News Archive

Jan 22nd, 2025 | School Food Supplier Workshop

Jan 22nd, 2025 | School Food Supplier Workshop

News, Upcoming 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…
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Recap: Indigenous Food Sovereignty Workshop

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

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

News, Upcoming 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…
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Community Conversations: Vernon Seniors Share Ideas to Improve Food Security

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

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

Featured News, News, Regional News
Electoral districts (or ridings) don’t align with the regional government boundaries that often guide our food systems work. This has been the case for Land to Table (L2T) and Shuswap Food Action Society (SFAS), whose work spans two regions and four electoral ridings. This year, we are expanding L2T’s project boundaries across our shared food shed with the Shuswap and experimenting with a shared Executive Director for both organizations. In this article, Liz Blakeway, Executive Director for L2T and SFAS, shares her thoughts on how food security and agriculture are discussed in this election. The issue of food security is front and center for a lot of folks in 2024, including our Shuswap provincial election candidates. In fact, a 2023 BC study shows the responsibility for food systems is shifting…
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Support for Okanagan Tree Fruit Growers

Support for Okanagan Tree Fruit Growers

Featured News, News, Regional News
In light of the recent BC Tree Fruits Cooperative closure, we want to extend our heartfelt sympathy and support to our local Okanagan tree fruit growers. We have gathered some resources from our network partners to help you or any orchardists you may know through this challenging time. Below, you will find information on employment, gleaning, storage, and distribution opportunities. Please don't hesitate to reach out to these organizations for assistance. We’re here for you too! Let us know if you have any questions or ideas for how we can help during this time. Also please share these resources with anyone who might benefit.For those interested in learning more about the recent BC Tree Fruits closure and updates here are some articles: Penticton Western News - July 26, 2024 Castanet - Jul 31, 2024…
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Jul 24th, 2024 | Community Farm Working Group

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. .
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Recap: Rural Food Banks Webinar

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…
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Jun 26th, 2024 | Rural Food Banks Study Webinar

Jun 26th, 2024 | Rural Food Banks Study Webinar

Events, Past Event
Rural Food Banks Study Webinar June 26th, 2024 | 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. PDT   Zoom Online Webinar Register Now Land to Table is proud to share results from a Rural Food Banks Study completed in collaboration with Community Connections (Revelstoke) Society, and four rural food banks in the Interior. The study was undertaken to help understand and co-develop solutions to the unique challenge of feeding people in rural communities in British Columbia in the face of increasing demand for food bank services. Register for the upcoming Rural Food Banks Webinar and join us as we facilitate a conversation with the four participating food banks on Zoom on June 26 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. PDT. The purpose of this session  We are excited to to co-host a discussion sharing…
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Equitable Access, Nutritious Choices: Dietitians’ Guide to Food Bank Purchasing

Equitable Access, Nutritious Choices: Dietitians’ Guide to Food Bank Purchasing

Featured News, L2T Updates, News
Equitable Access, Nutritious Choices: Dietitians' Guide to Food Bank Purchasing We extend our gratitude to Seamus Damstrom and Linda Boyd, Public Health Dietitians with Interior Health's Healthy Eating and Food Security Program, whose expertise enriches this discussion. - During our Rural Food Banks Study project, it became apparent that food banks and food security organizations are having to purchase more food than ever before to keep up with program demands. Typically, food banks rely on food donations as the bulk of the food they distribute. As purchasing budgets increase and food organizations are forced to make food procurement decisions regularly, food banks and programs are finding themselves in a position of choosing what food is offered to their food insecure clients. Since most of these programs have historically relied on donated…
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