Does the uncertainty of what is actually in your food products concern you?  Do the reports of chemicals, pesticides and genetically modified foods (GMF) frighten you?  Well I am here to say they should.   We, as Canadians, specifically living in and around the Greater Toronto area, (GTA) are lucky in that we have such an easy and broad choice as to where and from whom we buy our food and food products. 

Toronto is located within one of the richest growing areas in Canada.  Surrounded by many local farms, not to mention that many of them practice organic farming, Toronto and the GTA has an abundance of local produce to choose from.   A short drive for the city in almost every direction during the growing and harvesting season will bring you to locally grown produce.  

Get to know the farmers in the local area as you will get to know more intimately the foods that you bring to your table.  As you learn more about the local farms and produce you will have a better understanding of the foods themselves as well as the manner in which they are grown and produced. 

Farmer markets abound in the area, and even right down town Toronto.  The farmers actually bring their produce to these farmer markets and sell directly to you.  There are savings to be had over the price you pay in the grocers for the exact same produce. 

Good or Bad, why manufactured fertilizers are used

The main reason why organic farming still remains a small farm industry that is carried on by a minority of farmers in North America is that Organic fertilizers cost more.  In other words, it is primarily less expensive to use chemicals and manufactured fertilizers.    A trip to your local grocers can attest to the difference in the price of organically grown foods and the non-organically grown foods. 

The end of manufactured fertilizers the return to Manure

 “Deposits of potash in Canada, which we have long relied on for potassium fertilizer, are dwindling, and there is no other known supply as readily available. There is much talk of opening a huge phosphorus mining operation in the South American rain forest, which will hardly be hailed with joy by environmentalists. Natural gas, the major source of commercial nitrogen fertilizer, is rising in cost as other users compete for it. In fact, there are reasons to believe that the era of reliance on manufactured and mined fertilizers is passing.”  BY Gene Logsdan – The Cornucopia Institute

Does this mean that the demand for manure will rise?  It seems that some large farming enterprises are beginning to look at manure as an alternative or supplement to manufactured fertilizers.  Once upon a time manure was the king fertilizer used by farmers, but as the demands and market grew alternatives had to be found to support a greater demand on the same amount of land.   Now it seems that a return to manure may be an inevitable thing.

Benefit of locally grown foods

• Local means fresher.  The produce is not picked before its time and transported across long distances before it reaches the shelves of grocers.
• You supports the local economy more directly,  keeps a greater share of the money with the local  farmers and therefore the local economy
• Supports our farming neighbours. Farmers on average receive 20 cents of each food dollar spent, the rest going for (middle men and processes) transportation, processing, packaging, refrigeration and market profit.  Farmers who sell food to local customers receive the full value
• Buying and eating locally encourages the use of local farmland for farming which helps to keep development on dwindling farm land in check.
• Farmers who sell direct to local consumers offer products at their peak qualities of freshness, nutrition and taste.
• Local food is often safer, even when it’s not organic, small farms tend to be less aggressive than large factory farms about dousing their wares with chemicals, and using GMF crops.
• Eating locally grown food even helps in the fight against global warming.  Rich Pirog of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture reports that the average fresh food item on our dinner table travels 1,500 miles to get there.  Buying locally produced food eliminates the need for all that fuel-guzzling transportation.
• Supports local employment.  Keep and increase the number of local jobs.
• Increase to local tax base, supports local community improvements ...
• Holistic Health perspective.  Supports community wellbeing and community involvement
• And if organically grown it is better for your health all around
• Organic supports local livestock farm initiatives, and the growth of the Manure (natural fertilization) industry.

It is plain to see that supporting local farm initiatives can be a pile of manure but overall it is an initiative that is the best thing for out holistic health and wellbeing.  So yes you should give a S*** so to say.

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