Seeds And The City Pt. 1: Urban Agriculture and Activism - Food Security For All

Monday May 12, 2008
Story and images by Shawne McKeown
CityNews
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_22604.aspx

Planting an extra row of carrots or onions may seem like a meagre attempt to solve hunger and health crises in the city, but urban agriculturalists and anti-poverty activists don't see it that way. They believe growing fruits and vegetables in public spaces, backyards or on balconies encompasses the fights for food security, affordable housing, environmental awareness and adequate wages for all.

Ian Aley, the urban agriculture and community food facilitator for FoodShare, describes the urban agriculture movement as "both very revolutionary and also very practical" and believes food activism is about much more than cultivating fruits and vegetables.

"It's having fair wages for people, having shorter work days, having things that really support all people and what we see as being part of the food system, that poverty is something that is very interconnected with food systems and so we want to make sure that we're looking at the full system," Aley told CityNews.ca.

Nick Saul, the executive director of The STOP Community Food Centre, strongly believes that receiving some help to feed the family doesn't have to involve standing in line-ups for mediocre food. The activist has been undertaking a self-described "food revolution" at his centre on Davenport near Lansdowne over the past decade, focusing a large part of the organization's efforts on growing food.

" ... people have skills and can get involved and there's no better example of this than getting involved in our garden where you actually put in the sweat equity and you get to take a bit of food home but also a large portion of that food goes back to our food bank and our other programs at the STOP," Saul explained.

"No one wants to be on the receiving end of charity."

The Plant-A-Row, Grow-A-Row program started out in Winnipeg in 1986 when Ron and Eunice O'Donovan grew more potatoes in the backyard than their family could eat, so they donated the excess spuds to the local food bank. The simple idea caught on and expanded across the country.

"... fruit trees, many people have those and once the pears start to come on then you can just pick an extra bushel for the food bank," Susan Antler, executive director of the Composting Council of Canada, said. Her organization is involved in the program.

Groups or individuals deliver fresh food to local organizations run out of churches and community centres. Harvests are also delivered to the North York Harvest Food Bank.

Those with a green thumb have incredible potential to alleviate hunger. Antler said 80 percent of Canadians garden, but only 30 percent grow food.

"I think over time people will be converting more of their lawn to vegetable gardens and substituting pretty flowers for vegetables that are also aesthetically lovely in the garden," she said.

Addressing Toronto's Growing Gap Between Rich & Poor

Saul, the recipient of the ninth annual Jane Jacobs prize, said the issue of food security is more important than ever in a city with an ever-widening gap between rich and poor. Food bank use in the Greater Toronto Area has increased by a staggering 81 percent since 1995.

"Food security, basically broken down, is ensuring that everyone has access to healthy, good, safe, affordable food," he explained.

"There are a lot of people who aren't doing so well and struggling to put good food on their table and the worst food is the cheapest food and so we are, in many respects, for a lot of people, the first line of defence against poor health."

He points to the diabetes explosion in the west end neighbourhood he serves, the sky-rocketing rates of obesity in children and the plethora of other diet-related illness.

"We did a survey last year and 89 percent of respondents said they knew there was healthier food they should be eating but they couldn't afford it," Saul said. "People know what they have to eat to be healthy, they simply can't afford it."

Food security is the cornerstone of FoodShare's philosophy, as well. The group facilitates community gardening projects across the city and also offers Good Food Boxes at affordable prices. The package contains seasonal fruits and veggies purchased directly from local farmers and from the Ontario Food Terminal.

The boxes are delivered to daycare centres, churches and any location where eight to ten people are interested.

"The way we make our decisions ... the affordability, cultural appropriateness and the health, those are the first tier of what we look for," Aley explained. "Next is organic and ... environmental ethics and the seasonality."

The group also sets up Good Food Markets in low-income neighbourhoods across the city.

Using Gardens To Create Dignified Spaces & Build "Social Capital"

Along with the economic and health benefits of growing food for the poor locally, the community garden provides a dignified space for those struggling to feed themselves and their families.

