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Hamilton Conservation Foundation

Greenbelt Harvest Picnic Festival

Grants Made:

$20,000 - May 27, 2011

The 2011 "Greenbelt Harvest Picnic Festival" to be held at Christie Lake in Dundas, Ontario on Saturday August 27th, 2011.It is a celebration of the great food produced in the Greenbelt. Greenbelt farmers will attend,The artist lineup will include high profile musicians such as Daniel Lanois, Gord Downie, Ray Lamontagne, Emmy Lou Harris, as well as, Serena Pryne and the Mandevilles.

 

The Greenbelt Foundation is

  • Assisting in designing new policies to protect Lake Simcoe through timely research

  • Supporting the development of multi-cultural crops and training new Canadian Farmers

  • Supporting development of action plans for a variety of agricultural areas and commodities

  • Supporting the Credit Valley Conservation Authority to protect and restore wetlands

  • Developing a successful culinary tourism platform for Niagara

  • Increasing amount of Greenbelt food in food share program 140%

  • Partnering with Harbourfront Centre to tell the story of Ontario’s Greenbelt to 12 million people via a year-long, outdoor photography exhibit

  • Convincing Peel school boards to buy Greenbelt food for students

  • Supporting changing the City of Toronto policy to adopt a local food purchasing bylaw for city facilities

  • Hosted the first ever Global Greenbelts Conference in Toronto in March 2011 with speakers and delegates from over nine countries

  • Supporting tourism initiatives including in the Niagara and Caledon areas

  • Bringing thousands of Ontarians out into the Greenbelt each year through grantee activities and the Annual Tour de Greenbelt cycling event

  • Securing local food procurement commitments for Peel, U of T. City of Toronto Facilities and Markham

  • Identifying barriers to opening markets for Greenbelt farmers and proposing solutions

  • Funding policy changes to encourage more local food to be sold in Durham

  • Funding research and analysis on greenbelts around the globe which concluded that Ontario’s Greenbelt is the most robust in the world, with a strong legal and policy framework

  • Engaged Hamilton schools to switch to Greenbelt food for their students

  • Funding the Holland Marsh Growers’ transition from an export, commodity focus to one that serves the local market with value- added products

  • Creating a network of Farmer’s Markets to help improve our local food economy

  • Hosting the successful Tour de Greenbelt to promote Ontario’s Greenbelt as a tourism destination

  • Engaging with over 170 million Ontarians directly through our marketing, events and communications activities

  • Bridging farming and hiking interests to acknowledge environmental progress by farmers

  • Reaching over 75 million by placing 220 permanent highway and regional road signs to ensure Ontarians and visitors know about this valuable protected area

  • Supporting the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance to foster strong Greenbelt Plan implementation at the municipal level

  • Enhancing Farmers’ Markets, increasing sales for farmers in the Greenbelt and beyond

  • Supporting the creation of new multi-cultural crops and development of ethnic local food guides in Toronto and York Region

  • Creating Greenbeltfresh.ca, the leading electronic marketplace to source local, Greenbelt foods from over 600 producers

  • Securing local food procurement commitments for Peel schools, City of Toronto, City of Markham and others

  • Successfully merging social welfare initiatives with environmental concerns

  • Supporting interested Greenbelt Farmers to Go Organic

  • Contributing to greater sales of Greenbelt wines at the LCBO

  • Building a local food economy from developing new markets to enhancing distribution channels

  • Supporting the creation of an award-winning Greenbelt granola bar

  • Providing grants and support to significantly increase sales at farmers’ markets

  • Participating strategically in growing the Greenbelt by working with Toronto, Peel, Halton, and Guelph

  • Funding visionary planning processes such as the new Cootes to Escarpment Park Management Plan, and a massive reforestation plan in Rouge Park

  • Supporting food policy council in Durham to create food charter

  • Contributing $2.65 million to Greenbelt farmers to improve their operations (leveraging millions of dollars from federal sources), and to employ the opportunities of the Green Energy Act

 
Learn more about what the Greenbelt Foundation has done for you »

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