November was a busy month for the Simcoe County Food Council, with most Working Table members trying to get action plans in place for the new year. Some Tables with be on hiatus for December and some will take their break in January.
The Agricultural Working Table
The Agricultural Table met for the second time earlier this month--this time in person for a meet and greet. The members who were present managed to get a lot done and will bring their action plan back to the larger group to fill in the blanks. They decided their efforts for 2024 will include creating public awareness for special events on farms. This would not include items like farm gates, as those are already available online, but would rather focus on events like music, farm crawls, tastings, etc. They discussed working with local tourism offices and doing a press release to all the local media in Simcoe County in mid-June.
If you offer events on your farm, or know of other farmers in Simcoe County offering events, please email us at foodcouncilcoordinator@gmail.com.
School Food Working Table
Most of the School Food Working Table’s activity so far has focused on mapping community connections and understanding what “School Food” looks like in Simcoe County. Members have been sharing connections and ideas, putting together an intricate spreadsheet, that will help everyone involved in School Food in Simcoe County, match needs with resources.
Food Skills/ Food Literacy Working Table
At the November meeting, Food Skills/Food Literacy had great sharing sessions and discussions among group members around their upcoming food skills/literacy community survey. They are looking forward to learning more about the community and potentially making more people aware of their group, via the community interaction that will occur with the survey going out.
Table members are working toward meeting in person, in January, to strengthen their connections and foundation as a network.
The Food Access Working Table
The Food Access Table reported that food banks are getting busy and are already at full capacity. Fundraising is slowing down and finances are a big concern. College and university student demand is up in Barrie and Orillia and is straining already challenged coffers. A smaller committee from the Working Table will be meeting to put a draft action plan for 2024 in place.