"Food is a great way to build social capital and support people who say are living in terrible housing, falling down housing, but they need to get out and they need to connect with others," Saul said.

Many new Canadians come to The STOP, which started out more than 30 years ago as a traditional food bank run out of St. Stephen's-in-the-Fields church in Kensington Market, to exercise their gardening skills. Saul said they appreciate the growing space because it gives them an opportunity to use agricultural knowledge they acquired in their birth country.

"Others will just want to be in a very dignified space and have a good meal put in front of them that they know is cooked from whole food and with a lot of love," he added.

FoodShare also strives to create projects in which people who need a hand up can be involved in the growing and decision-making process.

"People ... don't want to be treated as just - here's your handout, we'll see you later," Aley said.

Picture: Aley (left) and his team of volunteers preparing to plant vegetables at a new community garden in front of the FoodShare office at 90 Croatia St.

"That is fundamentally important to all the work we do, that we create a space for our community to be involved in whatever capacity they want."

Fostering & Feeding Future Growers

Children are also a big part of the food security equation as they are the most vulnerable to hunger and they are the future growers and environment advocates.

Plant-A-Row, Grow-A-Row features a program aimed specifically at youngsters.

"There are studies that say if a child learns how to grow vegetables they're more likely to eat vegetables and then it gets into the whole issue of confidence because they can actually contribute part of the meal for the family and also in terms of learning about how things grow and understanding that process," Antler explained.

FoodShare is a co-sponsor of a student nutrition program and is leading a movement to ensure all children have access to whole, healthy foods called the Children's Health and Nutrition Initiative.

The STOP offers a drop-in program for pregnant women and new mothers called Healthy Beginnings where they can pick up some fresh fruits and vegetables, a food voucher and get advice from Public Health nurses. Free childcare is also available.

The west end food centre is in the midst of an extensive $4.5 million expansion. Construction is currently underway on the Green Barn, a STOP satellite facility that will include a year-round greenhouse, sheltered gardens, a bake oven, community kitchen and composting education programs.

The Green Barn is slated to open this fall at the historic Wychwood streetcar barns at Christie and St. Clair. Saul said his group still needs to raise $1.5 million to complete the project.

The new facility is a major initiative that will help to alleviate hunger in the city and also give people the field to table perspective - the average food item in this city travels approximately 4,500 kilometres from field to table, Saul explained.

"We sit on some of the best agricultural land in the country and yet we continue to pave over it with development," Saul said.

"We can grow a lot of food here and we don't have to import everything from a field."

shawne.mckeown@chumtv.com

Here are some statistics on hunger in Toronto, courtesy of the city's Food and Hunger Action Committee:

Percentage of Toronto's lone-parent families living on less than $20,000 a year: 45
Percentage of Toronto's singles living on less than $20,000 a year: 53
Amount that food bank users had to spend on all needs other than rent, per day, in 1995: $7.40
Amount that food bank users have to spend on all needs other than rent, per day in 2000: $4.95
Percentage of food bank users who have no money for food at least once a week: 50
Percentage of food bank users who spend more than 50 per cent of their income on rent: 66
Number of calls to Foodlink, Street Helpline and Community Information Toronto about food each year: 18,000
Number of children aged 5 to 12 in Toronto: 235,000
Number of meals and snacks served to school children each year: 53,000
Number of low-income women who become pregnant each year in Toronto: 10,000
Number of low-birthweight babies born each year in Toronto: 2,000
Number of community gardens in Toronto: 100
Value of produce grown in community gardens in Toronto each year: over $1 million
Number of Toronto wards without any community gardens: 11
Number of congregate dining programs in Toronto: 89
Number of farms in Toronto, according to 1996 census: 42
Total gross farm receipts from Toronto farms in 1997: $6 million
Estimated percentage of Toronto's produce that could be grown within or close to the city: 25