Local food sales through farmers markets and direct sales at farm gates total over $1 billion in Alberta.

Yesterday, the Supporting Alberta's Local Food Sector Act was introduced in the Alberta Legislature.

Alberta's Agriculture and Forestry Minister, Oneil Carlier, says through the act they will adopt federal organic standards.

Previously in Alberta, the Canadian Organic Standard only applied to agriculture products marketed between provinces and exported internationally.

Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and B.C. have already adopted the federal standards.

Carlier says, adopting these standards will enhance consumer confidence in products grown and marketed exclusively in Alberta.

"We are closing a regulatory gap and providing consistent assurance of the expected standards a producer is meeting when consumers are producing any organic food products in Alberta."

Carlier says, there are over 500 producers in Alberta who are already certified as organic under these standards because they are marketing products outside of Alberta.

In a release, the Alberta Government says the new organic requirements will not come into effect until April of 2019 to give producers enough time to become familiar with the standards.

The new legislation will also include the creation of a Local Food Council, Carlier says.

"This council with representatives of Alberta's local food sector, including large, medium, and small producers and processors, they will provide advice and report on provincial policies, programs, pilot projects, or initiatives to support the continued growth and sustainability of Alberta's local food sector."

The council will tackle issues such as increasing access and awareness to local food, aggregation and distribution, and risk management tools for local food producers and processors.

He says, with the help of the Local Food Council, he hopes they can better define what other buzzwords in the industry mean.

"Perhaps there's other opportunities, and folks out there that are doing a great job, you know, maybe perhaps don't necessarily want the organic certification. So what does natural raised mean? What does homegrown, cage free, what are all these other terms?"

The Supporting Alberta's Local Food Sector Act also includes designating the third week of August as local food week, which coincides with Alberta Open Farm Days held each year in the third weekend of August.

 

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