Presenters & Keynote Speakers

Margaret Webb
Keynote Speaker: Friday March 5 - 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM
Think Big Canada: What a Sustainable, Self-Sufficient Food System Can Achieve

Margaret Webb is the author of Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover's Tour of Canadian Farms (Penguin, 2008), which won a silver at the 2009 Cuisine Canada/University of Guelph National Culinary Book Awards and was shortlisted for a 2009 Evergreen Award.

Her research for the book took her across Canada and to the far north to investigate sustainable farms and aquaculture operations. An advocate of learning by the pitch-fork handle of experience, she worked on each of the farms, explored surrounding food regions and spent many long hours in pickup trucks, on boats at sea and on horseback to capture the life stories of farmers who have created not only environmentally sustainable operations but economically viable ones.

In fall 2009, she wrote an eight-part investigative series for The Toronto Star, supported by the Atkinson Foundation, entitled “Crisis on the Farm.” It explored elements of Canada’s broken food system, solutions for a fix and a strategy for a National Food Policy for Canada.

Margaret grew up on a farm near Barrie, ON. She attended University of Toronto for a BA; Concordia University in Montreal for an MA; the Canadian Film Centre as a screenwriting resident and tv writing resident; and the Banff Centre of the Arts Literary Journalism Program.

Her writing and editing career that has taken her to Montreal to write poetry and fiction, LA to write screenplays for Walt Disney Studios, and Toronto where she has worked as an editor at national and city magazines (enRoute, Vista, T.O. Magazine, On Nature) and written features for leading Canadian publications, including The Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Canadian Geographic etc. She also teaches magazine writing at Ryerson University and speaks to organizations across Canada on food and farming issues.

• For more information about Margaret, please visit her website at www.margaretwebb.com

Carol Ford and Chuck Waibel
Garden Goddess, Milan, Minnesota

Carol Ford and Chuck Waibel own and operate Garden Goddess Produce, a unique winter CSA (community supported agriculture) business in Milan, Minnesota. Their passive solar greenhouse has provided both winter vegetables and inspiration since 2004. Carol and Chuck have proven that growing fresh food in very cold climates is far from impossible. Their Garden Goddess CSA provides fresh vegetables weekly for 18 families from October to April on Minnesota's famously harsh prairie, running up a propane bill of only $75 for the year.

Their 18 x 22 greenhouse uses simple, effective passive solar design components to maximize the sun's energy. Hanging planters of greens maximize the space available for growing produce. Minimal back-up heat from a propane furnace (costing less than $75 a year in fuel costs) ensures that the air temperature doesn't drop below 40 F. Soil temperatures in the raised beds do not drop below 50 degrees and are usually above 50 F. This basic structure, with modifications, can be used for a number of applications. Imagine a greenhouse like this on the roof of a restaurant. Imagine it attached to a school. Imagine it as part of a community garden. Imagine it in your own yard! Imagine fresh broccoli, salad greens and more in January and February. It can be done! It is being done! You can do it, too.

Carol and Chuck are committed to helping others develop healthy, sustainable local food systems. They regularly speak and present workshops on their methods, and have other books in the works. They also help to promote other local growers, assist urban farmers and spread information for food self-sufficiency.

• For more information, please visit www.gardengoddessenterprises.com

Peter Katona
Executive Director, Foodlink Waterloo Region Inc.

Peter grew up on a sheep farm in New Liskeard Ontario and was an avid 4-H member. A graduate of the International Development program at the University of Guelph, Peter has spent more than 15 years working in agricultural, food security and rural economic development programs in Canada, South Asia, Central America and the Caribbean with a variety of NGOs and consulting firms. While with the Foodbank of Waterloo Region, Peter was one of the group members that came together to create the original vision for Foodlink in the summer of 2000.

After a two years with an agricultural marketing program in Haiti, Peter returned to Waterloo Region to become Foodlink's first staff person in August of 2003. Under his leadership, Foodlink has become a grassroots social movement that has broad urban appeal, yet keeps the needs of farms and farm families first and foremost. Peter enjoys playing hockey and soccer and running after his two young children.