Katherine Aske is a settler and farmworker who grew up in Mi'kma'ki. She joined Dr. Annette Desmarais' project analyzing changing farmland tenure on the prairies after witnessing investor interest in farmland while working for the National Farmers Union in New Brunswick. After farming in Alaska and at the Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School, she now works at the UBC Farm on the unceded territory of the Musqueam as their Practicum Field Coordinator. She is also the chair of the National Farmers Union's Farmland Committee.
The Parkland Institute and the National Farmers Union (NFU) invite you for a discussion on the future of farmland in Alberta on Tuesday, June 14, from 7 pm to 8:30 pm.
Hosted by Parkland Institute and the National Farmers Union
This virtual event will mark the launch of Parkland’s new research report, Finance in the Fields: Investors, Lenders, Farmers, and the Future of Farmland in Alberta, by Katherine Aske.
We start with a short presentation by Katherine Aske, who will provide an overview of the process of financialization that has been changing the landscape of farming in our province.
Katherine will be followed by a three-person panel that will comment on Aske’s report and discuss issues such as land access and ownership, farmland tenure, and concentration. A Q&A session closes the program.
The report Finance in the Fields: Investors, Lenders, Farmers, and the Future of Farmland in Alberta will be available for download on Parkland’s website on the morning of June 14.
Speakers
Annette Aurélie Desmarais is Canada Research Chair in Human Rights, Social Justice and Food Sovereignty at the University of Manitoba. She is the author of La Via Campesina: Globalization and the Power of Peasants (Fernwood Publishing 2007), which has been translated into various languages. In addition to writing numerous articles, Annette co-edited four books on food sovereignty. She is also the editor of Frontline Farmers: How the National Farmers Union Resists Agribusiness and Creates our New Food Future (Fernwood Publishing 2019). Prior to obtaining a PhD in Geography, Annette was a small-scale farmer in Saskatchewan.
Blake Hall is a first-generation farmer. After working on farms across Canada and the US, he purchased cattle and started his own business in 2010, Prairie Gold Pastured Meats. A graduate of Olds College’s meat processing program, Blake works off the farm part time as a mobile butcher harvesting beef for farmers throughout Central Alberta.
Ken Larsen is a graduate of the University of Alberta (’76) and a full-time farmer. Ken and his wife have produced grains, forages, and cattle west of Red Deer, Alberta, for the past 46 years, 40 of them using agroecological/organic techniques. He has published many articles on agricultural marketing, plant breeding, and transportation issues.
In Tribute to Cory Ollikka
Parkland Institute and the National Farmers Union are hosting this event in the memory of Cory Ollikka. Cory was a longtime board member at the Parkland Institute and held many positions with the NFU, including National President from 1999 to 2001. He was deeply connected to the land, to cycles and seasons of nature, and to building community at regional, national, and global levels. He understood the relationship between astute policy and community progress and believed in dialogue and collaboration to get there. Cory’s contributions to farming and municipal governance were significant, and they all stem from his values of respect, kindness, lifelong learning, and self-leadership, and from his commitment to a more just world. Cory died on July 2, 2020, on the eve of his 50th birthday. He is deeply missed by his family, friends, and community.