A Gathering of NC Food Councils

<p>Last week (December 4-5) I attended a remarkable event, perhaps the first of it’s kind. It was a gathering of people involved in local food system work from all across North Carolina, as well as some representatives from South Carolina and Virginia. The title of the event was “Connecting for the Future: A Gathering of NC Food Councils.” About 150 people were in attendance at the Biotech Place in Winston-Salem. The event was convened by the Local Food Council of North Carolina in partnership with the Forsyth Community Food Consortium. Many sponsors helped cover the costs of the event, including the BlueCross BlueShield Foundation and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS). It was a great opportunity to hear about the ‘state of the art’ when it comes to local food networks/councils.</p> <p></p> <p>The idea for this gathering was developed at a smaller gathering of local food council representatives that met and identified the need for better networking across local councils as well as strengthening the relationship between the local councils and the state food council. Christy Shi Day of CEFS worked very hard behind the scenes, engaging many partners across many organizations, to organize the “Connecting the Future” event with goal in mind of improving communication and networking across councils as well as learning together (and from each other) and sharing resources. The vision for the event was for it to”facilitate connections” and be “the beginning of a long-term conversation between stat council and local councils.” Based on my observation these objectives were met [...]</p>