FRESH: Food and Urban Agriculture Strategy - City of Edmonton

Edmonton's Food & Urban Agriculture Strategy

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sh. Edmonton's Food & Urban Agriculture Strategy | october 2012

table of contents

Foreword: A Note from the Chair

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Executive Summary

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1 EDMONTON 2012: OUR FOOD AND

URBAN AGRICULTURE REALITY

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ii

2 BUILDING A STRATEGY THAT MATTERS

5

2.1 Planning for Resilient Local Food Systems

6

2.2 What is Meant by Local?

7

3 HOW FRESH WAS DEVELOPED

11

3.1 Public Consultation and Engagement

12

3.2 Aligning with Key City Plans

14

4 FOOD SYSTEMS AND FRAMEWORKS

17

4.1 The Elements of a Food System

18

4.2 Strategy Frameworks

19

5 STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

25

5.1 Establish the Edmonton Food Council

27

5.2 Provide Food Skill Education and Information

30

5.3 Expand Urban Agriculture

33

5.4 Develop Local Food Infrastructure Capacity

36

5.5 Grow Local Food Supply and Demand

39

5.6 Enliven the Public Realm Through a Diversity of Food Activities

42

5.7 Treat Food Waste as a Resource

45

5.8 Support Urban Farmers and Ecological Approaches to Farming

48

5.9 Integrate Land for Agriculture

50

6 ENACTING THE STRATEGY

59

6.1 Engaging Stakeholders and Potential Partners

60

6.2 Oversight: Is It Working?

61

6.3 What Success Will Look Like

62

7 CONCLUSION: EDMONTON'S FOOD AND

URBAN AGRICULTURE FUTURE

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7.1 Conclusion: Edmonton's Food and Urban Agriculture Future

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APPENDICES

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Appendix 1: Glossary

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Appendix 2: Mechanisms

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Appendix 3: Alignment with The Ways

74

Appendix 4: Example Metrics

81

Appendix 5: Links To Consultation

82

Acknowledgements

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Foreword: A Note from the Chair

The Food and Urban Agriculture Advisory Committee I chaired for close to the last year was made

up of fourteen citizens from different parts of Edmonton and with different interests in the food and

agriculture sector. As Chair I want to personally thank the members of the Advisory Committee for

their hard work, their dedication and, most of all, the incredible degree of respect shown in every

meeting. It was a great learning experience for us, but it was also made pleasant by the regard each

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member showed for the rest. The Advisory Committee members were:

Angus Watt | Angus Watt Advisory Group Areni Kelleppan | Sustainable Food Edmonton Candace Vanin | Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Ken Gossen | Food Processing Development Centre Debbie Hubbard | Greater Edmonton Alliance Dieter Kuhlmann | Kuhlmann's Market Gardens Henk ten Wolde | Alberta Netherlands Trade Office

Janet Riopel | Walton Development and Management Jerry Bouma | Toma & Bouma Management Consultants Jessie Radies | Live Local and Blue Pear Restaurant David Gibbens | Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues Lisa Jimmo | Horse Hill Community League Mary Beckie | Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta Susan Roberts | Growing Food Security in Alberta

Some of us are farmers, some of us are developers, some of us are academics, some of us are community organizers; but one thing that was clear from the first meeting was that no matter what our backgrounds were, we all shared one common passion and purpose--to make Edmonton's food system better. And over the course of the last year, despite different backgrounds and points of view, we worked hard to achieve that common goal. It wasn't always easy; when you get fourteen smart and dedicated people in the same room you'll have differences of opinion. But those discussions were what pushed us to try and do something special and something new. We hope we managed that.

I also have to thank the fantastic level of support we got from the City's administrative staff. They put in a massive amount of work, both in organizing our meetings and in doing the research, and for that I am personally thankful. Lastly, I know I speak for every Advisory Committee member when I thank the citizens of Edmonton who participated in this process with us. We could not have gotten close to producing the Strategy we did without their incredible insight, ideas and enthusiasm, through the Citizen Panels, the surveys, the conference and the online activity.

Creating fresh has been quite the ride, but it's been worth it, because we produced a Strategy that asks Edmontonians to imagine a city in which our food and urban agriculture landscape is more vibrant and resilient at every level. We think it's possible, we think it's exciting, and we can't wait to start working with you to make it happen.

Aaron Falkenberg, Chair Food and Urban Agriculture Advisory Committee

September 2012

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