46 FORUM seeks ways to bridge gap between farmers, consumers
where it wasn’t able to be distributed for fresh, we would press it into juice. And that gets distributed to one of 12 community partners that includes the food bank, transition society, people in social housing – all those types of groups.” Prato’s work with LUSH
Valley led to her co-authoring the report Food Security, Housing, Poverty and the Local Food System; Closing the Loop in the Comox Valley. She says the impact of
healthy food on people facing barriers can be seen in their behaviour, eating habits and overall health. Prato says non-profits have
a role to play in the food system as advocates and to liaise between food providers and those that need access to healthy local food. “Because we know … when
we have local food, those benefits that are coming to the community are far beyond the price tag of that food,” she adds. “The role of the non-profit is also being an advocate for those additional benefits in our economy that are not showing up in our financials.”
Land stewardship
Crannóg Ales co-owner and farmer Rebecca Kneen says achieving food security does not address the overall structural injustices embedded in the food system. “Most of the programs that fall under the rubric of food security are poverty
alleviation; they’re symptomatic. They’re not addressing the overall food structure.” Food sovereignty requires
acknowledging the colonization of the food system, and Kneen is keenly aware that her farm in Sorrento uses land on unceded Secwepmec territory. “It is therefore incumbent upon us to create a relationship with our land and with the community that upholds that generosity that we have received,” Kneen asserts. “We need to de-commodify our relationship with the land. Clearly and absolutely, that’s a core piece to changing the actual structure of our system. If you don’t commodify the land, it doesn’t become a mode of profit; it becomes a mode of sustenance. That changes it from individual to community.” Stewardship based on
observation and a deep relationship with the land is a key responsibility of farmers seeking a path to food sovereignty, she adds. Splatsin member Laureen
Felix takes a personal approach to food access in her role as community garden coordinator.
While her band was content to establish a large garden for everyone to use, Felix had bigger plans. “I wanted our people to
have their own gardens again. To have food sovereignty in their own homes.”
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • MARCH 2020 nfrom page 45
About 60 people attended the Land to Table forum in Enderby on Feburary 8 at the Splatsin Community Centre. HANNA GRIMSON PHOTO
Felix recalls walking freely
throughout her community as a child, being offered fresh food from people’s gardens and fruit trees. She was therefore
dismayed to learn that just a handful of people had their own gardens when the community garden project started three years ago. A door-to-door campaign
by Felix demonstrated a genuine desire for people to garden more and also the barriers that prevented the work from happening. Felix and her crew of
volunteers have since provided 37 home gardens for Splastin members and another eight are planned for this summer. Felix says it is important for
people, communities and organizations to make connections and network so they can work together to address food access and food insecurity. “We need to start taking
responsibility and start looking out for one another any which way we can,” she adds. “I really strongly feel that we’re going to be in a food
crisis and you know what? It’s not going to matter what race you are. We as humans are all going to suffer the same.”
Making connections Trinity Valley dairy farmer
Rene Miedema and his wife Jessica, a cut-flower farmer, attended the forum to network and explore opportunities. “I’m just looking down the
long road now. I think dairy has a very strong future but the golden years of dairy perhaps have passed us. I’m just looking at other options,” Miedema says. He hopes work by L2T
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know. I thought that wouldn’t be a much of an issue in our regional area here. I thought it was a big city issue, but it’s actually more of an issue than you realize.” Blakeway says information gleaned from the forums will be used to define future action plans to continue L2T’s work. “The value of the network is to be that connection point and to connect people to others who might be able to help them solve problems,” Blakeway adds. “Part of what Land to Table wants to do is make those people feel supported in their paths to change.”
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