Welcome!
 

I am quite convinced that Canada is facing a food security crisis probably larger than many 'poorer' nations faces. The problem is that so few Canadians understand the farm-to-market pathway.  Food, while being so fundamentally central to our existence, has become completely taken for granted.  That we can take food for granted suggests that we have achieved a certain level of security in our access to food.  Paradoxically, it is this success at agriculture that threatens Canada's food production foundations.

There is very little national attention paid to farmers and even less attention paid to post-farm food processing and marketing.  Because of this, there is but a very small voice that lobbies agricultural trade policy decisions.  As a result, Canadian farmers - like their counterparts around the world - are loosing their land and their livelihood.

I, for one, think this is a shame.  It is for this reason that I have made the effort to establish this site.  It  largely targeted my friends and family while in Thailand; as such, it is very informal and does have some nonpolitical content for their entertainment (it was initially meant to be only a chronicle of work while in Bangkok, Thailand).   It has, however, grown to be popular beyond my circle of friends and family.

The continued interest expressed in the site has encouraged me to continue to maintain the site..  I have been taking my time to re-orient myself in Canada and so the contributions to the site's content has been slow...but I will do my best to continue.  Please send me your comments - good or bad.

You can navigate around my site using the black navigation banner (found on most newer pages).  From any one album or feature 'cover' there will be links back to the four basic pages of this site (WHAT'S NEW, PROLOGUE, PICTURE PAGES and ARTICLES).  I hope those headings are self-explanatory.

   - J.D. Comtois
 

A small background:  I was a volunteer with CUSO, a Canadian volunteer sending agency, since March 1995.  Since January 1998 I have been stationed with an NGO in Bangkok called Rural Reconstruction Alumni and Friends Association (RRAFA).  They are the Secretariat for the Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN) of Thailand.  My work focused on research in Food Security.  Mostly my work was comprised of studying policies that affect the farmer's ability to maintain his or her options in the pursuit of their livelihood.  This entailed looking at policies of all levels from local administration to the trade regulations of the World Trade Organization.  The PROLOGUE is a brief intro to food security; take a peak if you are not sure what exactly food security is.