USC Canada is honoured to have received a piece of art from The Blossom Project, in acknowledgement of our Seeds of Survival program.

The Blossom Project – a joint effort by artist Marlene Yuzak and journalist Allan Casey – aims to inspire people to do their best to serve the needs of global community, as defined by the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

Each of the 19 paintings – gifted by the Blossom Project to select organizations and individuals – is a token of acknowledgement for work already done. Each is a gesture of encouragement for work that may yet be undertaken in the future.

You can read more about the Blossom project and about how the recipients were selected by visiting their website.

His name is Richard Collier – a 70-something retired English prof and enthusiastic long-distance runner. He recently ran for election as an MLA in his Calgary riding of Glenmore.

It was a grueling campaign, as Rick relates, yet somehow he managed to get in all his training runs. He says, “While walking on cement sidewalks, delivering campaign literature, and knocking on doors, I covered about 10-12 km each day… and then went for my training runs (or cycles or swims). I ran close to 200 miles for the month of April.”

Rick wears many hats besides his running cap. He’s an avid outdoorsman and an active member of The Old Goats climbing and outdoor club. He’s also a dedicated environmentalist, which led him to participate in the Castle logging project protests in southwest Alberta earlier this year.

Rick’s commitment to the environment runs deep, and when he heard about USC’s Run for Biodiversity – one of the charities supported by the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon – he jumped at the chance to participate. When asked why he was running for biodiversity, he replied, “The planet is exhausted and will die if we don’t reverse our exploitation of its biomass and resources very quickly.”

Recently Rick entered Calgary’s Police Half-Marathon, and he broke two hours once again, which was good enough for first place in the 70+ category! He’s hoping for a similar time when he runs the Calgary half marathon on May 27.

If you’d like to support Rick and his Run for Biodiversity, please click here.

This CTV news clip of the press conference gives further highlights.

And Food Secure Canada has just put out a Press Release on it’s homepage and provides further information and context about The People’s Food Policy, which got high praise from de Schutter.

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Are you familiar with the five fabulous contenders below?

Keep your eyes peeled, because you’re going to start seeing them at farmers markets across the country – if you haven’t already!

Which of these particular pieces of peculiar produce do you think will most likely be the focus of Canada’s next big food trend?

Take our poll (You’ll need a Facebook membership) and please add your comments below. We’d love to see your recipes!

Here are the five contenders

Black Cherry Tomatoes

Cherished for their sweet taste and smoky overtones, these beauties have little water and lots of flesh. They make a dramatic addition to any salad or side dish. Tomatoes are native to the Andes region – Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru – but are believed to have been domesticated in Mexico.
Dig Deeper!

Gnadenfeld Melons

These small, deliciously sweet melons have a fragrant, deep orange flesh. Move over cantaloupe! A shorter season melon, it’s perfect for growing in Canada’s cooler climates. From Gnadenfeld, Manitoba, they may have come to Canada with Ukrainian immigrants. They feature a cob like structure, containing seeds in the centre. If you cut the melon lengthways against the centre core, you can twist the two halves apart. Beautiful!
Dig Deeper!

Haskap Berries

Okay, it’s actually a berry and not a veggie, but you’ll soon see it on vegetable stands almost everywhere. And no wonder – lonicera caerulea combines the flavours of blueberries AND raspberries! Also known as Blue Honeysuckle, Honeyberry, Edible Honeysuckle, or Sweet berry honeysuckles, Haskap tastes great, ripens in mid-June, and is prone to very few insect pests or diseases.
Dig Deeper!

Mizuna

No more boring salad greens! Mizuna’s flavour is piquant and bright, with a subtle earthiness. Its long, broad, serrated, deeply cut satin-finish leaves stand out, with their trailing stems. Brassica rapa nipponosica is a cool-season Japanese mustard green that looks similar to wild arugula. It’s native to China, but has been primarily cultivated in Japan.
Dig Deeper!

Purple Potatoes

A regal addition to any plate, the purple potato has a deep violet, inky colour. It tastes slightly nutty and comes in dozens of heirloom and heritage varieties. Solanum andigenum are native to the Lake Titicaca region in the high plains and mountain slopes of Peru, but these treasures are getting a big profile in gardens, kitchens and restaurants across Canada.
Dig Deeper!

