From Janine de la Salle (Council member): Slow Food Agassiz Farm Tour

Belatedly, here is VFPC member Janine de la Salle's summary of a great event she attended this past summer.

The Slow Food Vancouver Agassiz Farm Tour that took place on Aug 22 attracted over 800 cyclists to a diverse set of 14 farms. Everything from dairy operations, artisan cheeses, cranberries, land-based aquaculture and biking through the hazelnut orchard, this Slow Food event showcases local agriculture and is not to be missed.

Kim Sutherland, of the Vancouver Food Policy Council, explained to curious bikers the whole-life process of creating delectable artisan cheeses at Farm House Natural Cheese.

Another highlight was the closed-loop land based aquaculture happening at Swift Agricutlure. This operation produces two tonnes of coho salmon per year on about one acre of land. The sludgy by-product from filtering the fish water is used to fertilize the veggie garden and the water from the fish tanks is filtered through beds of water cress.

Plans for this event next year include more food samples at each of the farms.