Public Education on Urban Agriculture, “Cultive Ta Ville” Website Launch

Jun 19, 2018

Quebec – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Jean-Claude Poissant, Member of Parliament for La Prairie and Parliamentary Secretary to the federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lawrence MacAulay; and Laurent Lessard, Quebec Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, applaud the recent launch of the website “Cultive ta ville” [“cultivate your city”], an information portal on urban agriculture. A project of the Laboratoire sur l’agriculture urbaine, it received $25,000 in funding through Programme Proximité under the Growing Forward 2 program.

Aimed at amateur gardeners, community groups, teachers and municipalities alike, the “Cultive ta ville” website indexes all urban agriculture initiatives in Quebec. For example, it allows users to locate community and institutional gardens. It also has a newsfeed to keep users informed about urban agriculture-related events and activities.

Quotes

“The Government of Canada is proud to support this initiative, which is informing citizens about urban agriculture and equipping them with the tools they need. This networking project will help bring agricultural awareness to more city dwellers and educate consumers about different methods of food production in urban areas.”
- Jean-Claude Poissant, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

“Developing urban agriculture is one of the courses of action identified in our biofood policy for improving synergy between the land and the biofood sector. Such initiatives help make consumers aware of the realities of agriculture and of how the food on their plates is produced, and they certainly spark consumers’ interest in local agriculture and buying local.”
- Laurent Lessard, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Quick facts

The sustainable certification program is receiving $100,000 in cost-shared funding from the governments of Canada and British Columbia through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The five-year, $3-billion Canadian Agricultural Partnership, launched on April 1st, includes $2 billion in cost-shared strategic initiatives delivered by the provinces and territories, and $1 billion for federal programs and services.
The Canadian Agricultural Partnership replaces Growing Forward 2, the five-year federal-provincial agreement that ended on March 31, 2018.

Source : Government of Canada

Video: How women saved agricultural economics and other ideas for why diversity matters | Jill J. McCluskey

Dr. Jill J. McCluskey, Regents Professor at Washington State University and Director of the School of Economic Science

Dr. McCluskey documents that women entered agricultural economics in significant numbers starting in the 1980s, and their ranks have increased over time. She argues that women have increased the relevance in the field of agricultural economics through their diverse interests, perspectives, and experiences. In their research, women have expanded the field's treatment of non-traditional topics such as food safety and nutrition and environmental and natural resource economics. In this sense, women saved the Agricultural Economics profession from a future as a specialty narrowly focused on agricultural production and markets. McCluskey will go on to discuss some of her own story and how it has shaped some of her thinking and research. She will present her research on dual-career couples in academia, promotional achievement of women in both Economics and Agricultural Economics, and work-life support programs.

The Daryl F. Kraft Lecture is arranged by the Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics, with the support of the Solomon Sinclair Farm Management Institute, and in cooperation with the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences.