News Archive – North Okanagan Land to Table Network

27Feb 2025 by admin

Recap: School Food Supplier Workshop

Recap: School Food Supplier Workshop On January 22, 2025, Land to Table Network hosted a School Food Supplier Workshop in Vernon, sponsored by FeedBC. This full-day event aimed to connect local food suppliers with school food purchasers from districts across the Okanagan and Columbia/Shuswap regions. We were fortunate to have ‘all the players’ in the room - from School District administration and school meal coordinators, government, non-profits (i.e. meal program providers), food suppliers/distributors, chefs, caterers, and farmers! The day consisted of group brainstorming using a World Café model to gather feedback across sectors on key concerns related to procuring and supplying school food - creating a clear picture of the landscape we are all operating within. A school food coordinator panel featured representatives from school districts 67, 22, 83, 19,…

24Feb 2025 by admin

Recap: Wholesale-Ready Workshop Series

Event Recap, News

Recap: Wholesale Ready Workshop Series Land to Table’s first Wholesale-Ready Workshop Series was held on January 30 and February 20, 2025, in Vernon at Community Futures North Okanagan (CFNO) with generous funding support from CFNO, the Regional District of the North Okanagan, and Feed BC. The workshops were designed to support small and medium-sized farmers in exploring wholesale market opportunities and developing “Action Plans” to grow and sell their products to wholesale markets. The series facilitated networking amongst farmers in the region and provided tools and insights into growing for and selling to wholesale markets, including distributors, institutions, processors, restaurants, caterers, and schools. This initiative sought to help existing farmers expand their operations and market reach, while equipping new farmers with the knowledge to integrate wholesale readiness into their business…

13Dec 2024 by admin

Jan 22nd, 2025 | School Food Supplier Workshop

Past Event

School Food Supplier Workshop Date: January 22nd, 2025Time and Location: Full Day Event in the North Okanagan (details will be shared upon RSVP confirmation)RSVP Deadline: January 10th, 2025 (deadline extended) RSVP Now Are you interested in connecting with schools to supply local food? Land to Table invites you to our School Food Supplier Workshop, where you’ll have the chance to: Build relationships with food purchasers from districts across the Okanagan and Columbia/Shuswap region. Learn about school food procurement needs and market opportunities. Collaborate on solutions to sourcing, ordering, and distribution challenges. Workshop Highlights The day's event will include the following conversations and activities: State of the school food landscape and opportunities: Understand current trends and needs. Supplier insights: Learn about the “market” for school food and sourcing needs. Challenges and opportunities: Discuss sourcing challenges and…

11Dec 2024 by admin

Recap: Indigenous Food Sovereignty Workshop

Event Recap, L2T Updates, News

Recap: Indigenous Food Sovereignty Workshop In November, Land to Table co-hosted an Indigenous Food Sovereignty workshop on the "From the Ground Up: Toolkit for Indigenous Food Sovereignty Planning" in Revelstoke with the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty (WGIFS), the Indigenous Friendship Society of Revelstoke (IFSR) and the Revelstoke Local Food Initiative. The toolkit is a comprehensive guide developed by WGIFS, who brought three staff to facilitate the three-day workshop. The event gathered Indigenous food champions for facilitated discussions and activities and built shared understanding within a network of organizations and people leading Indigenous food projects. Participants included staff from Interior Health, School District 22, The Lower Samilkameen’s Ntamtqen Community Garden & Food Hub, Xeni Gwet'in Climate Readiness Initiative, Colville Tribes Language Program, Indigenous Rise Up Wellness, the Cwelcwelt Kuc…

09Dec 2024 by admin

Jan 30 & Feb 20, 2025 | Wholesale Ready Workshop Series

Past Event

Wholesale-Ready Workshop Series Dates: (Participants must be able to attend both sessions) + Session 1: Thursday, January 30th 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. + Session 2: Thursday, February 20th 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Location: Community Futures North Okanagan in VernonRegistration Deadline: January 24th, 2025 Register Now Wholesale opportunities for local vegetables and fruit, to a variety of markets are opening up in our region, including to schools and social service agencies (like food banks). The Wholesale-Ready Workshop Series is geared toward small and medium sized farmers in the North Okanagan and surrounding regions to network and share knowledge of how to grow for and sell to wholesale markets (e.g. distributors, institutions, processors, restaurants, caterers, schools etc.). This series will allow existing farmers to learn about opportunities to expand their businesses…

02Dec 2024 by admin

Community Conversations: Vernon Seniors Share Ideas to Improve Food Security

Event Recap, News

On October 30, 2024, NexusBC Community Resource Centre and Land to Table Network Society hosted a lunch session at the Schubert Centre with 22 local seniors to discuss food security. The purpose of the event was for seniors to share their experiences, perspectives, and feedback to help both hosting organizations to advocate for, plan, and deliver programming that supports seniors’ food security. During registration for the event, of the 36 people who registered, only 30% of seniors indicated that they were familiar with the term “food security,” and when asked why they attended the event, nearly half of the participants stated it was because they wanted to learn and share ideas about food security. The session provided both an overview of what food security is and how Land to Table…

17Oct 2024 by admin

Community Food Security – An Election Highlight and Hopes for Shuswap MLA!

Support for Okanagan Tree Fruit Growers

Jul 24th, 2024 | Community Farm Working Group

Events, Past Event

Community Farm Working Group July 24th, 2024 | 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. PDT Zoom Online Gathering Register Now Are you interested in the idea of developing a community farm in our area? Do you have ideas of what this should look like? Who this should include? or how it should operate. Join the L2T Community Farm Working Group, and help us develop recommendations to put forward to the Regional District of the North Okanagan for the creation of a community farm at the BX Ranchlands. We will be choosing an August meeting date during this meeting. If folks cannot attend but wish to join the working group, please contact Sammy at hello@landtotablenetwork.com for updates and future invitations to meetings. .

09Jul 2024 by admin

Recap: Rural Food Banks Webinar

Event Recap

https://youtu.be/cNcQEl2KypI?feature=shared Recap: Rural Food Banks Study Webinar On June 26, 2024, Land to Table hosted a webinar to highlight the significant results and recommendations of the Rural Food Banks Study. This study was conducted in partnership with KPU’s Institute for Sustainable Food Systems (ISFS) and Community Connections (Revelstoke) Society, involving four rural food banks in the Interior: Golden, Invermere, Revelstoke, and Sicamous. The study aimed to address the unique challenges faced in rural food access programs. Access our Rural Food Banks Study (PDF) Twenty-one people attended the webinar from across the province, including food bank representatives from Armstrong, Merrit, Pemberton, Agassiz-Harrison, Kimberley, Lake Cowichan, Penticton, Chemainus, and Gabriola. Purpose of the Webinar The purpose of the webinar was to: Present an Overview of the Study Purpose and FindingsLand to Table…