I too, look forward to our conversation.

I’d like to quickly clarify for your readers that we are not a “Toronto-centric” organization, as you’ve indicated. While our offices are in Toronto, we work across the province (across Canada, actually) certifying local sustainable farmers and processors, helping them differentiate their production from conventionally grown food. While I expect that your “Toronto-centric” reference was related to the restaurants, stores and institutions that have committed to supporting local sustainable farmers, a better indicator of the geographic reach of our work would be to also look at certified farms. You’ll see that Certified Local Sustainable farmers are located throughout Southwestern Ontario, and that we’ve begun to certify farmers and processors across Canada.

The geographic focus of our work with Institutions, Retailers and Restaurants – and, to a degree, farmer certifications – is driven by three key things: funding, farmer demand, and buyer demand. Our funders to date have preferred that we focus their monies on the GTA (and more recently Niagara/Hamilton), certified farms have, by and large, wanted to do more business in the GTA, and GTA buyers have been more interested in establishing new relationships with Certified Local Sustainable farms than buyers elsewhere in the province.

It has long been our assertion that in order for Ontario’s food system to be economically sustainable for all, it must be built across the province. This will ensure a system of significant enough scale to maintain accessible food prices, along with the robustness (if that’s even a word) to withstand economic downturns like the one we’ve recently seen.

Part of that province-wide system includes London and the area, along with other centres. As chance would have it, we are awaiting word on a grant application that would fund us to do more focused work in London – so your inquiry is timely.

I look forward to our discussion on Friday.

Chris Alward

Lushe
http://www.lushe.com.au