News Archive – Page 4 – North Okanagan Land to Table Network

11Sep 2023 by admin

BX Ranchlands Development Plan

Visit the BX Ranchlands Info Booth at the BX Farm Tour, Sept 16-17, 2023 What are the BX Ranchlands? The BX Ranchlands is a 167-acre property located on Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) land near Vernon, BC. Historically, the area was an important site for Indigenous hunting and gathering, however, these activities were greatly disrupted by the implementation of Settler agricultural practices in the 1870’s. Settlers used the land to provide pasture for the horses of the BX Express stagecoach, which moved people, goods, and communications throughout the province. In recent years, it has been primarily used for growing forage and hay crops, and over-wintering horses and cattle. Approximately 33 acres have been used to form a perimeter trail network. It is also an ecologically diverse site, containing habitat areas that…

25Aug 2023 by admin

Connect with Liz: L2T Network Director

Staff Bios

Liz Blakeway, MUrb Liz is a systems change practitioner, with 15 years of experience in sustainability program creation and implementation, policy planning and development, and community engagement. An early passion for waste reduction and recycling education and program development set the foundation for her food systems work. Liz has loved working in and with the community on projects ranging from zero waste schools curriculum delivery and community composting initiatives in Western Australia, to shifting community behaviour change at the District of North Vancouver. Over the past five years as the Coordinator, now Executive Director with Land to Table, Liz has grown the organization from a small, consultation based network, to a staffed organization that is addressing local food system gaps through projects, research and partnerships (e.g. with local government and…

22Jun 2023 by admin

Recap: Market Opportunity Study Webinar

Event Recap

Recap: Market Opportunity Study Webinar On June 15th, Land to Table hosted a webinar to share the results from our Market Opportunity Study conducted in partnership with KPU’s Institute for Sustainable Food Systems (ISFS). The purpose of this study was to identify opportunities and pathways to scale up local vegetable and fruit procurement from small-medium scale farms, and better understand the potential to develop small scale aggregation infrastructure to supply North Okanagan-produced fruit and vegetables to institutional and retail market channels. To view the full Market Opportunity Study Report - click here To view the Market Regulations Overview handout - click here Listen to the recording for an overview of: The current agricultural and market landscape in the Okanagan Brief overview of the regulations that govern the sales of fruit…

31May 2023 by admin

Update: Food Costing in BC 2022 report released

News, Regional News

The Food Costing in BC 2022: Assessing the affordability of healthy eating report has been released. The report highlights the challenges of affording a nutritious diet for people and households who live on low incomes, especially for those who live on income and disability assistance. When incomes are low, households are especially sensitive to the rising costs of living (food, rent, etc.). The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control collaborates with the five regional health authorities and the Ministry of Health to oversee the monitoring of the cost and accessibility of a nutritious diet in BC. The purpose of the report is to highlight that inadequate incomes are the root cause of household food insecurity. In May 2022, the average cost of a nutritious diet for a family of four…

28Apr 2023 by admin

Recap: 2023 Community Food Security Planning Session

Event Recap

About the Event Land to Table held a Community Food Security Planning Session on March 2nd, bringing together individuals from various organizations, local government, and educational, health, and religious institutions throughout the North Okanagan region who are addressing food insecurity with an interest to move towards greater community food security overall. This was the first event of this size that we have hosted in 3 years! All agreed it was good to gather in this way! Nearly 30 representatives were present! We were pleased to have our Spokes, Whitevalley Community Resource Centre, Okanagan Indian Band, the Good Food Box, share their insights on their programs and how the Hub has contributed to their capacity and growth. Attendees found the hub presentations helpful, saying they “loved hearing the presentations from the…

15Dec 2022 by admin

L2T Reflections 2022

L2T Updates

In a word, 2022 for Land to Table felt like “settling-in” (technically two words)... for us this has meant gaining clarity about the value of a Network organization, including growing in our capacity building role; being creative about how we partner to access funding, and house our growing L2T team; and focussing in on two clear streams of work (value chain development and community food security). We continue to be guided by a vision to build a thriving, healthy, just and resilient regional food system... And believe that a well connected and coordinated network, with a shared purpose and vision can create meaningful systems change in the North Okanagan. Here is how we think about the roles that we play as a Network: The first is to build a connected…

25Oct 2022 by admin

L2T October Highlights

L2T Updates

Land to Table was busy this month. Here are some of our highlights from October. On October 5th, Network Director, Liz Blakeway attended the United For Food Summit, hosted by United Way BC (one of our key funding partners) at the Red Barn on the traditional territory of the Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN). What a treat to meet in person, exchange stories with fellow Regional Community Food Hubs and learn about TFN “celiselem” Community Farm. It was encouraging to hear about UWBC’s commitment to working with partners on the ground to create greater access to funding, streamline reporting, and provide greater support toward community impact and advancing advocacy. On October 22nd, we hosted a farm tour for a group of students and staff from UBCO. Tour stops included farms and…

24Oct 2022 by admin

Food as a Lever

Regional News

In preparation for the fall 2022 elections, the Kamloops Food Policy Council created a blog series titled Food and the City - exploring deeper civic issues that relate to “food [as] a lever” for civic engagement, connection, policy change and action. The articles include a list of recommended policy options to support action for each topic - transportation, healthy ecosystems, common land-use opportunities, safer communities, decolonization, and food security. These are thoughtful, thought provoking, action-oriented, and perhaps most importantly, useful for election now newly elected officials. We highly recommend that all candidates (and those interested in food systems and policy) have a read. The KFPC blog posts have us thinking about: how we are doing in the North Okanagan, the ways in which food systems and food security provide opportunities…

28Sep 2022 by admin

What is L2T Up to this Year?

L2T Updates

Land to Table took on an extraordinary number of projects last year (March 2021-2022 with a summary report coming soon). And from that great work and engagement, there are two clear ‘project paths’ that we are excited to be expanding on over the next six months. Local Food Procurement through Value Chain Development With new funding from Feed BC, UBC, and also the RDNO (Rural Economic Development Grant) we are pleased to be expanding our work the focusses on growing the local food economy. Building on the successes and foundation of a first-year collaborations and achievements with UBCO, the focus this year is to deepen our work and impact wit UBCO, expand our knowledge and lessons learned to build relationships with other institutions and undertake some research of our own.…

28Sep 2022 by admin

Meet Madison: L2T’s New Communications Coordinator

Staff Bios

We would like to introduce you to a new member of the L2T team, Madison Pinder! Madison is taking on the position of Communications Coordinator for L2T. In partnership with the Public Health Association of BC, she supports both Farm to School and Land to Table programs and projects. We look forward to how she will contribute creatively to our team and highlight everything L2T has to offer. Madison was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas before taking the leap to attend the University of British Columbia about 5 years ago. In this time she built her marketing, graphic design and web design skills through leadership positions in various student organizations. Most recently, she held communications positions at the UBC Farm Centre for Sustainable Food Systems and UBC's School of…