"Canada has long been seen as a land of plenty. Yet today one in ten families with a child under six is unable to meet their daily food needs. These rates of food insecurity are unacceptable, and it is time for Canada to adopt a national right to food strategy." - Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. 

Yesterday Olivier De Schutter concluded his first official visit to Canada as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, a whirlwind fact-finding mission and tour across the country conducted on the invitation of the Canadian Government.

When you think about farming what comes to mind? Endless rows of corn? Cows grazing? Maybe a barn? How about rows of lettuce growing along Vancouver's East Hastings Street? Or carrots sprouting at Davie and Burrard? Maybe some chickens in your backyard and some beets where there was once a lawn?

In an effort to renew our connection to the food we eat and to confront an increasingly unsustainable global food economy in the most neighbourly of ways -- the urban farming movement is gaining popularity in Vancouver.

Seed exchanges are events where local seeds are shared within the community. They act as great opportunities for education, community building and encouraging biodiversity. But actually hosting a seed exchange is another matter altogether. Like any event, it takes some advance planning, dedication and motivated activists. This guide will cover:

Why host
What seeds to exchange
Basic organizing

Why host

In British Columbia there is an abundance of fruit bearing trees. European settlers were planting fruit trees as early as 1826. Though many people have fruit trees within their reach, they often go unattended and their harvest ends up rotting on someone's lawn. While bugs devour the local fruit, the same general kind is still bought at grocery stores - but for its durability and good looks rather than its local significance, flavour or tradition.

Fruit tree projects try to take these trees that are producing good usable, tasty food and harvest them to their full potential.

The good food box grew out of a desire to create sustainable options to get fresh vegetables and fruits to people who live in poverty. It was first started by the Toronto Food Share.

History

The group saw that food banks were problematic in many ways: people were ashamed about taking charity, the food given was typically over processed and unhealthy and understood that food banks are not a sustainable response to hunger. Instead, Food Share started to explore alternative self-help models for community building and continuous growth, like community gardens and collective kitchens.