What’s all the buzz about Food Freedom Day?

Feb 08, 2013

The scoop on Food Freedom Day in Canada

Have you heard someone mention something about Food Freedom Day and not really understood what all the excitement was about? Well, let me tell you – it is the day in each calendar year whereby the average Canadian will have earned enough money to pay their grocery bill for the entire year -- this year this noteworthy day is Thursday, February 14th, 2013.

What this means is that only 45 days into the New Year the majority of Canadians have earned enough money to buy their food for a year. The commemorative day gives Canadians an opportunity to be thankful for the food that we do have and to also assess the role that each one of us plays in our food system.

This year, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the organization who coined the term, Food Freedom Day, is encouraging people to think of ways to reduce food waste in our homes. In 2009, food waste in this country amounted to $27 billion which translates to an average of $774.07 in food dollars wasted by every person.

Whether you are a primary producer or a consumer there are ways for you to join the Food Freedom Day discussion. Share why reducing food waste is important to you as primary producer, an individual, a family, organization or business by using the hash tag on Twitter: #ffd2013.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.