An event was held Monday afternoon at Innovation Place to mark the event.
The below article was prepared by Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan. The following interview is with Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan Executive Director Clinton Monchuk.
Representatives of the agriculture, food and science sector gathered at Innovation Place today to celebrate ten years for Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan (FFC SK), an organization that improves trust and understanding in food and farming.
“It’s impressive to see how far we’ve come in ten years,” said Joe Kleinsasser, a farmer from Rosetown who chaired the advisory board that helped establish Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan back in September 2014.
The organization grew out of the Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan, which came together with several crop commissions and support from the Ministry of Agriculture. It followed a similar transition in Ontario’s agriculture sector in 2012.
Its mandate then, as it is still today, was to build public trust in Saskatchewan-produced food and to help consumers make connections between the food they eat and the farms that grow it.
Clinton Monchuk, Executive Director of FFC SK, spoke of some of the milestones the group has achieved over the past decade. Membership has grown from about 20 in its first year to 69 today, representing individual farmers, producer organizations, Hutterite colonies, rural municipalities and agribusiness companies. FFC SK has hosted at least 26 different farm tours for food influencers, students and policy makers over the years. And one of the most significant successes in the last ten years has been the creation of Canadian Food Focus, a national program that now engages with almost a million consumers across the country every month on topics like recipes, what’s in season, sustainable farm practices, and health aspects of Canadian-grown foods.
While pleased with their progress, Monchuk pointed out there is still much to be done to connect consumers to food producers. “Today, less than two percent of Canadians have a direct connection to farming,” he said. “The need for accessible and credible information about food has never been greater.”
Several current FFC SK members agree. Monchuk reported that support for the organization has increased by $150,000 just in the last six months and additional growth is planned for the coming year.
The event also kicked off Global Biotech Week in Saskatchewan, which celebrates science and biotechnology and highlights Saskatchewan’s leading role in this area.
