Field of dreams: just food's proposal to create a community food and sustainable agriculture hub in Ottawa, Ontario

Abstract

As groups within civil society seek to advance discursive constructs of food security, social justice and sustainability through concrete, on-the-ground projects, they challenge the economic, social and ecological status quo. This paper will evaluate Just Food's proposal to create a Community Food and Sustainable Agriculture Hub in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, through the lens of Gibson-Graham's alternative/community economy and politics of possibility, and will argue that Just Food cultivates the emergence of new social and economic relations, even as their activities are constrained by and interwoven with neoliberal market logic. The introduction will provide the substantive context, methodological and conceptual approach. It is followed by an outline of the case study that will establish the conditions within which this project proposal emerged, and detail some of the challenges that have been overcome to date. The conclusion will demonstrate the food hub's alignment with Gibson-Graham's concepts of alternative/community economy and politics of possibility.

Keywords:

• alternative economy
• food hub
• Just Food
• sustainable community

Notes

Unlike other Canadian cities (such as Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver), Ottawa has no permanent indoor farmer's market.

Others use the term “politics of possibility” to denote a belief that the world can be made anew (Nordhaus and Shellenberger 2007) or to introduce ideas generated by a more radical imaginary (Worsham and Olson 2007).

Permaculture is an ecological design discipline that seeks to meet human needs while increasing ecosystem health.

It is worth noting that the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) has also shown support for local food systems, by funding Dr Karen Landman's (University of Guelph) and Dr Alison Blay-Palmer's (Wilfred Laurier University) provincial scoping exercise in 2011, Applying knowledge to increase local food purchasing through local food linkages and value chains; and by hosting the Eastern Ontario Local Food Conference (2011 and 2012).