The 29th Annual Guelph Organic Conference goes forward with great success
by Leah Gerber
Organic food production is an increasingly popular movement, and nothing gives more evidence of this than the 29th annual Guelph Organic Conference held at the University of Guelph this past weekend. Hundreds of organic agriculturalists, processors, consumers, farmers market organizers, journalists, students and enthusiasts gathered together to discuss, investigate and celebrate organic agriculture. New people were introduced, new ideas were proposed, and new products were sampled. All in all, it was a productive and successful four days.
The various organic workshops and panels began in the afternoon on Thursday Jan. 28. Some of these workshops were designed for those new to the movement, such as “A 2010 Climate Change Think Tank: How can the organic movement respond to the challenge of climate breakdown!” and others for the more advanced such as “Benefits of Mycorrhizal fungal associations with plants- a soil insurance plan.” Talks were held throughout the weekend, while a formal organic dinner was hosted Friday night in Peter Clark Hall.
On Saturday morning, crowds gathered in Rozanski to listen to keynote speaker Margaret Webb, a national organic expert, who has written extensively about organic agriculture in Canada and North America. In her presentation titled, “Think Big Canada: The Organic Food Fix,” she spoke about Canada’s current broken food system, and the solutions that organic agriculture can offer.
“Food, essential to life, has to be recognized as more than a profit machine,” said Webb. “By supporting the production of cheap food, the government has actually made it more expensive.”
In her lecture, Webb explained that while the current system of farming is efficient, it produces enormous problems later on, especially those related to health and the environment. In her opinion, as well as thousands of others, the organic movement is not just about producing better quality food; it’s about a better food system completely.
Other problems were discussed after Webb’s lecture, such as the inaccessibility of land to young farmers, the continuing struggle to have genetically modified foods labeled, and the misrepresentation of organics in general.
Despite these problems, organics have come a long way. Kathy Boyce of Crofter’s Organics, a vendor selling organic jams and juice at the expo, has been around since the beginning of the movement. She spoke about the challenge ‘back then’ to spread product awareness and convince consumers to buy her product. Today, more and more people consider organic food superior, and her costumer base has grown considerably, though she still serves her loyal buyers from the 1980s.
Holand Bolster remembers how the conference began 28 years ago “with 12 students, a bag of sandwiches and some coffee.” Today the best part for him is “seeing all these people from all over, British Columbia, Newfoundland, the east coast and even Holland, come together, having a good time, and getting involved.”
This sense of community is evident as people roam around the UC looking at booths, and sampling food.Many know each other yet newcomers are always welcome.
Whether or not you agree with the organic movement, it’s not going anywhere. What Bolster thinks about the future of the conference and organics in general is that “it’s growing, it keeps growing, and it’s going to save the world.”
Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
“In an organic Canada, you can still have your chocolate milkshake, but it will be made with Mapleton’s organic ice cream and fair-trade chocolate,” said Webb.