The Sooke Region Foodshed Roundtable
An Evolving Coalition of Food Interests in Sooke
"This initiative will increase the productive capacity of the regional foodshed by coordinating all local food interests collaboratively, efficiently and optimally. This will be via an inclusive, dialogue and idea-rich roundtable steering coalition; and by grounded actions to improve local food production and distribution."
Founding collaborators
Sooke Chamber of Commerce, the Sooke Region Farmland Trust Society & Transition Sooke
Please note: The coalition began forming in June, 2015. Individuals involved with other food interest groups in Sooke have been integral participants in the discussion process to date yet they require approval from their respective boards before being named.
Vision: A local food economy with a foodshed that is intact, managed, protected and coordinated
Mission: Creating conditions for prosperous local food economy (including farmers, fishermen, restaurants and consumers) through reduction of obstacles for producers, awareness building, and buy-in by local consumers resulting in increased sustainable food production, a healthier population and an enhanced regional economy.
Notes from Mary Coll's Foodshed presentation @ the Sooke Region Volunteer Centre, June 17, 2015
* 70 percent of all the fruit and vegetables we in the Sooke region eat comes from California, and that state is in its sixth year of official drought. Drought is almost officially declared in Washington state.
* Given our food supply system, we only have three days worth of food in store or in warehouse on Vancouver Island.
* The average age of a farmer here is 57. New and young farmers are discouraged because land is unaffordable. Its value has tripled since 1991. In southwest BC, the average acre costs $100,000.
* Based on the 2011 census, the BC Ministry of Agriculture has determined that it takes about one acre to feed each one of us annually.
* The number of farms is going down and the size of farms is going up. Big farms use more machinery, small farms employ more people.
* The numbers of processing plants, abattoirs, fishing boats, hunting licenses and salmon returning to our steams are all going down.
The Sooke Farmshed
* The solution to food insecurity is a strong, vibrant and intact local food economy
* What is a foodshed? To get the idea, think of a watershed. It's a familiar concept. It's a geographic catchment area. Water flows downstream through natural structures - creeks, rivers, streams and lakes - and eventually out in the ocean, where it evaporates, returns to earth as rain, and the cycle continues.
* A foodshed is a catchment area for our food. It's geographic, regional, economic and cultural. It's both natural and human-built. And it sources food from ocean, farm, fresh water and the wild.
* A foodshed is the entirety of a system that moves food from source to consumer. It includes the soil, the land, barns, greenhouses, abattoirs, fishing boats ... the roads used to transport the food ... the people who produce and process food ... the regulations that monitor, protect and conserve our food systems ... and finally the seed suppliers, incubation kitchens, grocery stores, the farmer's market, bakeries, hotels, restaurants and the public.
* Foodsheds have a sound and identity. The phrases are ...
- Eat where we live
- Field to fork
- Pasture to plate
- Grass to groceries
- You catch 'em, we hatch 'em
* The concept of 'terroir' is central to a regional food culture. This is how a foodshed speaks in terms of the soil, the air, the sun, the rock and the water, all of which can be tasted in the local food. 'Sookeoir.'
* Like the water cycle, this food cycle is circular. A local economy is also circular.
* Ideally, our needs are always addressed from within the foodshed. We don't depend on external sources. Doing this creates local business opportunities which otherwise are "leakages" when we seek what we need elsewhere.
* Also within the circular economy is the local multiplier effect. For a foodshed, this multiplier effect is between two to four times. For instance, if gross receipts from a local farmgate are $100,000, then the impact on the local food economy can be $200,000 to $300,000.
Building the case for a food security coordinator
* Who is stewarding this foodshed? Nobody. Everyone in this room is responsible for various pieces of it, but we're all doing our thing individually. And all sorts of external players own, control and make decisions about our foodshed without our input.
* A local food economy requires a foodshed that is intact, managed, protected and coordinated.
* Right now, our foodshed is all chopped up and privately owned. The decisions made with these assets are all over the place, and the infrastructure is piecemeal. The people are scattered. The infrastructure is nebulous.
* Like many foodsheds, the Sooke foodshed is at risk.
* Possibility for a "Chamber of Food" - in the same sense as a Chamber of Commerce, a concept that has been evolving since the Middle Ages. Chambers are dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of commerce and trade in their community, both for the self-interest of their members and also the well-being of the community itself.
* We all together in this room are part this Chamber of Food, and so too are our fishers, hunters, foragers, the people at the salmon hatchery, chefs, restaurant owners and the consumers who buy our products.
* The fishing people, for instance, have guts and fish heads going to waste. In a healthy foodshed, these could be turned into a compost business.
* This initiative can also involve folks from Metchosin, Otter Point, Shirley and East Sooke.
