Since late in 2010, the Mohawk Valley Food Action Network (MVFAN) has engaged in a series of Food Conversations around Oneida County, asking this question: How can our community and our region create a healthy, secure future based on a resilient local food system where affordable and nutritious food is accessible to all? The Food Conversations began from the premise that the food system - farmers, processors, distributors, retailers, restaurants, emergency food programs, consumers, as well as the businesses and agencies that support them - forms a network that has uniquely important impacts on the health of our environment, our economy, and the individuals in our community. Our conversations have involved over 100 representatives from dozens of Oneida County organizations over 18 months, and have addressed issues ranging from the importance of school lunch to the sometimes confusing nutritional messages from media, marketers and the scientific community; from the impacts of hard economic times on food security to the entrepreneurial opportunities of a new consumer interest in where our food comes from; and from the role of regulation in reducing environmental impacts of agriculture to the role of local land use planning on the future of farming.  On October 24th, 2012, National Food Day, MVFAN will convene a public meeting (click the link for complete info and to register): See what we're working on at groupspaces.com/mvfan and follow us on Facebook. Get involved and help create a stronger local food system with healthy people, a healthy economy, and a healthy environment!
Contact the Mohawk Valley Food Action Network at info@mvfoodaction.com.
The project is made possible with the support of a USDA Hunger Free Communities grant
and the United Way of the Valley and Greater Utica Area.
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Our mission |
