Workshop participants will learn how to put this diagram of pork cuts into practice.

Food Matters goes for a whole-hog event

Consumers get the chance to butcher a pig and visit farms, as demand for in-depth, hands-on knowledge grows

If enthusiasts of local food felt their social calendars were a little light this spring, they were right. After seven successful years, the annual Growing Local conference has been put on ice as Food Matters Manitoba moves in new directions. “Growing local is on hiatus,” explained executive director Kreesta Doucette, adding that a decrease in

selling vegetables at a farmers market

Local food demand increasing the value of direct marketing

The Direct Farm Marketing Conference marks its 20th anniversary at its meeting in Brandon

Forget the stereotype of the elderly farmer selling some garden surplus or a few jars of homemade pickles at the Saturday morning farmers’ market. Vendors selling homegrown vegetables, preserves and meat today are just as likely to be their energetic and technically savvy grandkids — or at least their age. Their small businesses aren’t just


vegetables in a market

Manitoba’s Small Scale Food Report is food for thought

A growing number of citizens is interested in buying food direct from the farm

Many farmers are willing to sell a side of beef, a few dozen eggs or a bag of potatoes to their acquaintances. Farmers have been direct marketing since agriculture began and it is only in the last 50 years that direct farm to consumer sales have started to be questioned. Up until then, governments encouraged

Farmers like Karen Friesen, who are engaged in small-scale food processing and direct marketing, are encouraged that the province has committed to helping their sector prosper. Friesen and her husband Jonathan operate Valleyfield Acres near Morden, selling farm-raised vegetables and preserves.

Province promises new supports for smaller farmers and processors

The report says support to grow food-processing sector 
must extend to all sizes of players

A new report aimed at supporting local producers and small-scale pro-cessors is being praised as an important step towards fostering a better working environment for new entrants to farming and food processing. Advancing the small scale, local food sector in Manitoba, a path forward, a 65-page report that includes 21 recommendations, was released last week


food waste

Let’s waste less food in 2015

Food bloggers and various groups love talking about what’s ‘in’ on the food scene as a new year begins. For 2015, we’re told to expect sustained interest in local food and how food production impacts the environment, eating healthier, a fondness for ‘mini’ food, more meatless Mondays, demand for more intense flavours and so on.

Mentoring food and business skills among a younger generation, and closer connection to consumers are some of the benefits that will come from improving the business environment for smaller-scale direct marketers, said proponents at MAFRD-hosted consultations across Manitoba.  PHOTO: LORRAINE STEVENSON

Small-scale producers want regs re-evaluated

Supply management limits and restrictions on advertising were among the concerns

Producers attending public consultations on small-scale food production last week had a consistent message — the current system prohibits their success, and food safety rules and regulations need to be re-evaluated. Not everyone is so lucky. Monika Zinn, a small-scale mixed-livestock producer in Springfield, raises and directly markets chickens. She was not grandfathered. She said


Province, city recognize UN International Year of Family Farming

Province, city recognize UN International Year of Family Farming

A flag honouring the family farm was raised at Winnipeg City Hall July 30

Provincial and municipal leaders gathered at Winnipeg’s City Hall July 30 to raise a flag honouring the United Nations declaration of 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming. Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Minister Ron Kostyshyn joined Brian Mayes, city councillor for St. Vital, to highlight the significance of family farming on a

A group of Rhode Island Red chicks at the University of Alberta’s Poultry 
Research Centre, which has housed collections of heritage chickens for 
more than 20 years.

Community comes together to save rare chickens

Poultry centre now providing community with farm fresh eggs and heritage chicks

An outpouring of community support has saved a rare — and potentially priceless — collection of heritage chickens. “It’s amazing how much the general population wants to support the chickens and how much they understand about genetic preservation,” said Agnes Kulinski, business director of the University of Alberta’s Poultry Research Centre. Two years ago, when


NDP develops national food strategy

The party is the first to deliver on a promise made by all three main federal parties

Spurred on by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the three main political parties in the 2011 federal election campaign promised a national food strategy. Three years later, the New Democrats are the first national party to deliver a comprehensive plan to improve food production across the country and ensure all Canadians can afford it. The

MLA wants red tape removed from farm group

Blaine Pedersen says the rules deter rural businesses

A Manitoba Conservative MLA says it’s time to inject “some common sense” into the rules that govern direct-to-consumer sales by farmers. Blaine Pedersen, (PC-Midland) has gone to bat for a small group of farmers recently outed for using a web-based ordering system and delivering uninspected chicken and ungraded eggs to customers in Winnipeg and other