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Urban Agriculture: Moving the Field to the Table

© Bob Ewing

Grocery shopping where I live in Thunder Bay, Ontario provides an interesting perspective on how far some "fresh" food actually travels before it arrives in the kitchen. Thunder Bay is located on the North Shore of Lake Superior where we have fewer than 100 frost free days each year. This means that we need to import much of our produce but when I see that even in September the apples on sale are coming from California, I must question how sustainable is this food delivery system and how fresh are the apples?

Sustainability requires a balance between the 3 E's: economics, environment and equity. If a food delivery system is to achieve sustainability, then, the more food that is available from sources close to the consumer, the better. This would reduce the distance the food travels, benefitting the environment, create jobs getting the food to market and there are methods of delivering this food that ensure equity.

For example, on the local level, community gardens enable people, who otherwise may not have access to land, an opportunity to grow some of their own food. Community gardens not only give people the opportunity to grow their own food but help them to develop community as they do. People may talk with each other as they tend their gardens.

Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) is another way to provide fresh produce in a sustainable manner. People buy shares from a local CSA farm and during the growing season receive weekly deliverys of fresh fruits and vegetables. The consumers and the grower form a partnership and share the risks and rewards.

One of the programs that we have recently begun here in Thunder Bay is the Grow-A-Row program. We ask people to set aside a certain percentage of their space and grow-a-row of vegetables to donate to the local Food Bank. This provides locally grown fresh produce to people who may otherwise be unable to purchase it.

We conducted a Seed Exchange on March 21, so that people who wanted to get together and exchange seeds could. We choose this opportunity to launch the Grow-A-Row program and offered free carrots, lettuce and radish seeds to anyone who wanted to take part. We also gave out seeds to people who made a donation to the Food Bank.

If your community can develop a food delivery system that includes community shared agriculture, community gardens and when thinking gardens don't always just look to the ground, give the rooftops some thought. and programs such as the seed exchange and Grow-A-Row, you will be taking a big first step towards food sustainability.

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