The Central Kootenay Food Policy Council would like to invite all Farmers- Producers- Processors in the Central Kootenay to participate free of charge in the new Farm & Food directory.

The Central Kootenay Food Policy Council’s 1st annual Farm and Food Directory will be published in the  late spring of 2018- in advance of the Farmers Market season openings.

So sign up soon so your farm will be listed for 2018!

If you run a farm or food processing business in the Central Kootenay, you are invited to enter your business in the first annual Directory of Farms and Food in the Central Kootenay. A Guide has been created to help navigate creating an account and entering your information. Download it here.  To enter your business in the Directory, go hereand look for the Register link in the top right hand corner. If you are returning to update your entry, click on the Log Inlink.

The Central Kootenay Food Policy Council builds a just, sustainable and prosperous food system in our region by identifying challenges and opportunities and by advocating for effective policy.

The primary functions of the Food Policy Council are:
1.    To serve as a forum for discussing food issues and opportunities;
2.    To foster co-ordination between sectors implicated in food systems;
3.    To evaluate and influence policy,
4.    To discern food systems priorities and;
5.    To launch or support programs and services that address local needs and 
that are not in competition with existing or pending food sector or civil society initiatives.

We are a link between the work in food systems and our local governments.
 We seek to connect and co-ordinate initiatives across the region, reduce redundancy and enhance the impact of human and financial resources invested in food systems and communities in the RDCK.
 Sometimes the Food Policy Council leads but more often we are a catalyst and support for initiatives driven by others. As part of a broader community, we work to foster vibrant and just food systems across the Central Kootenay, where our focus is on ameliorating the policy environment for food production and access in the region.

A policy is the framework within which decisions are made. In a home setting, people decide to eat meat or not, for example, based on their personal food policy. In Local Government, various policies support or hinder thriving food systems and well- nourished people. The Council promotes healthy food system policies.

We are currently exploring four preliminary project concepts:

  1. A food systems audit for the purpose of determining our current level of self-sufficiency and contribution to the local economy so that we can then set concrete goals and promote policy to achieve those goals;
  2. Build community interest in and capacity for policy development: we know that the level of community engagement is low in policy review events such as Official Community Plans. By having the public engage more fully in the development and refinement of land use planning, we can ameliorate the food system of the Central Kootenay.
  3. Regional food guide: coordinate the sub-regional groups who have created food guides in the past and collaborate with a regional publisher to determine a business and distribution model that can be maintained and updated yearly.
  4. Create a “domestic navigator program”: commodity producers of food stuffs can have difficulty knowing the requirements and opportunities to direct their product to local markets as opposed to distant bulk options. The Council is exploring, with key area partners, a project that would lower barriers to accessing local markets and help augment local food economies, supply and communal food security in the Central Kootenay.

For more information or to help with the registration process call 250-352-5342