Many local food organizations — including the Moscow Food Co-op, The Moscow Farmers Market and Sodexo — and the University of Idaho Soil Stewards and Sustainability Center will participate in the Food Summit 3.0 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday at the 1912 Center in Moscow.
The City of Moscow and the Palouse-Clearwater Food Coalition will host the event. These groups will collaborate with regional farmers and ranchers, to discuss the food systems on the Palouse and the benefits of a local food system.
Cinda Williams, UI extension educator in Community Food Systems, said the morning session will include brief talks from local business leaders, farmers and food producers who will explain what a food system is, how it affects communities and how participating in a local food system will benefit the region.
The afternoon portion of the Food Summit will be a networking opportunity for event attendees. Williams said the afternoon portion of the event is a time for those curious about food systems or who are interested in starting their own business to create important contacts and to receive information they need to be successful.
“A food system is the flow of food in a specific region,” Williams said. “What we’re trying to do is make that flow of food more local, rather than having most of our food coming from 1,000 to 1,500 miles away. We’re trying to create more locally available food and us being more food secure here … it’s the process of the food between the farmer and the table.”
Christine Schuette, a UI student and member of the Palouse-Clearwater Food Coalition, said the annual event is one of the biggest events the coalition hosts.
“The coalition is a grass roots group led by the community that is trying to strengthen a local food system,” Schuette said. “So the coalition puts on this annual Food Summit … all these different organizations that will be there are parts of this coalition.”
Schuette said local food is shown to be healthier, because there is less distance between where the food is produced and where the food is consumed. She said this creates less need for food processing and a large supply of fresh food.
Williams said there are some issues with the current food system that the coalition is trying to confront and change.
“We are totally reliant on transportation to get our food here,” Williams said. “Many times the food leaves the farms here, goes somewhere to be processed then comes back here. We’re trying to strengthen the local system, have more farmers producing more food that is available here.”
Both Williams and Schuette said, according to the Idaho Food Bank in Lewiston, Lewiston would only have enough food storage to last for three days in the event of a catastrophe on the Palouse that cut off the transportation of food to the Lewis Clark Valley.
Williams said many UI students are interested in the local foods movement and in serving more local food at campus dining.
“If the demand is strong enough at the university, it may reflect to a bigger audience,” Williams said.
Danielle Wiley can be reached at [email protected]