Links to Related Organizations and Information Sources

For information on sustainable food economies, community economic development, and other issues of concern to the small-scale food sector, we recommend these:

Aboriginal Agricultural Education Society of British Columbia:  The Aboriginal Agricultural Education Society of British Columbia (AAESBC) is a charity that was created in April 27, 2005 in an effort to provide practical hands on agricultural training services to First Nations and other students in BC.

Agribusiness Accountability Initiative: This organization promotes collaborative responses to corporate power in the global food system. Its website offers a comprehensive overview of problems and solutions related to his issue.

BC Agritourism Alliance: Agritourism is growing in British Columbia. Combining scenic rural settings with fresh, home-grown farm products, agritourism offers travelers unique and delicious tourism experiences. It also meets the needs of farmers who must look beyond traditional farm enterprises in a challenging economy.

BC Association of Farmers' Markets notes that farmers' markets operate in every type of community across British Columbia: cities, suburbs and rural communities. Find markets in your area, upcoming events, and information on these markets for both buyers and vendors.

BC Co-operative Association: Co-ops have been vital to Canada's food sector for at least a hundred years. One of six autonomous regions affiliated wtih the Canadian Co-operative Association, the BCCA focuses on the promotion of co-operative enterprise and the provision of support services to members and the broader co-op sector in BC.

BC FARM Knowledge Network: A discussion forum for all players in the BC agriculture community. Network and share ideas. Do you a have a service to offer? Something to sell or trade?

BC Food Processors Health and Safety Council:   The Safety Council provides health and safety resources for manufacturers in the food and beverage industry. The Safety Council is also the Certifying Partner for the Certificate of Recognition program for the food and beverage industry in the province of British Columbia. 

The Safety Council is an organization independent of WorkSafeBC. The Safety Council is governed by a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors represents a broad spectrum of the food and beverage industry. The Safety Council is not a regulatory enforcement body. The goal of the Safety Council is to prevent injury through effective health and safety program management.

BC Food Protection Association:  BCFPA was created in 1999 as a nonprofit association to promote food safety and to encourage the exchange of information in British Columbia. They received their charter at the 86th Annual Meeting in Dearborn, Michigan in the same year that International Association of Milk, Food and Environmental Sanitarians (IAMFES) voted to change their name to the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). The BCFPA is the only food safety association in BC that represents the entire food industry. 

Food Processors Reference Manual:  Information for food and beverage processors

BC Food Processing Association: The BCFPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to representing all segments of the food, beverage and nutraceutical processing industry in British Columbia, and to coordinating common industry activities and resources under one umbrella. The Association represents micro, small, medium, and large processing companies and is a source of up-to-date information on the food processing industry in British Columbia. Learn about current and upcoming activities.

Branding Canada. The Canada Brand strategy to raise the international profile of Canadian food and agriculture products is being implemented by the federal and provincial governments, in cooperation with the food and agriculture sector. The Canada Brand is designed to foster increased demand by nurturing and capitalizing on the positive perceptions of Canada held by buyers and consumers in key markets.

Canadian Cooperative Association:   The Canadian Co-operative Association is a national association for co-operatives in Canada, representing more than nine million co-operative and credit union members from over 2,000 organizations.  Individual co-op members are represented by CCA either directly through their co-operative, through their provincial co-op associations or credit union central, or through sectoral organizations. 

Centre for Alternative Technology: The Centre is the UK's leading provider of environmental, sustainability and alternative technology and lifestyle publications. You can learn about ecological sewage treatment, building, architecture, alternative energy, organic gardening, composting, biofuels, green education, sustainable careers and energy conservation.

Certified Organic Associations of BC is the only government-approved body responsible for overseeing the BC Certified Organic Program and is designated to implement the program under the Food Choice and Quality Act. Its website is the "go to" place for everything organic.

Eat BC! celebrates British Columbia’s abundance and bounty. Participating Eat BC! restaurants, farms, grocery stores, and more are working together to help make all your meals fresh, local and tasty. Use its website to find local food suppliers, win prizes, and learn how you can make a difference just by choosing BC.

