HomeMy WebLinkAboutTompkins County’s Plan for Food for the Future article
Tompkins County’s Plan for Food for the Future - What is it, and what does it
mean to Farmers in Danby? - A Zoom sponsored by the Danby Conservation
Advisory Council.
Come join CAC on November 10th in a 7pm Zoom as Don Barber, former Caroline
Town Supervisor, now Chair of Food Policy Council, speaks about a new Tompkins
County food policy initiative, whose goal is to increase local food production in
Tompkins County 50% in 5 years.
The policy discussed is based on a report presented to and approved by the
Tompkins County legislature this year called “Production: Food System Baseline
Assessment (available at
https://www.tompkinsfoodfuture.org/_files/ugd/bfff24_399acb2c091c4e97b00eda
fbcbf 7acba.pdf) prepared by a team coordinated by the Food Policy Council of
Tompkins County. It is a response to climate change and to the draught and forest
fires in the west. It is worth reading.
Some new Opportunities explored:
∙Opportunities to help with and incentivize local production
∙Opportunities to collaborate and increase local market availability
∙Opportunities to include low income households in local food market
∙Opportunities to avoid wasting food
Some problems addressed:
Scale of farming, access to and cost of land, money for infrastructure: fences, high
tunnels, irrigation, etc., the balance of growing animal feed and food for humans
Some new ideas: The possibility of a community greenhouse, available value-added
commercial kitchens, payment for ecosystem services
Erin Kurtz, District Conservationist, USDA – NRCS will also speak about incentives
through the EQIP program for increasing soil health, water quantity and quality, and
plant productivity. One of these is the popular high tunnel program. (Unfortunately
the deadline for most of these programs for next year is Nov 4th so if you are
interested contact her for more information at 607 216 6760 or 607 257 2737
before the Zoom session. She might even be able to fill out the application over the
phone.)
All are welcome. Registration is requested but the Zoom will be a the regular, open
format to facilitate discussion. See Danby NY website Calendar for above November
10th date to register. Please direct any questions to town clerk.