Preserving agricultural lands means preserving our priceless Greenbelt -- well, not quite priceless. A report published this fall by The David Suzuki Foundation attests to the fact that the Greenbelt contributes $2.6 billion to our economy.(Toronto) – The Honourable Steve Peters, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, hosted the Queen’s Park Plate on October 29, where MPPs and Mayors along with farming and environmental advocates celebrated a Greenbelt-grown harvest. Top chefs, vintners and brew masters from various Greenbelt regions tempted taste buds with delicious local food and beverages.
“We support Greenbelt agriculture from the ground up,” says Burkhard Mausberg, President of the Greenbelt Foundation. “The Queen’s Park Plate celebrates the restaurants, wineries and breweries that use local food. It is a fantastic way to share the bounty of Ontario’s Greenbelt.” The Foundation is dedicated to supporting farming and has committed some $8 million to local food initiatives. Grantees and projects include everything from environmentally friendly farm practices, to establishing new markets to improving public awareness of and access to local food. The Foundation also launched a new website recently, Greenbeltfresh.ca, where finding a local farmers’ market is as easy as entering a postal code.
Possibility grows in the Greenbelt. Wrapping around the Golden Horseshoe, the Greenbelt is 1.8 million acres of potential to make Ontario, and the earth, a better place. Encompassing the Niagara Escarpment, the Oak Ridges Moraine, Rouge Park, hundreds of rural towns and villages and some 7,000 farms, it is home to some of the most valuable agricultural land in Canada.
With files from The Greenbelt Foundation.
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