In 2011, de Schutter visited Mexico, Madagascar, and South Africa, subsequently publishing reports on each. While here, de Shutter and his team will look at several Canadian issues, including poverty, aboriginal peoples and the right to food, the organization of food supply chains, international development, and trade and investment.

Food Secure Canada has helped arrange several of de Schutter’s meetings with civil society organizations in Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal. They believe Canada is long overdue for a national food policy. In fact, FSC spent two years canvassing Canadians coast to coast, producing the Peoples Food Policy last year.

For more information about de Schutter’s visit, see Food Secure Canada’s comprehensive overview, or read their press release on the Special Rapporteur’s visit.

Check out this article from four leading food and agriculture advocates; a reminder that food is fundamentally a justice issue, and until we reform structures and ways of doing things, we will remain stuck in the hunger game.

They also refer to some ignored but useful roadmaps that have already been produced: one in 2010 from the UN’s Rapporteur on the Right to Food (De Schutter 2010), and another from the International Assessment on Agriculture, Science, and Knowledge for Development (IAASTD 2008).

This ROB article is definitely worth the read. Comments welcome.

As a supporter of USC Canada’s work, I’m sure you may wondered whether or not your support has made a lasting difference in the lives of people overseas. What’s been the long term impact of your contributions?

Friederike visits with USC staff in Douentza, Mali. (December 2011)

As a long-time donor, current volunteer, and former USC staff member, these questions were very much on my mind when I purchased my plane ticket to Mali last Fall.

Click here to download a fuller version of Friederike’s report.

During my ten years working for USC (1991-2001), I visited Douentza, Mali twice, and I was always impressed with the progress I saw. Returning in 2011, I was very curious to experience the changes that more than a decade might bring to those same communities.

Imagine my surprise – as we drove northeast from the capital towards the road to the village of Gono – when I almost missed the village for the trees!

When I first visited Gono, there were very few trees, the village exposed to the burning sun – and now there were tall trees of different varieties on both sides of the road!

Schoolwork
Back then, the villagers approached USC to help them, quite literally, put a roof on their new school. USC agreed, but in exchange, we insisted the community establish an arboretum in the school yard.

I’m sure there was skepticism at the time, but the teacher, Mr Coulibaly, was on our side and insisted that each of the 58 different trees that were planted be designated the personal responsibility of an individual child. Each child was responsible for learning how to care for their own species of tree. And a local nursery was established to ensure enough trees were available for the children’s families to plant in their fields.

These two photos – the first I took in 1994, the second in 2011 – speak more than a thousand words. I was elated when I walked into this beautiful, small forest that now covers the formerly empty school yard. Looking at villagers, some of whom I remembered from earlier visits, I could see confidence and pride in their faces: their village is thriving in part thanks to the arboretum initiative, their own hard work.

A Change of Attitude
In the early ‘90s, for the villagers of Gono, trees were merely sources of firewood, sold by women along the roadside. But not anymore! Talking to the villagers now, they treasure their trees and have developed a profound understanding of their vital economic and environmental importance.

For example, the “ronier” palm tree (of the Borassus variety) is very popular now. It has many uses: the fruit is edible, as are the new shoots. The leaves are used for fibre and in construction, and the wood is termite-proof. Fruit trees (“jujube”), called “pommes de Sahel” locally, provide vitamin-rich nutrition and good economic value.

The village of Gono, and the other villages I visited in Mali on this trip, are good illustrations for the success of USC’s methodology. Some of the villages don’t need much financial support these days, while others require none. However, the villages continue to be committed to sharing what they learned with other villages in the Seed of Survival (SoS) network, a network that is growing every year. Villagers travel and share their knowledge, motivating others to participate in the SoS program.

Despite the recent upheaval in Mali, the positive work of the farmers continues. With the support of USC’s Mali staff, change is palpable in the region of Douentza!

Renew your support of farmers in Mali and around the world by donating today!

While there are currently no rebels based in Douentza, they do return every few days and have seized vehicles and supplies. Businesses in both Douentza and the nearest urban centre, Mopti (about 175 km west) are closed, and government officials have left Douentza. Generally the situation in and around Douentza is tense but calm.

