The Real Estate Foundation and the BC Sustainable Food Systems Working Group are holding the first of six regional dialogues today in Prince George.

The purpose? To identify regional priorities for education, research and policy that could help us, as a province, create more sustainable and local food systems. We want to:

• Understand how people envision sustainable food systems in their regions;
• Learn what capacity, resources and information exist currently;
• Prioritize recommendations for action toward sustainable food systems on a regional basis.

Meetings are also being held in Cranbrook, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo and Richmond throughout November.

We will publish a report of findings from the dialogues on our website and share it with all participants as well as the BC Minister of Agriculture, senior policy staff, municipal decision makers and other funding organizations working in the “food” area.

The Real Estate Foundation is a grantmaker that helps advance sustainable land use in BC. Sustainable Food Systems is one of our three priority granting areas. Our particular interest in this area is land use initiatives that improve food security and the health of local and regional food systems.