About Islands Good Food Initiative

Islands Good Food Initiative: Report to Partners April 2008
                                                                                                        
A partnership strategy aimed at building a sustainable Vancouver
Island and Coastal Regional high-value food system

 

BACKGROUND:

Everyone is talking about local food and its benefits in the media and in the community.  The benefits of local food are clear:

• Better nutrition, better taste, better looking fresher food
• Reduced green house gas emissions
• Better for the local economy

All this talk leads to a huge demand for local food and food products

But adequate supply to meet this growing demand is a big problem on the Islands—we only produce the economic equivalence of about 5% of the food we eat here. The supply problems are due to:

• The globalization of the food system and federal and provincial policies supporting that approach
• ‘cheap food’ mentality
• Farmers struggling to make ends meet—The National Farmers’ Union calls it the Farm Income Crisis
• Problems with finding agriculture labour and encouraging new farmers
• Problems financing new crop and product development
• Loss of locally owned quota on the Island
• Cost of land and pressure from urban development
• Increasing squeeze from regulators
• All the stresses that arise in unsustainable systems

So:  A group of people from community organizations and businesses looking for more Islands product got together in 2005 and created the Islands Good Food Initiative to do background research and planning.  The goal is to create a food system development plan and then to actually implement the plan.   The results to date:

The Good Food Box Story showing how charitable approaches to providing local food for health purposes needs a stronger business case to succeed in meeting their goals

Contending with the Food Access Puzzle: an in depth community based research project that explains why we are having the problems finding Vancouver Island food.

Survey publicly funded Institutions and agencies:  114 agencies were interviewed in 2007

Sustainable Institutional Purchasing Pilot Project:  a community based research project to assist institutions and producers to work together to increase local purchasing capacity—a conference is planned for June 2008

Island Restaurant Survey:  101 chefs were interviewed in 2007

Co-packing kitchen Development:  Plans for new manufacturing kitchens are in the works.

Value Chain Co-ordination:  Linking local producers with food producers

Workforce Development Strategy:  Partners are coming together to figure out how to recruit, train and support farm workers and how to encourage new farmers. A study is under way funded by Service Canada to develop a workforce strategy.

Plans for a Local Food System Worker pool:  a business plan for a worker co-operative is being developed

Access to Finance: Mobilizing of a partnership of ‘friendly funders’ to create a sustainable funding/financing system aimed at facilitating regional food systems in BC.

Creation of a business that can fill the gaps in the islands local food system ON A BUSINESS BASIS---making sure that farmers and workers are rewarded for their efforts AND creating the platform and tools that will facilitate investment in the facilities that are needed on the Island.

ENTER the Vancouver Island Heritage Foodservice Co-operative

 

The vision of the Heritage Foodservice business alliance is to contribute to an increase in the quality of life, community health and food security on BC islands by creating an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable BC islands’ food infrastructure that grows, preserves, markets, distributes and sells Vancouver Island Coastal Region Good Food Promise food.

The business is designed as a local foodservice distribution business that also provides Value Chain Co-ordination Services—making sure that local producers will get the highest dollar from the customers.

The business is now recruiting farmers to grow food for the ‘Foodservice Market Channel’ that will market to high-end restaurants, institutions and alternative distributors.

FOR FURTHER INFO:
For further information about any of the specific initiatives contact:
Sandra Mark, Project Manager, Islands Good Food Initiative 250-335-3001or
Frank Moreland, Business Manager, Heritage Foodservice 250-741-0224 extension 35