Keeping It Local

by Lorna Lowe

Friday, September 28, 2012

The EDA Breakfast Panel for Inspiring Innovations In Agriculture consisted of (from left to right) Vincent McConnell, Kelly Starling, Sean Royer, Ken Gossen, and Moderator Natalie Gibson.

In a different and interesting four person panel format, the Leduc-Nisku EDA's fall breakfast focused on the innovations in food production that are taking place in our own back yard.

The breakfast, which was held in the Leduc County Agricultural Services Building, featured all local produce. The eggs came from the Morinville Colony, the potatoes from the Ferry Bank Colony, bacon and sausage from Leduc Meat Processors, several different kinds of gourmet granola cereal from Gourmet Granola, and an amazing hot barley cereal from Progressive Foods.

The moderator for the morning was Natalie Gibson, President of InnoVisions and Associates. With her extensive agricultural knowledge and having worked on everything from new food product launches, to international marketing plans, and local food projects, Natalie was a natural choice to moderate the morning's panel.

Her first responsibility of the day was to introduce everyone on the "Inspiring Innovation In Agriculture" panel. The four people welcomed onto the platform were Ken Gossen, Executive Director, Food Processing Division, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Vincent McConnell, Business development Specialist, Government of Alberta, Kelly Starling, 100k Kitchen Party, Brazeau County, and Sean Royer, Executive Director, Industry Investments (ALMA).

Ken began the discussion by informing the crowd that the Food Processing Development Centre (better known as the Big Orange Building on the corner of 65 Ave. and 45 St. in Leduc) is an absolute gem within the Province of Alberta. At 140,000 sq feet, it is the largest of it's kind in the world. Inside this building everything takes place from product development, to research, seminars, workshops and demonstrations.

The FPDC provides food based businesses that are just starting up, with a government space to begin their operation for the first four years. Scientists and specialists work with the businesses to develop their products, and a high priority is placed on educating on food safety.

There are currently six businesses working in the building right now, and Ken stated that they generally see the spin off of 4-5 companies per year.

He also shared that approximately 150 products are developed there every year, and with people willing to explore more exotic tastes, a lot of ethnic foods are being produced here. Ken finished his presentation by saying that it was very gratifying to help with the development of local food companies and to see their graduation into stand alone businesses.

Then it was Kelly's turn to speak of her passion about eating locally grown, organic foods, produced on small scale diversified farms.

In her former position as Director of Economic Development for Brazeau County, she saw a number of health issues cropping up in people's lives, which is what inspired her to begin the program called the 100K Kitchen Party. After receiving $170,000.00 in grant money for the program, Kelly began teaching the three main components of her program which are; teaching people how to safely process their own food, ie: pickling and canning, etc., the goodness that comes from eating locally produced food, and educating farmers on the viability of small scale diversified farming.

This program also developed an Eat Local Directory that lists local producers and was distributed by mail to 72,000 households.

Kelly completed her talk by stating that this program is safe, environmentally friendly, and supports local people, that is why she is so passionate about this.

Next up to the microphone was Sean, who spoke about just a couple of the over 100 companies he and his team work with, and how he helps local companies develops new products and markets for Alberta produce. ALMA has an annual budget of $40 million dollars that is primarily focused on research and development, commercialization, marketing and industry development.

Last year ALMA worked on 197 different projects, and have helped to increase meat and dairy production by millions of pounds. For instance, Agropur is one company that ALMA works closely with and they are positioned to be the #1 specialty cheese producer in Canada.

Another company they work with is Cargill Meats in Spruce Grove. This company provides every burger that McDonald's uses in all of Canada, and all of it is from Alberta beef. This translates into the plant producing 1.2 million burger patties every day.

In closing his speech, Sean stated that the sheer amount of projects and programs ALMA has to help food and Agro businesses truly is impressive.

Last but not least, Vincent came forward to introduced the Food Industry Tracking System (FITS) iPhone app and plug in they had created for small scale food producers. FITS enables producers to create bar codes for their products, so they can simply scan their products with their iPhone and accurately track their inventory. This app and plug in will enable, for example, a farmer's market seller to scan through their customer's produce, ring up a total, and when paired with a wireless printer, create a receipt as well. This would also allow for online sales and inventory control, making small producers more efficient.

Finishing his presentation, Vincent joked that this app could help garden market sellers check out their customers just like Walmart.

A very unique and pleasant surprise for everyone, at the end of the breakfast everyone attending received a fresh head of cauliflower that had been grown at a market garden in Leduc. That was a very innovative way to bring the theme home of supporting your local producers.

Kudos to the EDA and Leduc County for putting on a wonderful event. Overall, it was a great breakfast with a wealth of information being presented that was relevant to people in the agro/food industries as well as to those of us who just enjoy eating it!