* Many communities are working on developing their own foodsheds. Examples include (with links to documentation):
- Kamloops Food Policy Council
- Vancouver Food Policy Council
- Central Okanagan Food Policy Council
- North Kootenay Foodshed
- Cowichan Food Security Coalition
- Vancouver Island Food Security Hubs
An Evolving Coalition of Food Interests in Sooke
"This initiative will increase the productive capacity of the regional foodshed by coordinating all local food interests collaboratively, efficiently and optimally. This will be via an inclusive, dialogue and idea-rich roundtable steering coalition; and by grounded actions to improve local food production and distribution."
Founding collaborators
Sooke Chamber of Commerce, the Sooke Region Farmland Trust Society & Transition Sooke
Please note: The coalition began forming in June, 2015. Individuals involved with other food interest groups in Sooke have been integral participants in the discussion process to date yet they require approval from their respective boards before being named.
Vision: A local food economy with a foodshed that is intact, managed, protected and coordinated
Mission: Creating conditions for prosperous local food economy (including farmers, fishermen, restaurants and consumers) through reduction of obstacles for producers, awareness building, and buy-in by local consumers resulting in increased sustainable food production, a healthier population and an enhanced regional economy.
Notes from Mary Coll's Foodshed presentation @ the Sooke Region Volunteer Centre, June 17, 2015
* 70 percent of all the fruit and vegetables we in the Sooke region eat comes from California, and that state is in its sixth year of official drought. Drought is almost officially declared in Washington state.
* Given our food supply system, we only have three days worth of food in store or in warehouse on Vancouver Island.
* The average age of a farmer here is 57. New and young farmers are discouraged because land is unaffordable. Its value has tripled since 1991. In southwest BC, the average acre costs $100,000.
* Based on the 2011 census, the BC Ministry of Agriculture has determined that it takes about one acre to feed each one of us annually.
* The number of farms is going down and the size of farms is going up. Big farms use more machinery, small farms employ more people.
* The numbers of processing plants, abattoirs, fishing boats, hunting licenses and salmon returning to our steams are all going down.
The Sooke Farmshed
* The solution to food insecurity is a strong, vibrant and intact local food economy
* What is a foodshed? To get the idea, think of a watershed. It's a familiar concept. It's a geographic catchment area. Water flows downstream through natural structures - creeks, rivers, streams and lakes - and eventually out in the ocean, where it evaporates, returns to earth as rain, and the cycle continues.
* A foodshed is a catchment area for our food. It's geographic, regional, economic and cultural. It's both natural and human-built. And it sources food from ocean, farm, fresh water and the wild.
* A foodshed is the entirety of a system that moves food from source to consumer. It includes the soil, the land, barns, greenhouses, abattoirs, fishing boats ... the roads used to transport the food ... the people who produce and process food ... the regulations that monitor, protect and conserve our food systems ... and finally the seed suppliers, incubation kitchens, grocery stores, the farmer's market, bakeries, hotels, restaurants and the public.
* Foodsheds have a sound and identity. The phrases are ...
- Eat where we live
- Field to fork
- Pasture to plate
- Grass to groceries
- You catch 'em, we hatch 'em
* The concept of 'terroir' is central to a regional food culture. This is how a foodshed speaks in terms of the soil, the air, the sun, the rock and the water, all of which can be tasted in the local food. 'Sookeoir.'
* Like the water cycle, this food cycle is circular. A local economy is also circular.
* Ideally, our needs are always addressed from within the foodshed. We don't depend on external sources. Doing this creates local business opportunities which otherwise are "leakages" when we seek what we need elsewhere.
* Also within the circular economy is the local multiplier effect. For a foodshed, this multiplier effect is between two to four times. For instance, if gross receipts from a local farmgate are $100,000, then the impact on the local food economy can be $200,000 to $300,000.
Building the case for a food security coordinator
* Who is stewarding this foodshed? Nobody. Everyone in this room is responsible for various pieces of it, but we're all doing our thing individually. And all sorts of external players own, control and make decisions about our foodshed without our input.
* A local food economy requires a foodshed that is intact, managed, protected and coordinated.
* Right now, our foodshed is all chopped up and privately owned. The decisions made with these assets are all over the place, and the infrastructure is piecemeal. The people are scattered. The infrastructure is nebulous.
* Like many foodsheds, the Sooke foodshed is at risk.
* Possibility for a "Chamber of Food" - in the same sense as a Chamber of Commerce, a concept that has been evolving since the Middle Ages. Chambers are dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of commerce and trade in their community, both for the self-interest of their members and also the well-being of the community itself.
* We all together in this room are part this Chamber of Food, and so too are our fishers, hunters, foragers, the people at the salmon hatchery, chefs, restaurant owners and the consumers who buy our products.
* The fishing people, for instance, have guts and fish heads going to waste. In a healthy foodshed, these could be turned into a compost business.
* This initiative can also involve folks from Metchosin, Otter Point, Shirley and East Sooke.
* Many communities are working on developing their own foodsheds. Examples include (with links to documentation):
- Kamloops Food Policy Council
- Vancouver Food Policy Council
- Central Okanagan Food Policy Council
- North Kootenay Foodshed
- Cowichan Food Security Coalition
- Vancouver Island Food Security Hubs