Newsbites Archive

The Fair Finance Fund – for social enterprises!

Are you a local food producer, processor, market owner/ staff, co-op owner/ staff or other regional food entrepreneur that is committed to social values and community benefit goals? Are you looking for better access to capital?

Local Food and Farm Co-ops, with partners at the Rural Agri-Innovation Network/ SSMIC and the Greenbelt Fund are creating an exciting new opportunity—but in order to create a funding opportunity that is useful, they are asking for your tell them what you need, and help shape their program. You have 2 days left to give them input via the survey link below.

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We want to hear from you! We are contacting you to invite you to give your input to an exciting new project, the Fair Finance Fund for the local food and farm sector.

We appreciate your time to fill out the survey so that we can ensure the fund meets the needs of the sector. Please fill it out if you are a local food or farm enterprise with social, environmental and community goals and benefits, and feel free to share with others.

Please click here to fill out our survey.

Some more about the project:

The Fair Finance Fund will be a revolving loan fund offering patient capital (long-term or negotiated rates) for local food and farm social enterprises. Social enterprises in this sector include regional producers, markets and other regional food system partners that share social values and community benefit goals. The research is a coordinated by the Local Food and Farm Co-ops, with partners at the Rural Agri-Innovation Network/ SSMIC and the Greenbelt Fund. All participant responses will be held in strict confidence by Local Food and Farm Co-ops. The resulting report and general non-identifying statistical data may be shared with Fair Finance Fund partners and the Greenbelt Fund.

Loans will be offered in the mid-scale range, which is often seen by banks as too small, but is too large for micro-finance schemes. Between now and September, we are soliciting input from partners and enterprises to ensure that the fund is designed to meet their needs, and be viable over the long-term.

Here are a couple of examples that have inspired us:
FarmWorks(Nova Scotia)
Chantier de l’Economie Sociale(Montreal)
La Montanita Fund(Arizona)

We thank you in advance for your input!

Sally Miller

Local Food and Farm Co-ops

sally<at>localfoodandfarm.coop

David Thompson

Rural Agri-Innovation Network/ Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre

dthompson<at>ssmic.com

Just what is Agroecology?

Just Food’s Red Barn Series

Topic: Agroecology

Sunday July 29th, 10:00 – 2:00

The UN, Via Campesina, and a cluster of farming, food security and food justice advocates at home and abroad are pointing to agroecology as the way to transform our food systems to achieve fairness for farmers, farm workers, and communities of eaters across the globe. Just Food is hosting the Agroecology Field School and Research Summit (tickets still available!) on August 18, where a large collection of experts and practitioners from Canada and around the world will discuss how to ‘Move Agroecology Forward’.

But just what is Agroecology? Join us at 10:30 for a primer, delivered by Just Food Associate Director Phil Mount, followed by a tour of the farm to discuss the principles as they apply in Ottawa, including how we integrate animals into our food system.

Community Farm Days: Wild Pollinators

THIS WEEK: it’s all about POLLINATORS!

Come on by for a workshop on pollinators offered by the Wild Pollinator Partners-Partenaires des pollinisateurs sauvages at 10:30am.
What is pollination? Who are the wild pollinators among us? How do they live their lives? Are they struggling? What can we do to help them in our gardens? We will explore these questions, and others, in the first part of this interactive session offered by the Wild Pollinator Partners-Partenaires des pollinisateurs network.
In the second part, we will head outside to observe wild pollinators in action!

For those of you who may want to be more hands on, join us in building a wild pollinator hotel with the support of Martin Thornell and friends from Ottawa City Woodshop. We will also have a craft table starting at 11am where you can make your own bee buddy!

WHEN: Sunday, July 22, 2018 from 10am to 2pm – swing by anytime between these hours!

WHERE: Just Food Farm, 2391 Pépin Court

Cost: FREE

And don’t forget to check out our Just Food Farm Stand with fresh vegetables. All ages are welcome. We hope to see you at the farm, rain or shine!

FARM BINGO!

Just Food invites you to get out on the Farm, have some fun, win some prizes, enjoy the summer weather, and get involved in your community’s good food!

WHEN: Sunday, July 15^th , 2018 from 10am to 2pm

WHERE: Just Food Farm, 2391 Pépin Court

Cost: FREE

DETAILS:

Join us this Sunday for “FARM BINGO”! Each participant will be given a bingo card with clues to find 9 hidden farm. The first to get three BINGO lines gets their pick of the prizes! First to fill their card wins the grand prize—it’s like a scavenger hunt with photos, or the amazing farm race!!

And don’t forget to check out our farm stand with fresh vegetables, craft table for the kids, outside under the tents. All ages are welcome. We hope to see you at the farm, rain or shine!

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Just Food Farm will be hosting community days each Sunday filled with educational workshops, kids’ crafts, farm tours, local dry goods for sale, gardening, and more! Bring your family for a lunch picnic and spend some time on the farm. Stay tuned on our social media for updates on themes, special guests, and partners each week!

For details on this weekly series, check out http://justfood.ca/blog/2018/06/28/sunday-community-days-free-weekly-event-for-all-ages/

Field Day: Participatory Plant Breeding

The Bauta Family Seed Initiative and Just Food present a field day on Participatory plant breeding, with Dr. Martin Entz.

WHEN: Tuesday, July 17th, 2018 from 1:00pm – 3:00pm
WHERE: Flat Earth Farm, 3575 Campbellcroft Road, Ottawa, ON

DETAILS:
Flat Earth Farm is on the south edge of the City of Ottawa and includes 17 acres of land for agro-ecological food production. With the goal of maximizing biodiversity, the farm contains a mix of over 100 edible trees and bushes (17 varieties), and a large selection of perennial and annual crops standard to the region, as well as test plots of a number of grains, cover crops and legumes (including grain amaranth, sorghum, flax, chickpeas, millet, kamut)—along with a mix of small livestock.