More Stories:

Friends Ride for MS and Each Other DominiqueVrolyk The Pipestone Flyer Leduc & Camrose – It was promoted very well, featured in all the national and local media, it raises much needed funds every year for a great cause, it will celebrate a 25 year milestone ...
Pastor On The Move Pastor Grant McDowell from Leduc Alliance Church was recognized for his many contributions to this area and wished well by the Leduc Regional Chamber of Commerce at their recent luncheon on his upcoming move to Cranbrook ...
Chamber President Moves On Leduc Regional Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Stefanie Schulz was given an emotional goodbye from her staff and board at the June Chamber luncheon which was that last one she would be attending. Stefanie announced ...
A History of Humour Leduc County Councillor Jocelyn Mackay (on left) partnered up with Pearl Gregor of the New Sarepta Historical Society to sell a special 19 month calendar created just for the Society by world famous cartoonist, and New Sarepta's ...
Sacred Heart Phantom of the Opry Opry star, Carlotta Baraccuda, played by Cassidy Luchka, sings as cast members surround her with umbrellas. The drama productions by Sacred Heart School in Wetaskiwin continue to reveal the genius of Ken Mastel in bringing ...
39/20 Alliance Representatives from Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation met with members of the 39/20 Alliance on June 4, 2013 for a grand tour highlighting potential tourist attractions within each community. (l to r): AB Tourism, ...
Grad Class of 1958 Submitted by Ernest Jablonski After 55 years, the first class to graduate out of the present day Thorsby Junior Senior High School together with their mates gathered at the Our Lady of Victory Parish hall on Friday June ...
Bringing the Gospel to the World Speaker Alberto Gonzalas and Director of Fund Development for Trans World Radio Canada, Gary Roebbelen, with a TWR poster following the TWR dinner at Calvary Baptist Church. Trans World Radio is the largest radio broadcaster ...
Seniors Dine & Dance Nearly 80 seniors from Warburg, Thorsby and Breton celebrated Seniors’ Week together with a special luncheon held at the Warburg Pioneer Community Hall on June 4, 2013. Alberta Seniors Program Advisor Laura Pawlechko ...
Wetaskiwin Inline U-16 Junior Ice Head South For AAU Olympics New to Wetaskiwin this year is the sport of inline hockey. Inline has been around for a while in the Edmonton area and as of this year has officially started in Wetaskiwin. Thanks to Craig Podritske who got the ball ...
High School Soccer Concludes The high school soccer season ended with all three girls teams from Christ the King (CTK), Leduc Comp, and Beaumont were defeated in the city playoffs. Both Leduc and Beaumont won their cross over game as the Tigers ...
Lessons to be Learned Life wasn't always easy on my eighty acres. It took a lot of work to build a farm here. This had been a bare piece of land with a north rise and a spring. The land had never been plowed and Labrador Tea, mint, nettles, rose ...
Leduc County Hits Gold Artist Jeanine McIntosh was the winner of the art contest for the County's 50th Anniversary. Jeanine said that her painting encompassed everything that the County means to her as well as having a representation of the ...
Seniors, Write It Down Bob Layton with “The Old Guy” June 4th was a beautiful, sunny day. A perfect day for gardening, going for a walk, mowing grass; in fact, almost any outdoor activity. Still, the parking lot at the Falun Hall was filled with ...
Bartender Challenge wind up party. Dale Leitner, Rikki Karba, Sandy Berube, Dorothy Mayall, Britney Benson, Bonnie Caskey, Jason Seghers from Alberta Cancer foundation. Everyone else is from Ensign Energy. Almost $30,000 was raised for various charities.
Ronald Presents Ronald McDonald started his day in Wetaskiwin with a trip to the library where about 30 children with their parents gathered to see him. He got down close and personable as he kept the children's attention as he talked about ...
Toonies for Torino Jack Almond is decked out in his race finery to raise funds for both his trip to the 2013 Masters Games in Turin Italy and for the local charity Everybody Gets To Play. Something doesn't have to be big to make a difference. ...
Calmar Students Grab Silver & Gold Two grade 10 Calmar Secondary School students win silver and gold in the Precision Machining--Secondary Category at the Provincial Skills Competition held in Edmonton on May 15-16, 2013. (L to R) Calmar School Industrial ...
ATB Gives to Black Gold Hospital Foundations Leduc ATB Manager Steve Greene presents a cheque for $1616.90 to Lorraine Popik from the Black Gold Health Foundation. Half of this money was raised from the recent penny drive the BGHF held and the remainder of the funds ...
Central Office Grand Opening Serving local businesses and individuals with office supplies at competitive prices has been the focus of Central Office Supplies Ltd. since opening its doors 9 years ago. On Friday, June 7th, they will be opening their ...