Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond
Eating Close to Home: Fostering Local Food Production During COVID-19
As COVID-19 outbreaks and restaurant closures have exposed the fragility of the industrial food system, local food producers are stepping in to pick up the slack. For many local farmers, processors, restaurant-owners, and community workers, COVID-19 has opened a window of opportunity to put control back into the hands of local communities. Join Éliane Verret-Fournier, Manager of Market Development for the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Emma Bryce, an expert in regenerative farming practices and small-scale meat production, Dr. Lenore Newman, author of “Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food” and is the Director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, and Katie Koralesky, PhD student in the UBC Animal Welfare Program, as they share their reflections on how we can seize the moment to call for a more localized, resilient, and sustainable food system.
About the Presenters
Éliane Verret-Fournier
Éliane Verret-Fournier is a Manager of Market Development for the BC Ministry of Agriculture. Her work is aimed at building the local market and encouraging British Columbians to purchase local foods. She delivers on the Buy BC program, the province’s domestic marketing program, promoting B.C. food and beverages to ensure consumers can easily identify and enjoy local food products, while supporting farmers and businesses throughout B.C.
Emma Bryce
Emma Bryce serves as treasurer for British Columbia Young Farmers (BCYF). After completing her Bachelors at Kwantlen in 2013, Emma moved to Chilliwack and began her studies at the University of the Fraser Valley, earning her Certificate in Livestock Production and Diploma in Agriculture Technology. While studying at UFV, Emma worked in a range of agricultural fields, including managing a small lavender farm in Abbotsford and milking at a dairy in Rosedale, then became an Assistant Agriculture Technician at UFV. Emma also owns a small farm in Ryder Lake, where she has raised a variety of animals for meat including pigs, goats, chickens, ducks geese, and turkeys.
Dr. Lenore Newman
Dr. Lenore Newman the author of “Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food” and is the Director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Food Security and the Environment. Dr. Newman researchers global food trends, farmland use, and emerging agricultural technologies.
Katie Koralesky
Katie Koralesky is a PhD student in the Animal Welfare Program. Her research focuses on the human dimension of animal welfare. Most recently, she has used realistic evaluation to understand how interventions work on dairy farms and institutional ethnography to understand how animal welfare law enforcement and sheltering shape what happens to animals.
The Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond series is brought to you by the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS), the BC Food Web, the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (LFS), and the Royal Bank of Canada. This webinar series focuses on answering fundamental questions about the resiliency of our food system during and beyond COVID-19.
