May 2021 — Food & Farming across the Golden Horseshoe

Food and Farming across the Golden Horseshoe

OZERY BAKERY

Ozery Family Bakery is an innovative baked goods manufacturer based in Vaughan. The company grew from a 700 square foot sandwich shop into a 100,000 square foot state-of-the-art factory within 25 years through innovation, automation, and building an inclusive company culture. Read more in this article from the Trillium Network to learn about the Ozery family's great story.

AWARD WINNING DISTILLERY

Congratulations to Niagara-on-the-Lake's Limited Distilling, who have been awarded a gold medal for their "Limited Vodka" at the prestigious 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, which is considered to be the most influential spirits competition in the world. Limited Distilling also took home 5 other medals within 2021 international spirit competitions!

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NOURISHING YORK REGION

The Social Planning Council of York Region, York Region Food Council and York Region Food Network are hosting an event on Monday, May 17th with chef & author Joshna Maharaj, titled Nourishing York Region: using food to build stronger, resilient communities. The event will look at using food as a tool for a just recovery. Register to attend here.

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VENTUREPARK

Arlene Dickinson has announced the launch of Venturepark, "Canada's most extensive business growth ecosystem focused on consumer-packaged goods," which will house the well-known Canadian entrepreneur's network of companies, with a focus on brands in the food and health CPG space.

ROOF-TO-TABLE

A recent Toronto Star article has highlighted the "new rooftop-to-table movement taking root in innovative restaurants around the world", including Montgomery’s in Toronto, who have been growing herbs and vegetables in self-watering containers on their rooftop for a few years.

You're Invited to our Annual Meeting

We hope that you plan to join us for our Annual Meeting on Tuesday, May 25th, at 1 p.m. EDT!

Our annual meeting will follow a presentation from JoAnn McArthur of Nourish Marketing, who will join us to discuss lessons learned around communicating with consumers through the example of Buttergate.

JoAnn will discuss current consumer trends and how agricultural producers can increase consumer trust and confidence in Ontario food products.

FAREWELL TO KATHY MACPHERSON

The GHFFA would like to send a big thanks and congratulations to Kathy Macpherson, who has just retired from her role as Vice President for Research and Policy of the Greenbelt Foundation.

In the announcement, Edward McDonnell, CEO of the Greenbelt Foundation, shared:

"Kathy has been an invaluable leader and contributor to our work since she joined the Foundation in 2008 as our first Research and Policy director. In this role she oversaw some important ground-breaking work including:

Profiling the diversity of agriculture in the Greenbelt and the importance of the agricultural system
Initiating valuation of ecological goods and services in the region
Convening an international conference on Greenbelt regions"

In this role, we were lucky to have Kathy sit on the Board of the Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance. Kathy has been a great champion for agriculture at the Greenbelt and has brought many opportunities for the Alliance to pilot projects, research sectors and learn more about the advantages for agriculture of a greenbelt. We will miss her wise council and her practical approach.

Local Food Week

Another Local Food Week is coming up!

The first week of June has been proclaimed Local Food Week in Ontario, with the purpose to:

1. Foster successful and resilient local food economies and systems throughout Ontario

2. Increase awareness of local food in Ontario, including the diversity of local food

3. Encourage the development of new markets for local food

As always, we hope you'll celebrate by finding local food & beverage businesses to support with these Golden Horseshoe farm maps. Cheers to our local producers!