Reading Time: 7 minutes Chicken pot pie is on our radar the moment I arrive. I’ve heard raves about it, and it’s not long before I spot it. When I pick one up, I quickly understand something about this store’s reputation. At over 1.5 kg, this not your typical meat pie. Nor is this your typical store. Summerhill Market […] Read more
A turn at Summerhill
Running this family-owned independent Toronto grocery is amazingly like making a success of a mid-sized Canadian farm, which is why co-owner Christy McMullen is rarely standing still
Room to grow organic
Farmers are upping their organic output, but they’re still a long way from meeting the demand of the two-thirds of Canadians who sometimes or always shop for organic
Reading Time: 5 minutes Led by Millennial buyers, demand for organic food across Canada is growing robustly. Demand is surging ahead of domestic production, which has been growing but not nearly fast enough to keep up. “Demand is definitely outpacing supply,” says Jill Guerra, research and special projects co-ordinator for Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA). “We need more producers […] Read more
Brexit crisis tipped for British asparagus
Reading Time: 4 minutes Ross-on-Wye, England | Reuters — For almost 100 years, Chris Chinn’s family has farmed asparagus in the rolling hills of the Wye Valley in western England. This year, he fears uncertainty around Britain’s departure from the European Union will keep his eastern European workers away and the asparagus will stay in the ground. Asparagus grown […] Read more
Travel plans
They farm better because they travel, say Alex and Kelty and Jordan and Alyson McKay. Besides, it makes life so much richer
Reading Time: 8 minutes After catching the travel bug before they were old enough to drive, Alex and Jordan McKay made seeing the world a priority during their early 20s and 30s. With the encouragement of their parents, they took every opportunity to travel they could. There had to be compromises, naturally. With a thriving farm business to run […] Read more
U.S. EPA wins new chance to argue against pesticide ban
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — The Trump administration has persuaded a U.S. appeals court to reconsider its recent decision ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the widely-used pesticide chlorpyrifos, which critics say can harm children and farmers. In an order on Wednesday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it will again review former EPA administrator […] Read more
Romaine-related E. coli outbreak appears over
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — The multistate outbreak of E. coli infections linked to romaine lettuce from the Central Coastal growing regions in northern and central California appears to be over, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday. Sixty-two people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli were reported from 16 states […] Read more
The distributor’s business
Bondi Produce in Toronto trucks farm produce inside one of Canada’s most diverse food markets, and sees more opportunities for farmers every day
Reading Time: 8 minutes “We’re selling commodities, which is the exciting part of it. And we’re selling a perishable product, which adds this real pressure,” Ezio Bondi tells me as we walk about his distribution centre here in Toronto. It’s some warehouse. The business started in 1976 with one man — Ezio’s grandfather — and his pickup truck. Some […] Read more
CFIA warns on California romaine lettuce
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is advising lettuce buyers such as retailers and restaurants not to sell, serve or import romaine lettuce from parts of California tied to the latest E. coli outbreak. The warning follows an announcement Monday from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that its preliminary traceback shows people sickened by […] Read more
Major grocers pull romaine lettuce nationwide
Reading Time: 3 minutes Despite seeing no evidence yet of nationwide contamination, several major Canadian grocers are pulling romaine lettuce from sale across Canada in the wake of E. coli-related illness outbreaks in three provinces. Loblaw Companies announced Wednesday it was recalling and removing from its store shelves across the country all romaine lettuce products “out of an abundance […] Read more
Abstain from romaine: Canada, U.S. warn on E. coli in lettuce
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Public health officials in the U.S. and Canada on Tuesday warned against eating romaine lettuce while they investigate an outbreak of E. coli that has sickened 50 people in the two countries, including 13 who were hospitalized. The alerts, issued as millions of Americans plan their Thanksgiving Day menus, covered all forms of […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
