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Making the urban-rural connection

As Toronto expands, we are becoming further and further removed from the farms that provide the shrink-wrapped food we buy. As urbanites we need to reconnect with how our food is produced, how our waste is disposed and what really is a fair price for food.

Increasingly industrialized agri-businesses export food from the country to cities–within Canada and globally. Intensive livestock operations are making an impact on rural air, water and soil quality. As Torontonians we also export our sewage sludge, which is spread o­n fields.

How do these modern farming practices affect our food, health, and the environment? How are governments and large-scale agri-businesses responding to environmental and food quality concerns post-Walkerton? How can we work toward a sustainable food system?

Panelists:

• Don Mills: Organic livestock farmer and o­ntario Regional Coordinator for the National Farmers Union.
  
• Maureen Reilly: Water Quality Campaign leader, Sierra Club of Canada.
  
• Bill Weida: Project Co-ordinator, Global Resource Action Center for the Environment Factory Farm Project. Former Professor of Economics and Business, The Colorado College, Colorado Springs.

Invited: Representatives of the Ontario Liberal Government and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture to be confirmed.

Moderator: Karin Wells: Broadcast journalist with CBC Radio's The Current.
WHEN? WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2004 7:30-9:30 p.m.
WHERE? St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts 27 Front Street East, Toronto 2 blocks east of Union Station
FREE ADMISSION Capacity 500, first come, first seated For more information, please call: 416-366-1656 or visit www.forum.stlc.com

@ January 24, 2004