Bits & Bytes

Booklet (6 pages) Compiled by Abra Brynne, Kootenay Organic Growers Society (KOGS), July 2003, updated March 2005. An excellent resource, this guide has both very specific information (to West Kootenays), and intelligent general advice

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Schutter, writes a clear and damning analysis of the land grab which he says destroys the world's peasantry (and sustainable food production).

Fruit Share is dedicated to picking, sharing and enjoying fresh fruit growing in backyards throughout Winnipeg, Manitoba. We connect fruit owners with volunteer fruit pickers to make good use of delicious, nutritious local fruit. Fruit owners make their fruit available for picking, volunteers pick the fruit and then the fruit is shared - 1/3 to the homeowner, 1/3 to the volunteers and 1/3 to community organizations that can use the fruit (eg. food banks, seniors residences, food kitchens, etc.). Everyone benefits!

A family gardening adventure of growing beautiful organic veggies in our community garden plot on the banks of Winnipeg's Red River. Includes how to's, tips, recipes and experiences.

A paper by Mervyn Claxton (Trinidad and Tobago) a consultant and former international civil servant with UNESCO who has written widely on the subject of Culture and Development, supporting the critique by the Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA) of the Haitian Government’s Emergency Food Production programme. PAPDA is correct, he says: the programme will worsen the very problems it is supposed to address. The paper is called Emergency Food Production in Haiti: Getting It Right.

A Review of Farmland Trusts: Communities Support Farmland, Farming and Farmers summarizes and analyzes information from farmland trusts across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, in conjunction with other information sources, to support development of regional and provincial farmland trusts in British Columbia. There are eight sections to this report. Sections 1 and 2 describe farmland trusts and why they are important. Section 3 discusses structure and governance while Section 4 addresses strategic planning. Farmland Trust activities are covered in Section 5 and the question of financial sustainability is addressed in Section 6. Section 7 offers overall conclusions and recommendations, followed by Section 8 providing an annotated list of information sources. Sections 1 – 7 contains a set of conclusions specific to each topic.

Provided by Kevin Koopmans, Abbotsford Food and Agriculture Connection Table (AFACT), Community Futures South Fraser. Funded through the Community Capacity Building Strategy, an initiative of BCHLA, led by the Canadian Cancer Society. This chronicles the work to connect potential and existing farmers in the Abbotsford area of BC.