WATERLOO REGION — A machine that resembles a biplane coming in for landing sweeps across neat rows of bright green stalks rising from dark soil.
The air smells of grass, earth, manure and rain.
On a cloudy morning in May, 10 workers sit along the wings of an asparagus harvester, creeping along a field at Barrie’s Asparagus Farm and Country Market.
The Cambridge farm has welcomed patrons to its farm-gate store for more than 40 years. But only in the last decade have Waterloo Region residents had a single resource to track down local vendors like Barrie’s Farm — the Buy Local! Buy Fresh! map, which plots sources of fresh, local produce throughout the region.
The map provides a ready customer base to independent farmers struggling against corporatization. Tim Barrie, owner of Barrie’s Farm, credits the map with growing his profits, profile and product base. He now sells everything from his homegrown rhubarb to asparagus salsa and pasta produced in partnership with local businesses. He also offers other locally sourced goodies, such as honey, cheese and grass-fed, pasture-raised pork.
“We’re a real word-of-mouth business,” says Barrie, adding it’s not just the map, but its complementary online listings that boost his business. “If we buy everything imported, who’s gonna work there?”
Local food “is important because it provides local jobs,” says Barrie. “They come here because of the map. Now, all of these places on the map, we all share each other’s customers.”
His local asparagus isn’t just fresher and often cheaper than imports, it’s also tastier.
“We have people who drive over and hour just to get our asparagus,” says Barrie. “Once people eat our asparagus, they won’t buy it at the supermarket.”
They’ve already distributed about 1,000 copies of the Buy Local! Buy Fresh! map at Barrie’s Farm because asparagus is the first crop of the season, so they starts seeing customers before many other growers.
“I made them practically Number 1 on my drop-off point for that very reason,” says Anna Contini, project co-ordinator for Foodlink Waterloo Region, the not-for-profit agency behind the map. “People seem to be used to going there for their maps.”
Foodlink will launch the map’s 10th anniversary edition at the St Jacob’s Market this Saturday. Distributed for free at participating farms, markets, local libraries and by advertisers, the guide helps Waterloo Region residents sniff out the bounty of fresh, local food in their backyards.
But its long-term success demonstrates an appetite for local food that has spread beyond the map’s boundaries. In fact, Buy Local! Buy Fresh! has been so successful for regional farmers that the logo and concept have been licensed out to communities across Canada.
Since inception, the map’s size has doubled, its design has been refined, and it’s now funded largely by advertisers involved with local food. The number of featured farmers has climbed from 30 to 74 despite the $150 fee ($125 for an early-bird rate). In its first year, 20,000 copies circulated throughout the region; this year, Foodlink printed 40,000.
“They all get used. It really is a highly sought-after commodity,” says Contini.
Buy Local! Buy Fresh! started in 2002 as part of an effort to promote locally sourced food by Region of Waterloo Public Health, under the rationale that local food is sustainable, economically beneficial and builds a sense of community, all of which contribute to overall well-being. Since then, Foodlink has branched off from the region. It’s now an independent not-for-profit that promotes local food with the map, runs a Taste Local! Taste Fresh! Event every September, and offers a searchable, online database of local-food information, sources and recipes.
“That message of ‘there are amazing sources of local foods right next to you,’ they’ve really done well at getting that out there,” says Marc Xuereb, public health planner with Region of Waterloo Public Health. He adds that the local food trend that blossomed along with the map isn’t going anywhere soon.
“I think it goes hand-in-hand with the growing popularity of food localism,” explains Contini. “The timing has been right.”
Barrie praises Peter Katona, Foodlink’s first executive director, for his efforts to promote local food and support local farmers. Since Katona grew up on a farm and now works as the marketing and sales manager of Martin’s Family Fruit Farm, Barrie says he understood his needs. He calls Katona a “local-food pioneer” and says “he’s done more for local food than anyone else in Ontario.”
The region’s mix of city and rural living made it the perfect place to launch the program, according to Contini. As more urbanites and chefs embrace local food, the map helps them find it.
For chefs and retailers who seek the good things that grow in Ontario, the 2011 Buy Local! Buy Fresh! map includes a wholesale icon in its legend. Barrie’s Farm gets one. Borealis Grille & Bar uses its asparagus tortillas along with its asparagus; the farm also takes orders from Wildcraft Grill & Bar, Vincenzo’s, Bogey’s Rustic Grill, and Seven Shores Urban Market & Café, to name a few.
“[The map] is useful not only for consumers, but for chefs or retail operations wanting to source a particular product,” says Contini.
But it’s not just locals who seek the map.
“Culinary tourism is growing,” says Contini. “The farms that have really capitalized on that, for lack of a better word, are also offering extra things.”
Back at Barrie’s Farm, he’s planning to do just that. Last year, the farm held its first-ever Asparagus Festival on Canada Day.
In partnership with M&M Meat Shops, Broil King and Bauer, the farm raised $11,000 for the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre. This year, Barrie plans to bring back the petting zoo, auction and barbecue to mark the traditional end of the asparagus season in Ontario.
acsanady@therecord.com
This is a fantastic initiative. I've been using the growers map for a number of years and you will see many of my food adventures will be to the locations charted... like Barries Asparagus Farm - featured in this article.
