I first wish to thank our friends, customers, and creditors who have stood along side us during the last two years of challenge. There had been excitement building in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, we finalized our new product brochure and received approval from the Agricultural Land Commission for composting and in 2011 we completed installation of the granulation and bagging system to produce and bag organic fertilizer. We were poised for growth.

After our legal challenges started in 2011 and we had to find another location, we had to make important decisions (information on our search for a site can be found at: http://johnpaulprofessional.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/transform-receives-refusal-from-the-agricultural-land-commission-for-a-composting-facility/ and the legal situation is all available as a matter of public record with the Supreme Court of BC.

Already in 2011, we decided that we would do our best to continue the business for two reasons:

1. our products were very well received by our customers, and

2. we wanted to honor the creditors to whom we still owed money and do our best to make things right.

Its now been two years now and there have been many challenges, one of them being the ability to compost at another location. So far, the Agricultural Land Commission has not been favorable to us. We  have had to adapt. We are now composting in Mission at an OMRR approved site, and in Chilliwack on a farm, using the farm’s manure. In 2012, we were able to sell some product. So far this year, we are not quite at our targets for 2011, but are getting close.  The excitement is beginning to build again. We are hoping.

We received three very positive responses this week for our products, which give encouragement to move forward in reestablishing our bagging system, our organic fertilizer production system, and further developing a large compost and soil production center. We have had to disappoint customers this year because could not supply worm castings yet.

We are working hard to pay our creditors before we move forward. We understand that some of our creditors have not understood the situation or had the patience to wait. I understand that and cannot fault them. I especially want to honor our creditors who have walked beside us, who understood my conviction to make things right.

Thank You!

In the next blog, I will reflect on the year(s) past – in this one I wish everyone a very blessed Christmas! We pray for peace throughout the world this Christmas.

Santa has gotten on board with the local healthy food initiative and the concern with imported food quality, and is now growing his own vegetables at the North Pole. Fortunately, with climate change, it is now possible to have a garden at the North Pole.

The economic realities of transportation costs are cutting into Santa’s sleigh budget as well, so he is able to take advantage of reduced hauling costs by filling his sleigh with compost every Christmas eve.

So much for putting out milk and cookies. He may want your compost  instead!

Have a blessed Christmas!

Last night at a public meeting in Central Saanich, we listened to concerned residents speak out against composting on agricultural land because of truck traffic, noise and odor. We heard that recycling our organic matter is a commercial activity, and should be done on industrial land, not on farmland. The public meeting was supposed to be about a draft change in the Central Saanich bylaw to allow a composting operation on agricultural land to export up to 50% of the compost it produces.

The residents were outspoken that our urban foodwaste should not be returned back to the farm, or at least should be composted somewhere else before returning to the farm.  We heard about health risks, water quality implications, noise, odor, loss of beautiful farmland, potential loss of property value….A copy of the article “Domestic waste composting facilities: a review of human health risks.” was submitted (this article is about mixed waste composting (garbage) which is no longer done in most of North America (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18701167).

I have always advocated that recycling organic waste needs to be socially and environmentally acceptable. This is why we advocate enclosing compost facilities and protecting the process from precipitation and to control odor.  We need to recycle the organic matter so that we can produce healthy foods with less pesticides and chemicals. A few weeks ago, I suggested that we are all living in a large agricultural experiment – where we as a society don’t fully know the implications of all the chemicals and genetically modified foods that we are eating (http://johnpaulprofessional.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/we-are-part-of-a-large-agricultural-experiment-are-you-okay-with-this/).

Last night was a wonderful example of how a community comes together on an issue of concern. Our rallying around cancer victims through walks, runs, and bike rides is another great example of how a community comes together. There is increasing evidence that the pesticides and chemicals that we use in our environment has health implications. When should we in our communities begin rallying around local healthy food production?

There are some reasons to allow 50% of the compost produced on a farm to be exported to other farms to promote local healthy food production. They include:

1. Having a local and quality compost available is beneficial for smaller farms in the community in that it allows these farms to increase the quality of their soil and the crops that they are growing by potentially reducing the requirements of pesticides and chemicals. This, in combination with the higher yields and improved food quality that can be achieved by using compost, makes these smaller farmers more economically viable. As an example, our company has been supplying about a dozen smaller organic growers with compost in the Fraser Valley. These growers would not have the ability to produce the compost themselves, and there are few other sources of quality compost available.
2. Under the new Good Agricultural Practice guidelines for food safety, fruit and vegetable growers cannot use raw manure within 120 days of harvest. This increases the demand for quality compost, as most growers and consumers understand the importance of providing and maintaining soil organic matter.

The proposed bylaw change to allow 50% of the compost produced on a farm to be exported is in keeping with the Capital Regional District’s goal to recycle organics in their own community for the benefit of local soils and local food production (http://sustainability.crd.bc.ca/media/1236/food_security_policy_brief_small.pdf).  The District of Central Saanich is supportive of this initiative within the CRD.

