Urban Ag to Retail

[JBrown]

I'm looking for some direction and information on regulations
regarding the viability of selling urban agricultural goods at a
retail store. For example, an urban farmer cultivating a market
garden on a variety of backyard plots through Landshare Canada - what
regulations exist which permit/prohibit an urban farmer from marketing
his/her goods through a grocery store?

If you're interested in starting up an urban ag business or seeing
more urban ag in the city, the implications of this question may lead
to some amazing opportunities for the Calgary food system.

Thanks for the input!

[Paul Hughes]

The Calgary Food Policy Council blog & facebook had a discussion on this issue aprox 2.5 years ago. It is entirely possible to SPIN farm (or just in your own garden) and sell to retail, but not before jumping through some onerous hoops according to AB Ag & the CFIA. That is one of the reasons for a food policy council, to identify and create awareness about these local food system obstacles and work towards changing them.

There doesn't seem to be a tremendous level of agreement on the process from the feds/prov. The process is not streamlined in the least and in itself presents a substantial barrier to a resilient food system. 

There are multiple retail scenarios as well. Direct from Garden, Door 2 Door, CSA, Farmers' Markets and of course the underground market, which is where a lot of these exchanges have been driven due to draconian food regulations.

Both Seattle & Saskatoon have amended local law to accommodate this type of food production. It is also in the imagineCalgary food targets... Read it here

I encourage you to get involved with the Calgary Food Policy Council. You can also post this question on their site.

Paul Hughes

@Hughes4YYC

403.383.3420

pa...@paulin8.com

http://paulin8.blogspot.com

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[Michael Nyberg]

Greetings from Victoria Mr. Brown,
I am involved with Haliburton Community Farm, http://www.haliburtonfarm.org, and we have a few different outlets we sell to. Grocery stores and other outlets like that offer the lowest return on our produce and we resort to them only if we have an excess.
Selling direct to consumers offers a way better return on our investment and time.
The CSA model is one that work best for us. For a number of reasons. Our time is a big one. It requires the least time, with a good return.
It can be as simple as setting up an email list and letting people know what is available and having a pick up day, or complex as you want. We set up an email list with a only a few friends, and it exploded in only a few days.

Sorry I didn't really give some insight into your questions, but just wanted to share my experience.
But most of all it fills my heart to directly give food to people that will eat it and to see their excitement.

In saladarity,
Mike Nyberg
http://www.newmountainfarm.ca

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From: fo...@netidea.com
To: calgary-urba...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [CUA] Urban Ag to Retail
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:01:52 -0600