Inspiring Food Policy Action
- Topics:
- Blog, Food Policy & Politics
Thursday, June 12th, 2008, 6:59 AM
From take a bite contributor Deepa Ranganathan…
It looks like one of the most progressive cities in North America, environmentally speaking, isn’t a city at all. The town of Markham, Ontario (pop. 262,000) claims it’s the first municipality in Canada to craft a policy for buying more food from local farms.
In a speech at the 2008 Smog Summit in Toronto, Markham mayor Frank Scarpitti was categorical: “These actions will help support Ontario’s farm economy, address climate change, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pesticide use, curb urban sprawl, protect Ontario farm lands and promote sustainable farming practices.”
The specifics: Markham has partnered with Local Foods Plus, a nonprofit that certifies local farmers and processors and connects them with buyers. In future contracts, the town will work with LFP to source at least 10 percent of its food from Ontario farmers and will increase that target by 5 percent per year. The new policy will apply to Markham’s community centers and civic center.
The town is already Ontario’s recycling capital, diverting 70% of municipal waste from landfills. And it just adopted a Zero Waste policy for its facilities, boosting biodegradable cutlery and 10% recycled paper products while eliminating plastic water bottles and polystyrene foodware.
All of which makes Toronto – located 19 miles directly south of Markham – look kind of bad. That city recently shelved a similar proposal, citing cost concerns and worries that elderly residents would have to forego bananas. According to a story in the Toronto Star, estimates suggest such a plan would boost costs by just 10 percent, and there would be no banana ban. “We don’t want to eliminate bananas,” Franz Hartmann, executive director of Toronto Environmental Alliance, told the Star. “Rather, we want the city to choose Ontario apples instead of apples flown from halfway around the world.”
