parks and Environment of the City of Toronto will be discussing a recent report on Urban Agricultural Opportunities in the City of Toronto on June 16th, in Committee Room 1 at City Hall, starting at 9:30 AM.
At this meeting there will be an opportunity for interested parties to make deputations. You can share your own experiences, comment on the things that you think the report has gotten right, what you think should be supported, what important things the report missed out on, and let the City know where you think that there needs to be more and different action.
The report is summarized below, and you can also find a link to the meeting announcement and to the report. This report will be on the agenda of the next Toronto Urban Growers meeting, on the morning of Thursday July 9th.
See the Report Summary and References below.
2. Toronto Urban Growers Mass Meeting
Summary
What: Toronto Urban Growers Mass Meeting
Why: To bring together everyone who wants to see urban farming take off in Toronto at break neck speed, to share knowledge and to network.
When: Thu, Jul 9 (9 am to 1 pm/0900 – 1300 hours)
Where: FoodShare (90 Croatia St; map http://bit.ly/ur1gA)
As previously announced, we would like to invite all of those who grow food in Toronto and nearby areas (urban farmers, balcony growers, backyard gardeners, guerrilla gardeners, and community gardeners), as well as those who support them and who dream of becoming urban growers to join us (researchers, advocates, students, funders, and others).
We will all be gathering on Thursday July 9th from 9 am-1pm at FoodShare to share our growing knowledge, comment on the city’s new urban agriculture policies, and report back on activities over the last few months, to hear from all of the TUG working groups, and to plan the next steps for TUG. We see this event as an opportunity to connect to others with similar interests, and to help move those interests forward.
REPORT SUMMARY for Jun 16, 2009
Recommendations
1. City Council support, in principle, the ongoing coordination by the General Manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the Director of the Toronto Environment Office of interdivisional strategies and initiatives that will achieve the overall goal of expanding opportunities for local food production and other urban agricultural activities in the City of Toronto.
Conclusion
The task of supporting the increase of lands for urban food production is the responsibility of a number of City divisions and staff agree with the expert panel that food production is a critical issue that provides a number of benefits including increased food security, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, building communities and supporting healthy lifestyles.
This report proposes how divisions that have a stake in urban agriculture can address existing and emerging issues related to regulatory and operational policies which will help the development of lands for urban food production. A combination of financial support, sufficient staff resources and policy development is required to move forward with an increase in lands designated for urban agriculture projects within the City and various divisional strategies will be submitted to City Council in the future.
REFERENCES for Jun 16, 2009 City Meeting
Link to Jun 16 Meeting Agenda
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/pe/agendas/2009-06-16-pe24-
ar.pdf
Link to Staff Report
(http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/pe/bgrd/
backgroundfile-21648.pdf)
Appendix A
(http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/pe/bgrd/
backgroundfile-21649.pdf)
Appendix B
(http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/pe/bgrd/
backgroundfile-21650.pdf)
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