A restaurant devotes 10 percent of its total food costs to suppliers certified for their use of sustainable production methods. A student decides only meat from animals raised in healthy, humane conditions is acceptable for dinner. A busy family buys prepared meals from a company using a mix of locally sourced and fair-trade ingredients. A school lunch program includes on its menu dairy products derived from farms eschewing the use of hormones and antibiotics on livestock.
On its own, not one of these acts of eating represents a radical departure, the kind of all-or-nothing approach to local food consumption some have come to expect in the wake of well-known projects such as the 100-Mile Diet and its television spinoff, the 100-Mile Challenge. Rather, these diverse, incremental changes towards a sustainable food system foster a movement with a long view. And it’s precisely that kind of steady, long-term growth that interests Local Food Plus (LFP) according to Chris Alward, the organization’s Director of Market Development. “A peak of activity is indicative of a fad, not sustained interest,” he says. “Involvement that follows a natural progression and grows at a comfortable pace is what builds a community. Individuals and businesses do what they can when they can. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but ‘annualization’ creates significant improvements over time.” Though Alward is describing the gradual, sustainable expansion of the local food movement, he could well be describing the growth of LFP itself.
Founded in 2005 by current president Lori Stahlbrand, whose career in food issues has included work as an academic and policy advisor, LFP first made news in September 2006 when it launched a partnership with the University of Toronto to bring local, sustainably grown food to students in campus cafeterias. A year later it saw Fiesta Farms sign on as a retail partner, giving LFP-certified farmers a place to reach the everyday consumer, and the independent grocer a way to distinguish itself in a competitive market dominated by big chains. Alward confirms that these two achievements fired LFP’s success. “Our work at the institutional level with U of T as well as in retail with Fiesta have been huge wins for both producers and buyers,” he says, “and the program at U of T continues to thrive and deepen, evolving in the way we had hoped.”
Since those early days, LFP has garnered several accolades, including a Green Toronto Award of Excellence in 2007 and a Yves Rocher Foundation Women of the Earth Award for Stahlbrand in 2008. It has also seen a steady expansion of its stable of certified producers and outlets for consumers to find their products; in Toronto today there are more than 45 restaurants and caterers, grocery and specialty stores, institutions and ready-made-meal services offering LFP-certified food. But what, exactly, does this certification offer producers and consumers?
Here’s where the “plus” in the organization’s name counts. In purchasing items and services stamped with the LFP logo, consumers can be assured that their dollars are going to producers that are both local (in Ontario “local” means province-wide but elsewhere in the country LFP draws boundaries that make economic sense and use distribution channels effectively and efficiently) and are working to (1) reduce/eliminate use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers; avoid use of hormones, antibiotics and genetic engineering; conserve soil and water; (2) ensure safe and fair conditions for farm workers; (3) provide healthy and humane care for livestock; (4) protect/enhance wildlife habitat and biodiversity; and (5) reduce operational energy consumption and emissions.
Alward emphasizes the intertwining of social, environmental, and economic aspects of this program: “It is a production system that can balance these factors and still deliver a good product that will have an impact over time. It’s this kind of system that is scalable.” In other words, a food-production system that ignores the people working along its chain, the earth upon which it depends, or the costs involved at any stage — for producer, distributor, or consumer — will eventually collapse.
For farmers, the certification process, which demands compliance on both mandatory and points-based standards, provides flexibility in how they achieve their designation and allows them to address LFP’s multi-dimensional criteria in ways that make the most sense for their individual operations.
The winding down of the 2009 harvest season does not bring with it rest for the LFP team, who are currently implementing an expansion into other regions of the country. Underway is the groundwork for networks of certified producers to make the fruits of their labour available to buyers in British Columbia and the Atlantic region. As well, in early October the organization relaunched its online presence with a new, comprehensive website and has been experimenting with social networking tools such as Twitter. Alward’s near-decade’s worth of experience in online business and marketing has undoubtedly helped LFP ramp up its profile in this arena.
“There are exciting opportunities online both to serve the community and to build relationships,” he says. “There are large numbers in the community who want to talk about food issues and act on them. We want to enable them, to help them mobilize in their own kitchens.” Coming soon to the website is a search function that will allow consumers to quickly find LFP-certified products closest to where they live and a newsletter that will deliver information and unique stories directly to the end-user. Also aimed at the food community is a rebranding of LFP’s retail presence, scheduled for 2010. Alward promises that the new in-store logo will provide “clear language and a better conversation between label and buyer. The goal is to make it easier for people to make ethical food choices.”
The inaugural post on the new LFP blog claims that “the little non-profit that could has become the local sustainable food leader that is.” For the community of people who are concerned about food issues, it’s encouraging to note how LFP managed that evolution: slowly and sustainably — one producer, one retailer, one consumer at a time.
Jodi Lewchuk is an editor by profession and a cook and writer by passion. She also writes about and photographs food for her personal blog, Cursive Mechanics.
