An annual dinner raising funds for groups promoting organic agriculture has earmarked this year’s revenues for North America’s first-ever degree-level organic agriculture program.
Organic Advocates, a non-profit association that supports organic food awareness and sustainability, said Tuesday it will present a cheque for $5,000 to the University of Guelph on Jan. 31, during the annual Guelph Organic Conference.
The cheque comes from funds raised at the group’s Feast of Fields dinner last September, featuring the work of over 40 Toronto area chefs, including Michael Smith, Jamie Kennedy and Brad Long.
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“All of the chefs were extremely excited and thrilled to be supporting such a high-quality program advancing the interests of organic agriculture,” Feast of Fields chairman Daniel Gilbert said in a pre-conference release.
Although just six years old, the organic agriculture major at Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College, offered within OAC’s B.Sc. (Agr) degree, is “threatened by financial exigencies at the University of Guelph,” the group said.
Specifically, OAC’s organic ag program was one of several considered for cancellation last April, but won a reprieve for at least 12 months from that point. OAC students thus will still be able to enroll in an organic ag major until at least April this year.
University of Guelph senators last spring directed OAC to spend the next 12 months looking at how to attract additional students to the organic ag major, and seeking new commitments for industry funding and teaching support.
OAC plant science professor Ann Clark said the group’s donation will go to support teaching — specifically, to hire sessional lecturers with “unique expertise,” as well as to arrange field trips for classes to visit organic farms, processors and restaurants.
Organic Advocate warned in Tuesday’s release that the loss of OAC’s organic program would “weaken the organic movement.”
The next Feast of Fields dinner is to be held Sept. 12 at the Cold Creek Conservation Area in King Township.
