[All] COG looking for volunteers - do you care about supporting your local organic farmers?

[Greening Sacred Spaces Waterloo Region]

Dear GREN,

I'm passing on a request from my colleague from COG (Canadian Organic Growers), Tegan Renner...

Kind regards,

Jane Snyder
Greening Sacred Spaces Waterloo/Wellington/Dufferin
www.greeningsacredspaces.net/waterloo

COG PWW Update: Looking for Volunteers! 
 
Do you care about supporting your local organic farmers? 
 Want to get involved to make a difference? 
 
 If so, becoming a data collector for our project might be for you! Canadian Organic Growers Perth-Waterloo-Wellington  www.cogwaterloo.ca (COG PWW) is developing a price tracker for certified organic produce in Ontario. 

This tool will allow farmers and consumers to search online for market and wholesale prices of certified organic vegetables and small fruits in their region and across the province. The weekly updates we hope to provide will aid farmers (especially new farmers) in setting prices and generally lead to better-informed business decisions for organic farms in Ontario. 
 
 In order to build such a useful tool, we are seeking to build a network of volunteer data collectors across the province. Join farmers, farm apprentices and fellow organic advocates in this network dedicated to building systems in support of the organic farming sector in Ontario. 
 
 Tasks involved in being a data collector: 

-Gathering price information for certified organic produce weekly through the relevant season (May-Oct or year-round). You can collect this data in different ways: visiting the farmers' markets directly or receiving price information from a farmer by email 

-Following guidelines on data collection set out by COG PWW to ensure consistency in measurement units, etc 

 -Input prices into the price tracker database, which will be set up to minimize your efforts (e.g., only new prices have to be entered each week). This task may only be the responsibility of one or two volunteer(s). 
 
 We will facilitate your connections to farmers insofar as necessary/possible and then you can enjoy the season getting to know them yourself! We are also looking for farmers who are willing to share their pricing information (farms will not be identified), so if you are a farmer, please get in touch with us. 
 
We are piloting the price tracker starting in July, so please express your interest by contacting the project manager: Tegan Renner 226-251-3012 or outreach at cogwaterloo.ca.  
 
 This project is funded in part through the Agricultural Management Institute (AMI). The AMI is part of the Best Practices Suite of programs for Growing Forward, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. 
 
 Tegan Renner 
 Outreach and Events Coordinator 
 Canadian Organic Growers, 
 Perth-Waterloo-Wellington Chapter 
 226-251-3012 
 www.cogwaterloo.ca  
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