Tompkins Food Futures Holds Fall Food System Forum

Area farmers, policymakers, and others involved with the food system gathered to connect, collaborate, and plan for the future.

This fall, nearly 100 people involved in the Tompkins County food system gathered for the Tompkins Food System Forum, a bi-annual event hosted by Tompkins Food Future. The gathering included dozens of farmers and gardeners, business owners and entrepreneurs, food justice advocates, food access and security workers, and food waste reduction and recovery alongside farm to school, nutrition and public health professionals from local food banks, small groceries, and nonprofits.

The goal of the Forum, hosted by Tompkins Food Future with a welcome from co-organizer Damon Brangman of Roots Rising Farm, was to acknowledge the diversity of knowledge and experience held by those who were attending, recognize the challenges that impact the food system — especially as natural disasters become more frequent and severe — and plan for a coalition-based approach to implementing the Tompkins County Food System Plan.

“I want to offer an acknowledgement of the diversity of experience and knowledge that the room is bursting with,” shared organizer Katie Hallas in her introductory remarks. “Building resilience is about building community. Whatever [the future of our food system] is, it’s going to require that we make connections, show up in new ways and innovate. I need you, and we need each other.”

For the first collaborative activity of the day, a “rose/thorn” activity explored thoughtful communication and leadership styles. Having gotten to know each other a little better, participants split into numerous breakout sessions, which wrapped around the lunch hour and invited participants with specific interests or expertise to contribute to group discussions. Each led to long and nuanced conversations between farmers, food access providers, waste reduction leaders, advocates, entrepreneurs, and the community.

For example, in “Equity, Dignity, and Resilience in Agriculture: Building a Just Food System for All,” a panel of speakers from West Haven Farm, Stick and Stone Farm, and No Mas Lagrimas/No More Tears talked about the challenges of farming and distributing food to those in need, the type of experiences they shared, and the temperament needed to run a food-related project. Each speaker expanded on the necessity of recognizing the real value of their shared efforts.

Other breakouts focused on:

• The food needs of older adults
• Increasing community participation in food waste reduction
• Tools needed to advocate for policy change
• Lowering costs through collaboration between small food businesses
• Increasing community access to food through resilient, sustainable food pantries
• Land access for beginner farmers
• Tree crops as part of the food system
• Supporting biodiversity for plants and pollinators
• Co-designing a café series on Building Trust as a Community

The final planned session of the day was a group exercise in collective resource sharing. “This session is about abundance,” said facilitator Brit Campese of Vision Driven Consulting. “We want to share all this wisdom, all this experience we have in the room.” Equipped with handfuls of markers and large writing pads, forum participants split into small groups to generate a collaborative list of local grant opportunities, potential partners, donor or volunteer bases, and more. The day’s weather provided the chance to hold the work outside, and organizers pulled everyone together for a group reflection to finish the day.

“We’re all from different backgrounds and different parts of the food system, but we can all come together to listen to each other, support each other, and create a more healthy system,” one shared. Another reflected on the fraying or unraveling of systems during 2020-21, but noted that local support and generosity — from those at the forum and those who were unable to attend because they were in the middle of doing the work — sustained the community.

Organizers closed the forum with a round of gratitude, and those present split into small groups to continue talking and sharing, relationships strengthened further by the day’s conversations.

Learn more about the Tompkins County Food System Plan: A Roadmap for Our Future and other upcoming events and initiatives at TompkinsFoodFuture.org.

Last updated November 25, 2024