{"id":2911,"date":"2013-03-14T10:30:49","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T15:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=2911"},"modified":"2017-11-19T19:23:33","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T00:23:33","slug":"local-food-sellers-faced-with-challenging-but-growing-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=2911","title":{"rendered":"Local food sellers faced with challenging, but growing, industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you had to find locally produced meat, baked goods, beauty products and solar panels in one place, where could you go?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The answer, strangely enough, is the Wesley Community Church in Pembroke, Ont. On the first Saturday of every month, the church is buzzing with activity as volunteers sort through food and other goods that will make their way to Barry\u2019s Bay, Burnstown, and three other locations.<\/p>\n

The church is the central hub of the Ottawa Valley Food Co-op, an organization that seeks to link hundreds of people to locally made products.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to have healthy families, healthy communities, healthy finances \u2013 it all starts with our food and our farmers,\u201d says Co-op coordinator Stanislas Rochat.<\/p>\n

SHORTENING THE CHAIN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rochat and other local food sellers in Ottawa are attempting to \u201cshorten the chain\u201d between consumers and their food. In the past few decades, Canada\u2019s food system has become increasingly focused on using our farmland for exports, rather than producing food for our own consumption. To provide just one example, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), in 2010 Canada produced over $304 million worth of tomatoes to export, and then imported over more than $120 million of tomatoes the same fruit for our own consumption.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a trend that Rochat, the Co-op, and other local food sellers in Ottawa are trying to counteract.<\/p>\n

One of these sellers is Susan Jessup, owner of local food store Forty-Two Fine Foods in New Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as a country are not looking after our people with food,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disturbing because our food exports have quadrupled over the last while\u2026 It\u2019s about the economy, the economics of food, the business \u2013 which doesn\u2019t really have anything to do with feeding people.\u201d\\<\/p>\n

SAVOUR OTTAWA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spurred on by her philosophy that we should try to eat local as often as we can, Jessup joined Savour Ottawa, a group of local food suppliers and distributors that promotes the year-round sale and consumption of local food products.<\/p>\n

Jessup\u2019s \u201cguilt-free\u201d take-out meals are made almost entirely of locally sourced products, including beef from Savour Ottawa member Dan O\u2019Brien\u2019s farm in Winchester.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only niche that the big players, so the Cargill\u2019s of the world, could not compete in was local,\u201d says O\u2019Brien of his decision to enter the local beef industry five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I went with organic or I went with certified Angus or any other type of program\u2026 you just can\u2019t compete. Except for the local. It all sort of fit together.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien has seen the appeal of local food grow over the past five years, especially in the restaurant industry. On a few occasions he\u2019s even had to ask Ottawa restaurants to remove his farm name from their menus when they haven\u2019t bought his products.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat tells you that the restauranteur sees value in [local food],\u201d says O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestaurants in particular see it as good business to be doing this, because they\u2019re attuned to their clientele.\u201d<\/p>\n

GROWING PAINS<\/strong><\/p>\n

But while there\u2019s been indications for Savour Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley Food Co-op that awareness of eating local is growing, the industry is still facing challenges. O\u2019Brien is currently entering his fifth year in the cattle industry, and might just be breaking making a profit for the first time in his business\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

The Ottawa Valley Food Co-op is facing similar growing pains, as only a quarter of the 450 people registered through its website are ordering on a regular basis. And Forty-Two Fine Foods isn\u2019t exempt either; after three years in business and dozens of loyal customers, Jessup hasn\u2019t been able to break even yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to keep the doors open at this point,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

While many might be aware of the environmental benefits of eating local, the price might be what\u2019s keeping some customers away. For Jim McKeen, owner of the Glebe\u2019s Metro grocery store, this hasn\u2019t been a problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe react to our customers \u2013 and that\u2019s the thing about the Glebe. The Glebe is very vocal, so they have no issues telling you what they want, what they don\u2019t want,\u201d says McKeen.<\/p>\n

KEEPING CUSTOMERS HAPPY<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to keep his customers happy, the best business decision McKeen made in the last seven years was to stock his shelves with more local products at the request of his customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are still paying a premium for local,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur market in the Glebe is such that they can afford that premium. So it\u2019s profitable in our hands.\u201d (Thoughts on why\/how McKeen can do it, but the O\u2019Briens and Jessups can\u2019t?)<\/p>\n

The preference for local food in the Glebe is something that the Ontario government is trying to replicate on a bigger scale. In October, Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal party introduced Bill 130, or the Local Food Act. In a press release, the Liberals challenged each Ontario family to direct 10 dollars of their local grocery spending towards local food, stating that this small change would generate $2.4 billion in annual revenue for the province, and create 10,000 new jobs. Last week, premier-designate Kathleen Wynne announced her support for the legislation.<\/p>\n

While Jessup, Rochat, and O\u2019Brien are still searching for those elusive profits, the one thing they all have in common, besides their preference for local food, is optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re at a point now where we\u2019ve reached the critical mass needed in the population, and there\u2019s enough people aware of what it implies to eat local\u2026 If they buy local they know that they\u2019re really helping their communities.\u201d says Rochat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of education, marketing, and planting a new habit in the population.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

42 Fine Foods Profile<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Video, Photos, and Article co-produced by Kate Wilkinson and Kristina Partsinevelos.<\/em><\/p>\n


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