The Foodshed Forum, in collaboration with Connecticut Food System Alliance and Greenwich Audubon Center, announce New England Feeding New England: Connecting regional approaches to resilience, conservation ranching and the protection of bird and ecosystem habitat on Tuesday evening, July 9, at the Greenwich Audubon Center.
— an announcement from the Greenwich Audubon Center
Please join them for an exploration of the food system with Meg Hourigan, Coordinator of Connecticut Food System Alliance.
Hourigan will present research from the New England Food System Planners’ Partnership, “New England Feeding New England: A Regional Approach to Food System Resilience.”
The presentation will outline:
● New England’s potential to be more resilient against climate change through food, and our role in Connecticut
● Why and how we can work together to transform the food system
● Dynamics and patterns in the New England food system that impact regional self-reliance
● The opportunities and challenges in our regional food supply chains and employment, such as:
○ Transition to climate-smart and adaptive food production processes that increase food security;
○ Maintain more local, sustainable, and equitable stewardship of land and water
Most critically, the presentation will discuss how communities can come together to advance solutions toward New England producing 30% of the food they consume by 2030.
Following the presentation, Rochelle Thomas, the director of Greenwich Audubon, will integrate the report findings with the steps The National Audubon Society has taken to protect bird and pollinator habitat through three initiatives: Conservation Ranching, Bird Friendly Maple and Birds and Bee Friendly Farming.
Photo by Leslie Yager via GreenwichFreePress.com
Farmers Market produce
Ali Ghiorse, co-founder of The Foodshed Forum, will provide opening remarks and facilitation.
“Due to linked challenges that are simultaneously taking place everywhere across the planet, Americans will no longer be able to reasonably expect that every food they want will be easily available for them to buy year-round.”
The industrial food system depends on deeply rooted practices that contribute to racial and economic injustice, diet-related disease, biodiversity loss, water pollution and depletion, soil erosion and degradation, and climate change.
It also relies on consolidation and maximizing efficiency, outcompeting and absorbing smaller scale farmers and food processors who make up the majority of New England’s regional food system.
By strengthening our regional food system, New England can become more resilient against climate change, support more local food production and jobs, and divest from the unsustainable, unethical practices that define the industrial food system.
More information about New England Feeding New England is available online.
If You’re Going …
This event is free and all are welcome. Kindly RSVP to ali@thefoodshednetwork.org
The event takes place Tuesday, July 9, 2024 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Greenwich Audubon Center, 613 Riversville Road, Greenwich.