City Farm School presents at Toronto Urban Agriculture Summit
For those of you who don’t know, Toronto just hosted the largest urban agriculture conference Canada has ever seen. Four straight days of speaking events, workshops, tours and exhibits brought together hundreds of like-minded individuals from all over the continent.
I was fortunate to be invited, along with co-coordinator Jackie Martin, to present the City Farm School project, and mingle with the inspired crowd. Once there, we embarked on a three-day blitz of workshops related to food justice, rooftop gardens, sustainable business models and green youth education programs.
Among the highlights was hearing Will Allen speak to a packed house. The founder of the influential organization Growing Power, Allen presented the vast scope of his vision in 1,000 slides!
Following his presentation, I joined a tour of the award-winning Evergreen Brickworks. The focus of the tour was urban agriculture education and how it can be applied in schoolyard gardens. Having worked with youth in gardens over the past three years, I was excited to see a roomful of individuals who were working on similar projects in various cities across Canada.
The next day was the presentation of the City Farm School project, followed by Gavin Dandy, of Everdale Organic Farm and Environmental Learning Centre near Toronto, who showed the power of education when linked to farming and social justice. My presentation was well received, and was followed with 15 minutes worth of questions about the City Farm School’s curriculum and purpose.
Friday, the final day of presentations, I was deeply moved after listening to a discussion on urban agriculture and race politics. Malik Yakini of the Detroit Black Community Food Network moved the audience to tears while discussing poverty and the lack of accessible food in Detroit. He discussed the problems of food deserts and the lack of major grocery chains available to the city's poorest communities.
The conference wrapped up with a beautiful evening of organic food and drinks at the impressive Wynchwood Barns. The event was organized by The Stop, a local food security powerhouse.
On the bus ride home, Jackie and I discovered that we were deeply affected by the experience. With urban agriculuture growing in popularity, we hope to be able to host an event such as this in the coming years.
The Concordia City Farm School is a project created by members of the Concordia Greenhouse, which falls under Sustainable Concordia, and has received immense support from the Sustainability Action Fund, the Concordia Council on Student Life, and the President's Strategic Fund.
Related links:
- Concordia City Farm Blog
- Sustainable Concordia
- Summer is the time for healthy eating — NOW, July 13, 2012
- Gardening in an urban setting — NOW, May 17, 2012