CVFSC Post-Forum Update

Greetings friends!

Now that it is finally feeling like Spring, it is time to get involved with the Central Vermont Food Systems Council!  The Steering Committee has met and sifted through the notes from April’s Food System Forum at Goddard College.  Many of you participated in one of the six focus groups (home food systems, land use & conservation, food hubs & distribution, economic development, education, and food access) and identified priority working strategies for the region. We’ve considered those notes, the potential overlap of priorities, your indentified interests, and our current resources in order to develop a new CVFSC structure.  Moving forward we will continue to have a Steering Committee charged with overall administrative tasks (staffing the working group meetings, planning the quarterly events, etc.), long-term visioning and goal-setting.  In addition, we will have three working groups:

·         Home Food Systems;

·         Food Access, Education, and Public Health; and

·         Economic Development, Food Hubs, and Land Use Planning & Conservation

Here you will find a draft set of priority goals and action steps broken down by working group.  These goals and strategies are not set in stone—we expect the working groups to change them as the groups evolve.

At April’s Forum, many of you expressed interest in working on a particular working group.  We will be following up with you to determine your availability, with the goal to begin working group meetings in June. If you did not attend the Forum, and are interested in joining one of the working groups or the steering committee—please let either Jackie Cassino (cassino@cvregion.com) or Drew DeVitis (drew.devitis@gmail.com) know.

Central Vermont Food System Forum Recap

On Tuesday, April 16 at Goddard College, more than 80 farmers, food processors, educators, nutritionists, planners, advocates, home gardeners, and consumers shared a meal of local foods and identified critical action steps for six focus areas within the Central Vermont food system.

The evening began with a warm welcome from Joseph Kiefer of Food Works at
Two Rivers Center, and Acting Chair of the Central Vermont Food Systems Council. Joseph gave a brief history of the last six years of the Council’s work and set the stage for the remainder of the evening with the theme of A Call to Action. This was followed by short presentations from Abbey Willard with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, Erica Campbell with Farm to Plate and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, and Jackie Cassino with the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission.

Six focus areas were featured throughout the evening: education, food access, home food systems, land use and conservation, economic development, and food hubs. Guest speakers Tom Sabo, Sandra Lory, Gail England, Jackie Cassino, Joe Bossen, and Robin Morris gave Pech Kucha-style presentations, as moderated by Daniel Stein of Farm to Table. The assembly then broke into small group discussions focused on each of these areas.

These small groups answered a series of questions to identify the top action steps needed within their focus area to strengthen Central Vermont’s food system. Home gardeners, for example, identified the need for increased access to central space for food preservation and storage, and better coordination for workshops on growing and preserving food. Educators said that better integration of food system curricula across all school subjects is needed.

Members of the Central Vermont Food Systems Council, which is housed at the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission, will collect all of the action steps to form this year’s work plan. Working groups made up of organizational representatives and citizens will form around each of the focus areas to make progress on the action steps identified during the April 16th forum.

The Central Vermont Food System Council is a community-based group that works to cultivate Central Vermont’s emerging sustainable food system, to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, quality food. The Central Vermont Food System Council is administered by the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission, with assistance from Food Works, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, the City of Montpelier, Farm to Plate, and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund.

Central Vermont Food System Forum on April 16th

Washington County Producers Survey

We invite all food producers in Washington County to take our Producer Survey.  Our survey is designed to provide farmers with an opportunity to express their opinions and ideas around local food markets, infrastructure, and finances.  Responses will be essential in helping to guide the Council’s work in the future.

Be assured that your responses will be kept confidential and CVFSC will only report on the summarized results of the survey.  The survey also provides you with an opportunity to become a part of our mailing list; this list will be maintained separately from the survey results.

Completing the survey should take approximately 15 minutes. The survey link is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WashingtonProducers

Complete this survey by March 30th and be entered in a drawing to win a $50 gift certificate to Three Penny Taproom in Montpelier!  We thank you for your commitment to making Central Vermont’s food system stronger and more sustainable.  If you have any questions, please contact:

Jackie Cassino |Regional Planner

Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission

29 Main Street, Suite 4|Montpelier, VT 05602

802.229.0389|cassino@cvregion.com

Central Vermont Seed Swap, Potluck, & Market!

We wanted to pass word along about this great event coming up next Saturday:

Get ready for the gardening season! No matter what kind of gardener you are – just starting out, amateur or seasoned, backyard or market – come to Barre’s Old Labor Hall for a good ole seed swap on International Seed Swap Day – Saturday, January 26 from 11 am to 2 pm! This is a KID FRIENDLY event so bring those youngsters!

WHAT DO YOU DO AT A SEED SWAP? Bring your saved non-GMO seeds (in labeled packages; variety and year). They can be seeds you bought last year and didn’t use or seeds you saved from plants. Put your seeds on the table with their veggie, flower and other seed friends. Then, go and look for ones you like. Don’t be shy about taking what you want, but leave some for others!

WHAT IF YOU DON’T HAVE SEEDS TO SWAP? No worries – there will be enough for everyone! You can still come and find seeds to take home with you! High Mowing Seeds has also made a generous contribution of seeds to help out with the supply.

OTHER ACTIVITIES:
- Potluck Soup Lunch: Bring a hearty soup to share and your own bowls/spoons.
- FoodWorks veggie slaw demo and sampling
- Kids veggie craft table thanks to FoodWorks
- Mini Winter’s Farmer Market with produce and other items for sale by FoodWorks and other vendors
- Information tables on Barre Community Gardens, FoodWorks, Granite City Grocery and others

Generously sponsored by: Community National Bank.  Hosts include: FoodWorks, Barre Community Gardens, Granite City Grocery, and Food Not Bombs. Want to help setup, organize seeds, and/or clean up? Contact Emily at granitecitycoopvt@gmail.com or call 802-279-7518.

The Hidden Problem of Food Waste

Every year in the United States, we waste around 40% of the food available for consumption. Within this measure, 52% of the produce in this country is wasted. Consumers, of course, are reprehensible for a large portion of this waste. However, farmers, burdened by aesthetic standards, market fluctuations, distribution agreements, and a lack of skilled labor, among other things, are often induced to waste a surprising amount of the produce that they grow.  Dana Gunders from the Natural Resources Defense Council has written an excellent post on Civil Eats detailing this phenomenon. Here in Vermont, Michelle Wallace of the Vermont Foodbank is leading a fantastic gleaning project that rescued over 250,000 pounds of fresh produce this past year, which was delivered to Vermonters in need. However, we need greater support for this program and others that are trying to change the narrative of wasted produce.

CVFSC Quarterly Meeting this Friday, December 7th