As part of our mandate, Just Food is working towards promoting agriculture in the Ottawa region, both to provide sustainable livelihoods to rural and urban food providers and to increase availability of local food for local eaters.
Farmer-to-Farmer Training
Check out current workshop offerings.
Farm Internships
Find out about full-season internships on local farms. Find interns for your own farm.
FarmLink seeks to link landowners throughout Ontario with those looking for land to farm.
FarmON Alliance
A provincial initiative to encourage new, smaller-scale, sustainable farmers in Ontario.
CSA farming is an approach to growing and purchasing food that has farmers and eaters working cooperatively.
Incubator Farm
Just Food is working to create an incubator farm in the NCC Greenbelt which will offer new farmers a chance to establish themselves and get mentored experience.
Just Food coordinates a variety of farmer-to-farmer training workshops. Description of workshops are available below. Details on timing of workshops will be updated as information becomes available. Please consider signing up for our newsletter to receive updates about workshop opportunities or contact us if you are interested in a particular topic that is not currently being offered.
Interested in being a trainer?
If you are a farmer who would like to offer your expertise to other farmers (both new farmers and established farmers who might wish to add a new operation onto an existing farm), please contact us. We can assist with curriculum development and facilitation. We work with both organic and conventional farmers.
For New Farmers
Exploring Your New Farm Dream
Offered by Just Food and FarmStart, this four-part series of workshops
is a course for people who are thinking about starting a commercial
farm business (farming with the intent to make a profit rather than as
a hobby or a pastime). Developed by the New England Small Farm
Institute, the course helps aspiring farmers learn what it would take
to start and manage their own farm dream and decide whether this is
the right path for them.
Session 1: Wed Feb 22 6-9 pm
Session 2: Wed Feb 29 6-9 pm
Session 3: Sat March 17 9-5 pm including ½ day farm tour
Session 4: Sat March 31 9-5 pm including ½ day farm tour
Cost: $325 (+HST)/person or $450 (+HST) for two people from the same
"farm dream" (e.g. family, business partners).
For more information and to register, please go to: www.farmstart.ca/explorer/
Where: Central location in Ottawa (Location given upon registration).
Participants: Space is limited to 16 participants (maximum of 2
people per farm dream).
Lucky in Land
This is a meet-and-greet opportunity to try to match those with farmland with those who are looking to farm. If you are a landowner and are thinking about looking for someone to farm your land, or if you are a new or existing farmer looking for land to farm in the Ottawa region, this is an opportunity for you to meet and discuss possible working relationships.
The workshop will cover land tenure agreements between landowner and farmer, tips for working effectively together and case studies within the region.
If you are interested in participating, please contact us.
Service provided in both English and French.
For Existing Farmers
Scaling Up – Vegetable Production
In 2011, this workshop was facilitated by David Cohlmyer from Cookstown Greens.
Topics covered include:
Scaled-up market gardening techniques (bed systems, equipment, irrigation)
Scaling-up greenhouse operations
Produce varieties
Steps in scaling-up
Tips for successful succession planting
Pricing based on the cost of production vs. the going market price
Managing cash flow issues
$125 (lunch included) ($150 for 2 people from the same farm)
English only.
Holistic Farm Management Workshop
In 2011 Fran and Tony McQuail from Meeting Place Organic Farm presented this hands-on workshop.
Holistic Management is an approach to managing resources that builds biodiversity, improves production and generates financial strength. It replaces fragmentary decision-making and short-term solutions with a practical approach encompassing the whole process of managing healthy land while meeting the farm's goals.
Tools include working as a management team, a financial planning framework, improved grazing strategies, improved cropping strategies and monitoring and control techniques.
$1000 per farm with 1-2 people from the same farm. (If you have three or more people interested on your farm, the cost is $500 per additional person).
Maximum participation: 10-12 farms
The workshop takes place over 2 three-day sessions.
English only.
Please note: This training opportunity is eligible for 50% cost-share funding through the Growing Forward Business Development for Farm Businesses program in Ontario.
The CRAFT Ottawa program links interns with ecological farmers for full-season internships, and develops networks of ecological farmers who provide education and exposure to different farming systems for their interns. Some farms are able to host French-speaking interns.
If you are interested in offering an internship at your farm, Just Food offers orientation for farmers, either within a workshop format once a year, or in a one-on-one session.
Visit www.craftontario.ca to find out what internship opportunities exist in this region and how to apply to them.
FarmLINK Ontario is an online tool which can be used to find farm land for sale, rent, lease, or through other innovative structures. There are many opportunities for farming to be found through FarmLINK. As well, landowners who would like to share their land with a new farmer can post their opportunity on FarmLINK. Finally, established farmers can find a new farmer to take over their operation through sale, lease or other arrangement on the FarmLINK website.
Visit www.farmlink.net to find out more.
The FarmON Alliance is a provincially coordinated alliance of organizations with a mandate to encourage the development of local food systems through the support of emerging, ecologically-oriented farmers. The FarmON Alliance does this by developing and sharing farmer-to-farmer training opportunities, promoting the CRAFT internship program and developing the FarmLink website and related resources. It is presently funded through a three-year grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation Future Fund.
The Alliance is coordinated by FarmStart (Guelph) in collaboration with four regional partner organizations. Just Food is the Eastern Ontario Regional partner, and also the partner tasked with developing better services for French-speaking new farmers in Ontario (in partnership with l'Union des cultivateurs franco-ontariens).
Other hubs include:
Farms at Work (Kawartha area) – Central Hub
Everdale (Erin, ON) – Southern Hub
Eat Local Sudbury – Northern Hub
As part of this work, Just Food works closely with partners in the Eastern Ontario region.
These partners include:
Canadian Organic Growers – Ottawa Chapter
EcoPerth
Ottawa Valley Food Coop
Kingston's National Farmers' Union
New Farm Project
Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve's
Ecological Farmers Organization
Eastern Ontario Local Food Co-op
OMAFRA
These organizations also offer farmer training, buy local websites and other supports; we encourage you to visit their websites to find out more.