Edible Strategies Enterprises is a small consulting group working with partners to develop approaches to relocalize the food system. They offer a variety of services to enterprising non-profit organizations and co-operatives.

Farm Folk/City Folk. FarmFolk/CityFolk is a non-profit society, based in British Columbia, that wants one simple thing: for people to eat local, fresh, seasonal foods, grown using farming practices that contribute to the health of the planet.

First Nations Agricultural Association: First Nations Agricultural Association was first incorporated in 1978 to provide Aboriginal farmers with Extension Services

Food and Beverage Canada  Offering export programs and strategies to help develop and increase the export of Canadian value-added products.  Programs are cost-shared, designed to be flexible to meet changing needs of industry and the global market and user-friendly to take into account the limited time and resources available to small and medium sized companies.

Good Food Sales  This site offers information for food processors on a myriad of topics.  Tim Forrest has also provided a document outlining the suppliers of the EDI - Electronic Data Interchange companies.  What is EDI?  Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) allows retailers and customers to transmit orders to one central location. It also provides speed for the customer and gives the sales office a record of the order and the ability to track deliveries for the warehouses. This method of tracking allows sales monitoring by account and by territory against budgets and marketing plans. Wholesale and retail pricing can be monitored and reports can be provided on unit movement. Click here for EDI information

International Association for Food Protection. Founded in 1911, this is a non-profit association of food safety professionals. Comprised of a diverse membership of over 3,000 Members from 50 nations, the IAFP is dedicated to the education and service of its members as well as industry personnel.

Island Farmers Alliance. For farmers: Building a stronger, sustainable agricultural sector on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. For consumers: Superior, tasty, high-quality locally produced food.

Organic Consumers Association: Look for articles on genetically modified food and fair trade issues along with general information about organic food production. If you'd like regular updates from OCA through its "Biodemocracy News," contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Pathogen Modeling Program (on line). These models, provided by the Agriculture Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture, are based on extensive experimental data of microbial behavior in liquid microbiological media and food. Stand-alone models are also available.

Rangeland: An awesome collection of information on agriculture and food-sector business in Australia - with plenty of international information and links as well.

Reformulating to Reduce or Eliminate Trans Fat: A Guide for the Food Industry. This study, prepared by the Guelph Food Technology Centre, is an initiative of the Council of Food Processing and Consumer Products (CTAC), one of the Investment Agriculture Foundation's "sister" council in Quebec. It is of value to any business adapting to this important change in food production and consumption.

Small Scale Food Processing Course  So, you want to be a food processor! You may love to cook, to eat, or to thrill your friends and family with delicious morsels from your kitchen. You may have a great recipe that you think will be a best-seller. Or perhaps you just want to start a small manufacturing business and food seems like a good product idea. Regardless of your motivation, you want your business to be successful, and so we've developed a 60-hour classroom-based course for people like you. It gives you all the basic information and guidance you'll need in order to start a small business that processes food. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.

Small Farm Canada. The editors of this magazine point out that "More than 1/2 of Canada's 246,000 agricultural operations are small farms. Yet you wouldn't know it by reading the mainstream farm press. All they talk about are tariffs, subsidies and the latest performance statistics of big tractors." Explore Canada's "other farms" in this new national publication.

Spilling the Beans. This newsletter focuses on genetically engineered foods. An in-depth look at possible health risks can be found in the November 2007 issue. These are taken from Jeffrey Smith's book, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods.

Standards and Guidelines for Microbiological Safety of Food (An Interpretive Summary). This reference, produced by the Health Products and Foods Branch (HPRB) of Health Canada, summarizes the current regulatory standards, guidelines and methods developed and/or evaluated by HPFB.

Women's Enterprise Centre. The Centre helps women decide if business ownership is the right choice. It provides resources, tools, events, and training courses along with an "empowerment lending" program.