Local Sustainable Food Systems Network -

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada hosted a webinar May 23, 2014, which detailed strategies for working with the media as a non-profit organization. Topics covered include: overview of different types of media and reach; which is most desirable for your cause; how to craft stories and pitch/reach the media; working with a small budget; and searching for results/evaluation.

New Farmer Programs: Support Programs for New Entrants to Farming in the European Union and Quebec. This report, written by Baka Serkoukou for Food Secure Canada and FarmStart, provides policy and program details on new farmer initiatives in Italy, Spain, France and Quebec. The source materials, in french, spanish, and italian, have been analysed and summaries of the means and mechanisms for program implementation are provided in the report.

Local Food Systems & Public Policy: A Review of the Literature, published in 2009 is a joint publication of Équiterre & The Centre for Trade Policy and Law at Carleton University. This review of existing knowledge about local food systems is grounded in a food sovereignty lens since, as the Executive Summary states, local food systems are an effective means to achieve food sovereignty. The scope of the review is global, drawing on information from a wide variety of social, political and economic contexts.

From the Ground Up: Guide for Soil Testing in Urban Gardens is a publication of Toronto Public Health. This very practical document was published in October 2013 and helps the reader to understand how to determine the level contamination risk for any potential or current garden and how to adapt one's gardening to the state of the soil. Very user-friendly document that will be helpful in communities across Canada!

Un botin qui se veut la une base de référence économique pour tous ceux qui s'intéressent à la distribution alimentaire au Québec (commerces de détail, grossistes et services alimentaires).  Il vise à mieux comprendre le secteur d'activité et les mouvements de changements observés dans la demande des consommateurs et le contexte d'affaires actuel.

This guide was created to help institutions and individuals who want to do the right thing. It strives to eliminate the confusion that can come with new purchasing practices and sets a framework so you can purchase food that is good for you, your customers, the community, and the land.

Written by Hugh Maynard and Jacques Nault, Big Farms, Small Farms explores and and proposes strategies for establishing and supporting sustainable agriculture for all scales of farming in Canada.  The report focuses on three major elements, information, planning and resources, with the aim of identifying practical program and policy strategies to support sustainable agriculture in Canada. Published by the Agriculture Institute of Canada.

Patricia Allen of the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California explores the potential for equity within food-system localization in practical and conceptual terms. 

Ontario's proposed Local Food Act