Gardening and food interwoven
It’s the time of year when senior high school students across Canada are thinking about plans for next year. Applications for College and University programs are around the corner. The experience can be both exciting and daunting. Ben is quick to point out the many ways that gardening is changing, with the caveat, “People will always have to eat, Dad.” A great reminder of how much ‘gardening’ and ‘food’ are interwoven.
As students prepare for their future in education they often ask, “Can I study something I enjoy?” and “Will my path of study lead me towards a career?” Mark has lived his passion every day of his working life, and cannot say enough for the opportunities within the horticultural professions: the original “green industry”.
For prospective horticulture students, schools such as University of Guelph, Niagara Parks School of Horticulture in Ontario, Dalhousie in Halifax, Olds College in Alberta and UBC in British Columbia have turned out many of the best graduates over the decades and continue to do so with each graduating class. In addition, there are a growing number of post-secondary programs that have taken advantage of the changing landscape in the landscaping industry in recent years.
Durham College in Ontario is one school that has dialed into the latest trends, particularly those that are bringing food and horticulture together. At the W. Galen Weston Centre for Food, Shane Jones works as the program co-ordinator for horticulture— food and farming programs.
Jones was called upon by college President Don Lovisa when he first had the vision for field-to-fork teaching seven years ago, which lead to the establishment of the Centre for Food in 2013. Jones was chosen for his experience in agriculture, most recently with the Toronto District School Board bringing food gardens to schools.
They started on the site of a former Cadbury chocolate factory, “which is the most challenging to start with when trying to grow”, Jones told us. Today, 60 students from the two horticulture programs oversee the on-campus market garden. A former industrial site was certainly not what we saw when we dropped by recently, but rather a flourishing market garden which supplies fresh produce to Bistro ’67, the on-campus restaurant where students from the college’s established culinary program turn it into topnotch seasonal dishes.
At the W. Galen Weston Centre for Food there is an eye towards the outside community: Bistro ’67 is open to the public. Jones’ hope for the Centre’s campus garden is to someday start selling fresh produce direct to the community as well.
“Students come from a broad range of backgrounds, city and rural, some are right out of high school and others are mature”, and Jones explained that many graduates go on to a range of future careers: “greenhouses, golf courses, landscaping, as well as food production, processing and quality control”. For those who graduate to become farmers or market gardeners, the school has allotted property to incubate graduate businesses.
Industry and academia have taken note: there has never been a generation so concerned with balancing their conscience with life and career goals. With serious environmental challenges in their future there are many opportunities to get involved through post-secondary education.
Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and holds the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourthgeneration urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, on Facebook and bi-weekly on Global TV’s National Morning Show.