local food meeting june 3 2013

[west]

Dare County citizens are invited to join Dare County Cooperative Extension Service and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems for a local food meeting on June 3, 2013.  The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the Comfort Inn South, 8031 Old Oregon Inlet Road, Nags Head.

The agenda includes examining how we feed ourselves and how we might work together to support the local food economy.

The purpose of the meeting is to examine the relevance of a food council in the county and to take initial steps towards developing a council as a formal entity.

A local food council is a volunteer group made up of representatives from the different parts of the local foods system, including consumers, producers, processors, retailers and other stakeholders.   Every food council organizes in its own unique way, but most focus on assessing the local food system, identifying and bridging gaps in the system, and developing key linkages in the region and across the state.

The idea for a Dare County local food council took root at a winter conference held by Saltwater Connections, a regional initiative aimed at sustaining livelihoods, cultural heritage and natural resources from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke and Down East Carteret County.  Participants identified sustaining the local commercial fishing industry and enhancing access to North Carolina produce as major issues.

For more information, contact Susan West, Hatteras Island coordinator for Saltwater Connections, at ridg...@earthlink.net or 252-995-4131.