MARCH 2020 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


45 Land to Table forum focuses on food access


Connections with food systems aren’t just a big-city problem


by JACKIE PEARASE ENDERBY – Over 60 people


connected to the North Okanagan food system met to discuss local food access issues and solutions at the third annual Land to Table (L2T) forum held at the Splatsin Community Centre in Enderby, February 8. Dairy, beef and produce farmers joined non-profits, academics, health and local government to explore the social, cultural and economic issues influencing people’s access to local healthy food. “We use our forums to


create opportunities to connect people from various points in the food system, and to create dialogue and talk about the possibilities for change,” said L2T coordinator Liz Blakeway. The three forums


encompass the L2T vision of creating a food system that is economically prosperous, environmentally sustainable and socially accessible. The first forum explored growing the local food economy and the second focused on the environment. The third forum used an


interview-style format for the guest speakers along with an Indigenous component of drumming, dancing and prayers from Splatsin members to create a comfortable environment and facilitate discussion.


Fresh food in schools Kidston Elementary School


volunteer Dawn Guenette discussed her success in making healthy foods part of her school’s culture. “It started with smoothies,”


she says about the weekly program started in 2013 as a Parent Advisory Committee fundraiser. “It’s quick and easy and healthy … I did start that to prove that you can do a fundraiser that is healthy.” Guenette, known to students as Gramma D, has been instrumental in the implementation of other healthy food programs at the kindergarten to Grade 7 school. A weekly hot lunch started in 2014, Fry Fridays (using potatoes from the school garden) began in 2016, as did produce fundraisers, and Guenette added composting/waste reduction and summer garden sessions in 2019. Kidston teacher Melissa


Jacobs, an advocate for health promotion in schools throughout her 17-year career, says there are many ways to embed health in the curriculum.


Connecting with local farmers provides authentic, experiential learning opportunities, particularly if the same group of students can visit the same farm several times over a growing season.


“I think there is actually


greater learning when they can feel and smell and sense everything to do with health and food. They can better understand it and connect it,” Jacobs explains. “I think that’s the best way for the kids to appreciate that apple in their hand or the carrot, and they don’t just throw it out or put it in the compost – because they appreciate the hard work that’s gone into it.”


Local food access Professional agrologist and


poultry farmer Andrea Gunner says local food access was seriously degraded in the 1980s when large grocery stores aggregated their buying and pushed small farmers out of the picture. “So now we have the food


system that we have and farmers are not well-served by that,” she notes. “The choices that our grocery stores make are very heavily curated and they do not support anything other than industrial farming. It’s been nudged a little bit but that’s still the reality.” Gunner suggests starting small when trying to effect change in grocery stores. “The strongest thing that


any of us can do whether you are a farmer or a consumer – and we are all consumers – is when we know that there is a product we would like to see in our grocery stores, ask for it,” she says. “It’s important because they need help.” Gunner says using local


food in Canadian university cafeterias, a movement started about 10 years ago, is a positive step for local farmers. “What that does is that somebody who is small to medium-scale, who can


Groups of people discussed a variety of topics and questions posed by attendees of the L2T forum. HANNAH GRIMSON PHOTO


actually put together a pallet of produce or less, can sell it to a consistent buyer. It opens doors.”


Food system solutions LUSH Valley Food Action


Society executive director Maurita Prato said her organization takes a big- picture approach to ensure people in the Comox Valley have consistent access to local healthy food. “We consider ourselves to be a community food security organization. … It’s not an emergency food organization. It’s an organization that’s trying to think about the system – the entire food system – when we think about solutions,” Prato says. “For us, access is really about a systems perspective on food.” LUSH Valley aggregates and distributes local food in a number of ways, including fruit and farm gleaning programs. “Last year, we had over 200


volunteers go and pick 15,000 pounds of fruit and distribute that in our community. And


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