The official community plan for the District of Central Saanich places high priority for agriculture in its community, and acknowledges that farming may result in some dust, odor and noise.   The goal that we need to keep striving for is to keeping this important recycling of organic matter as socially acceptable as possible.

Its an interesting debate because many of us have been recycling our organic waste already in our backyard composters for years – and we use the compost in our gardens to grow our vegetables! In Toronto, there is interest in increasing composting initiatives because of the benefit to both urban farmers “Composting is a vital part of urban agriculture. By composting our plant waste and then using the compost to improve the garden’s soil, we are closing the loop between production, consumption, and waste.” (http://tfpc.to/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/GrowTO_ActionPlan_lowresFINAL.pdf).

I hope that we as communities can demonstrate enthusiasm in promoting local sustainable foods that that contain less pesticides and chemicals. In the meantime, we have to continue to find ways to recycle our organic matter in socially and environmentally acceptable ways. Our future and the future of our children depends on this.

I was very impressed to read the City of Toronto’s new GrowTO – An Urban Agriculture Action Plan for Toronto (http://www.compost.org/English/PDF/Urban_Agriculture_Toronto.pdf). When I read this action plan, I learned that:

1. Urban residents are enthusiastic to be involved with food production
2. Urban residents understand the value of local, healthy and sustainable food
3. Urban residents want to connect with their rural food producing neighbours in a meaningful way
4. Urban residents want to connect with food production globally

Below are a few quotations from this document that demonstrates the importance of integrating urban and rural food production:

“People who want to grow food are in fact often very highly motivated to do so. But if the information isn’t available to support their efforts, the results are often disappointing. In their discouragement, we lose the potential to create more urban growers and future farmers. Knowledge is essential at every stage to reward curiosity and hard work.

One of the intrinsic strengths of the urban agriculture movement is that food is a basic need—for everyone. And thus, everyone can potentially relate to any effort that makes fresh, healthy, local, nutritious, affordable, and culturally diverse food available—to everyone.

While the rural farmscape might be what immediately comes to mind, cities, too, are (and have always been) places of significant, energetic and committed food production. Urban agriculture has entered the lexicon as a way to describe a myriad of food-growing practices that are increasingly taking place in cities throughout the country and, indeed, the world. In fact, globally, it is common for a significant portion of food consumed in cities to be grown within and immediately surrounding those same cities.

Food growing enthusiasts are becoming entrepreneurs and launching new businesses and young farmers are forming co-ops, devising new models of land tenure to grow food commercially and keep the rich agricultural land often found in and around cities in production.

Urban agriculture unites constituencies of people across the broadest possible spectrum at the same time as it connects to our most basic personal and societal needs: good health, productive economies, and a sustainable environment. It provides a stepping stone for those who wish to eventually farm at a larger scale, making the transition from beginning farmer to productive farmer much easier.”

The GrowTO report also demonstrates that our urban neighbours also understand that composting and recycling is an integral part of food production. The report notes that almost all of the community gardens use organic principles in growing vegetables for personal and community use. The production and use of compost is integral to a successful urban agriculture program.

“another major hurdle to food production (particularly larger scale and commercial food production) is the issue of access to quality compost for soil amendment….by composting our plant waste and then using the compost to improve the garden’s soil, we are closing the loop between production, consumption, and waste.”

The GrowTO report also encourages connection with the larger rural farming community by endorsing the Golden Horshoe Agriculture and Agri-Food Strategy – Food and Farming Action Plan 2021.   http://greenbelt.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/21/gh_food_farming_action_plan_2021_pdf_29309.pdf.

“Those involved in food and farming in the Golden Horseshoe recognized that they had common interests and that by working together they had potential to

• support economic viability for all components of the food and farming cluster;

• maintain the agricultural land base;

• build better regional connections throughout the food and farming value chain; and

• reduce regulatory barriers to enable the cluster to thrive.”

The goals of the Food and Farming Action Plan 2021 include:

“A. GROW THE CLUSTER Grow the Golden Horseshoe cluster so it becomes the leading food and farming cluster in the world, renowned for healthy and safe products.

B. LINK FOOD, FARMING AND HEALTH Educate current and future consumers about the importance of locally sourced food and farming products for enhancing their health and well-being.

C. FOSTER INNOVATION Encourage and support innovation to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of the Golden Horseshoe food and farming cluster.

D. ENABLE THE CLUSTER Align policy tools and their application to enable food and farming businesses to be increasingly competitive and profitable.

E. CULTIVATE NEW APPROACHES Pilot new approaches to support food and farming in the Golden Horseshoe.”

The GrowTO report acknowleges the important work of Vancouver’s City Farmer organization, a non-profit group that has been promoting composting and food production in our cities since 1978!

“City Farmer teaches people how to grow food in the city, compost their waste and take care of their home landscape in an environmentally responsible way” http://www.cityfarmer.info/about/

This report emphasizes that our communities want to be involved with local healthy sustainable food production. Residents in our communities see rural agriculture simply a larger scale version of what they dream about with urban agriculture. We see a movement towards integrating urban and rural food production.