The 2009 -2010 year ended up being both challenging and rewarding. This was my first full term as president of the Lambton Federation of Agriculture. Some of the year’s highlights are listed below,
I started out the year with the hope to improve communication between the LFA and the different commodity groups within Lambton County. In March we hosted a meeting with many of the commodity groups and all four local MP’s and MPP’s. The meeting was very well received by all groups and agreed that we should continue to host these meetings at least once a year.
Our map committee worked very hard at developing the 3rd edition of the Locally Lambton Food and Fun Map. It was bigger, brighter and better than previous years as support continues to grow for this wonderful initiative. The map committee also organized our 2nd annual Locally Lambton map tour which showcases different map participants. The day did not go quite as well as planned and we hope that more focus and advertising can be directed toward this project in the upcoming year.
The political awareness committee continues to work toward a land use policy that can guide us in discussions with municipalities and land owners when issues may arise. This document will be immediately useful as the City of Sarnia is currently reviewing their land use policy and creating a strategy for moving forward. I have been working with this committee to ensure the best use for Agriculture land is a primary issue.
One other project that I have been working with is a Community Food Summit. The priority of this group is to allow all Lambton County residents equal and fair access to locally grown food while ensuring fair returns for the farmers who produce these foods. This group has already hosted some regional meetings to gain feedback about issues regarding access to local food and will be hosting a Food Summit tomorrow, Saturday November 20th, to gain more understanding of .these issues:
As a board we need to be continually improving and finding ways to connect with the grass roots farmer. This will allow our board to be more educated and responsive when issues arise with any of our members.
~Kevin Forbes~
President, Lambton Federation of Agriculture