MNLA exploited the coup launched by members of the Mali military on March 22 in the capital, Bamako, and used the confusion to escalate their offensive. The military junta agreed last week to step down, under pressure from the international community. An interim president was sworn and the interim government will now organize elections. The interim president rejects any possibility of negotiating the partition of Mali, a position unanimously supported by the international community.

Impact on our Program
While Canada’s government suspended aid to Mali involving direct payments to the Malian government during this crisis, programs like ours – that provide assistance to the Malian people through local organizations and NGOs – were to continue as long as the security situation allowed. Given the latest developments:

• The USC office in Douentza has been closed.
• Some program activities in Douentza continue with support from a group of farmer representatives from different parts of the district; a group we had been working with to take a leadership role in coordinating the program.
• The director of our program in Douentza is in regular contact by cell phone with staff and the farmer coordination group.
• Our partner in Bamako, CAB Demeso, is able to operate normally and is continuing to support work in Safo, just outside the capital.

We’re continuing to look into how we might sustain operations in Douentza, but while we’re hopeful the political situation will be sorted in the coming weeks, the situation in the North is complex a quick resolution seems less likely. We are monitoring the situation closely.

With support from our partner APN Sahel – in land rehabilitation, community seed banking, and market gardening – many families have actually been able to boost food production. But as you’ll see from the photos below, taken late in 2011 by our Program Manager Sarah Dalle (pictured, right), there are still vulnerabilities.

Supply of Food: 4 Months

Assane Gani and Fatoumata Goral head a family of 10, farming two hectares of relatively degraded land. One of the most food-insecure families in the village of Diguetao, they have not been involved in APN-supported rehabilitation work. In 2010, the three family members active in farming produced enough cereal to last only four months. In 2011, they faced more trouble from insufficient rainfall and too many birds eating their crops. They’ve seen their neighbours benefit, however, and have started to get involved with APN, contributing to the community seed bank.

Supply of Food: 6 Months

Sadou Alaye (left) helps manage the seed bank, and is very active with APN Sahel. His household also has three people involved in food production, yet in 2010 he produced enough cereal to last two additional months (6 in total). With APN support, he has built a compost pit, obtained and planted tree seedlings, and has access to agricultural equipment. His main constraint is limited labour due to the size of his family, but in 2011 he had a modest harvest. He planted pearl millet early enough to harvest before the birds arrived.

Supply of Food: 12 Months

Amnatou Tamboura (Centre) and her husband Moussa Hamadoum (not shown) have a large household – 17 members, 11 of whom are active in production. In 2010 they produced enough grain to cover their needs for the entire year. The family has long invested in rehabilitating degraded soils with APN support, and they now plant five hectares! While they lost part of their harvest to birds in 2011, they still produced enough grain to meet most of their needs.

The Best Laid Plans

While food security among whose who invested in land rehabilitation has improved, poor harvests were a reality for everyone in 2011. “This young man, in the village of Filifili, was adamant about showing us his crop of pearl millet, damaged by birds,” says Sarah. In some cases, nearly the entire harvest was eaten by birds, leaving only stalks and leaves – great for livestock feed, but not for family nutrition.

Seed Banks vs. Cereal Banks

Community seed banks like this one in Filifili have already been established in all 10 villages where APN works, and will help ensure families have seed to plant in 2012 despite the poor harvests in 2011. Farmers have shown interest in setting up cereal banks – to help provide access to affordable grain as a source of food if family supplies run low. We’ve had success with cereal banks in nearby Mali. “In the meantime,” says Sarah, “USC and APN Sahel are currently helping families access government emergency grain stocks at subsidized prices.”

An Important Alternative

While cereals store well and are an important dietary staple, the farmers USC supports use market gardens to continue and diversify food production as they brace fro food shortages during the long dry season. Here Aisseta Tamboura stops to show a young girl, Aminata Tamboura, how to transplant onion seedlings in her market garden. Sarah says “A small dam built by local government has provided easy access to water, and all families were working hard together to produce vegetable crops for the dry season – both for nutritious food and for income.”

Adapting to Change

Following the failure of major field crops like pearl millet, many farmers planted maize among their vegetable crops in 2011. Here Amadoum Tamboura, shows how he has intercropped maize with okra. “After the maize has been harvested, I’ll be able to continue to harvest the okra as many as four or five times,” says Amadoun.