Katie Fettes on a Delicious Future

We met with Katie Fettes of Canadian Organic Growers (COG) to talk about the current and future state of organic food.

How would you sum up what your organization does?

COG is a national organization that works to support a regenerative, organic, and resilient food system in Canada. That’s our vision, and it also describes what we do. We foster networks of innovative farmers and value chains. Together, we build connections between organic, regenerative, and agroecological approaches, which all share common goals. We also develop supports for eaters seeking organic food. So we work on production, consumption, and the policy and infrastructure in the middle.  This is COG’s 51st year.  It was started by a 16-year-old young man, and now it’s national.  

Why is it important to you to be involved in this work?  What will be different if you accomplish your goals?

Food is a basic human need and agriculture is a major livelihood for people globally. But through the dominant forms of production, we’re producing the basic thing that we need in a way that destroys our resource base.  

On the solutions side, there is huge potential. Organic production supports hundreds of thousands of producers globally.  We have so much agency in the way we produce food, and humans can have such a positive impact on ecosystems by doing it regeneratively.

Before working with COG, I researched the drivers behind peace. Land degradation and peace and security are deeply connected. Land degradation puts enormous pressures on society, even contributing to conflict and migration. There is no national security without food security. Regenerating our food systems is absolutely essential.

Food can be a vector for transformation. If we succeed, healthy, locally grown food is much more available and accessible. Our land management practices regenerate land, purify water, recharge aquifers, and increase biodiversity. And we have a government that invests in it, because it is common sense for the common good. These things are hard but not impossible.  

It might seem like COG is proposing something completely alternative, but all food production before chemical farming was organic, and this “alternative” has become a major part of the food system. It’s normal now to find organic food in the grocery store, and regenerative practices have spread. 

If we keep moving towards regenerative and organic systems, people will find healthy food much more easily, at more accessible costs. And we’d understand the true costs behind what we eat.  

What successes in this area/industry do you wish more people knew about - whether or not they’re ones your organization is responsible for?

In Canada, as it is in many countries,the term “organic” has been federally regulated since 2009, thanks to a successful public-private partnership and governance system. I wish more people understood the whole system behind it. It was farmers who asked for the regulation system and participated in building it. We sometimes hear of regulation as something to be avoided, but organic farmers, processors, and other businesses voluntarily abide by it and pay the certification costs to create transparency for eaters. It has been a brilliant piece of foresight planning that has brought on new opportunities and challenges.

And it’s an organized global movement.  There’s a lot of knowledge sharing around research, policy, standards, and sector development. For example, what can Nepal learn from what Kenya or Tanzania have done? We also have international equivalency agreements that allow easier trade of organic food, with countries that have relatively equivalent organic standards. 

What other kinds of organizations do you get to work with?

By working together with farmers, processors, and manufacturers, non-profits like ours can help to integrate the agricultural value chain. 

Farmers need buyers who understand the risks of transitioning to regenerative management and can help them reduce those risks. These partner companies say, “I won’t only buy your product. I’ll also walk the field with you to learn what you need.”  Non-profits can help create that space for collaboration and mutual definition of what regeneration means, so farmers and companies can trust and meet their commitments.  This all contributes to healthy market development. 

We also work with many agricultural and public interest organizations on issues of common concern, as well as with governments on public policy development. 

What excites you most about the future?

The bioregional movement is exciting, because it addresses a large-scale problem through solutions that are at a human scale. Small is beautiful and our bioregions are where we have agency.  The bioregional movement asks what life in the future will and should look like, and what skills we’ll need to learn or relearn to adapt.  

It’s 2040, the changes you want have taken place, and it’s dinner time.  What’s different about the way your meal was made, shipped, purchased, prepared, or eaten?  

It’s whole food and local.  I know where it came from, who produced it, and what the ecosystem it’s produced in looks like. Maybe I even grew it myself! Growing food is more integrated into urban spaces, which now include more gardens, food forests, and farms that help to hydrate and cool cities and provide shade to residents. Because we have more food produced in our bioregion, more of the food is seasonal. We’re eating as a community, and we take more time to prepare and share food together.

Dan Barber, a chef in the US, says, “The revolution will be delicious!” That’s becoming real. It tastes delicious, because it was grown in healthy soil, which also means it’s more nutritious for us. “Food as medicine” has become a foundational value of society. 

How could someone get involved with what you’re doing?

Food and farming can be such a hopeful, solutions-focused space. You can start by reading books, listening to podcasts or TED talks like Allan Savory’s, or watching films like Kiss the Ground, Common Ground, and Groundswell. And try to grow something, even if you are in an urban environment. It’s about reconnecting with land, even in small ways. People can follow COG’s social media pages and join us in building a more resilient and regenerative food and farming system.