UAC recently hosted David Mason from the Department of Primary Industries in New South Wales, Australia. David is interested in urban agriculture and is currently touring the world examining this phenomenon. David’s travels are chronicled in his blog, http://www.urbanagricultureworldwide.blogspot.com, and his entry on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 talks about his visit to Toledo.
His travel is supported by a Winston Churchill Fellowship. Starting on October 14, 2006 David’s 8-week tour has taken him to Singapore, the Netherlands, England, Canada, and the United States. Having discovered Maumee Valley Growers through his pre-trip internet research, David chose to spend two days in Toledo, Ohio (November 27-28) where he met with a number of individuals engaged in urban agriculture initiatives. In addition to Maumee Valley Growers these included Toledo Metroparks, Toledo Grows, and the Center for Innovative Food Technology.
David also made a public presentation at the downtown Toledo public library on Hawkesbury Harvest ( www.hawkesburyharvest.com.au), a community-based organization in northwest Sydney that promotes the local food system.
You can view his presentation here.
Note that this file is 21MB in size; please be patient while it loads. Alternatively, your can download the presentation file by right-clicking on the link (or control-clicking on a Mac) and selecting the menu choice that saves the link to your computer.
Below are photos from Mr. Mason's visit to Toledo.
 David Mason chats with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and Lucas County Commissioner Peter Gerken following his presentation at the downtown Toledo library. |
 David Mason enjoys dinner at the Oliver House with a number of local stakeholders who are interested in the topic of urban agriculture. |
 Luke Ryan, Farm Manager at Bittersweet Farms, gave David Mason a tour of their farm in Whitehouse, Ohio. |
 David Mason chats with Dick Bostdorff, owner of Bostdorff Greenhouse Acres, in Bowling Green, Ohio. |
