Eat Local First Q & A
Resources:
- Eat Local First (ELF)
- WA Food and Farm Finder
- About the ELF Collaborative
- If you have a job to post, or are looking for a position, please feel free to utilize the ELF job board: https://eatlocalfirst.org/jobs/.
- To find out about food-centric events happening across the state, or to post your event, go to the ELF Events Page.
- For more information, contact Maressa Valliant: .
Questions & Answers
Note: ELF will be expanding the membership of the collaborative throughout Fall 2023 and launching campaigns to invite new members to the steering committee and identify regional partners. ELF also will take on some funded specialist positions to do outreach in different regions of the state and build regional identities across the state. Contact Maressa if you are interested in learning more about that work.
Q: You mentioned ELF will be hosting regional meetings in Fall 2023 about developing regional identities. What is the best way to find out about participating in these meetings?
A: We want to tell stories about what makes the different regions of the state unique so, in the fall, ELF will be hosting a series of regional roundtables via Zoom where we will be inviting folks from different clusters of counties to be part of building out those identities. This will include people in food systems, economic development professionals, tourism and destination development, and anyone who is invested in local food at the regional level.
If you are interested in participating, contact Maressa to be added to the outreach list. There will be regional roundtables and then one or two additional roundtables for folks working at the statewide level.
Q: Q: How will regions be defined for the fall visioning sessions?
A: They will be defined geographically and we have some concepts but we do not want to determine independently how regions will be established. We aim to engage people who have a vested interest in regional food systems to be a part of defining the regions and the roundtables will be used to discuss this topic. Our first draft originated from the regions laid out by State of WA Tourism. County lines are the easiest way to divide things, but we know that doesn’t work in terms of representing which tribes are part of each region, so it’s really important that we have some tribal input on how to best represent tribal communities in our resources.
Q: NABC is working on a project in Lewis County on regional identity. What opportunities are there for partnership in Southwest WA? What are next steps to get involved with ELF?
A: Reach out to Maressa to get the conversation started. People are in very different places in their brand development and the needs of the region so we can talk about how our services and resources might address your needs.
We recently piloted a regional outreach specialist positions in Southwest WA that we hope to build upon. We have provided collateral materials (e.g., tents, tablecloths) to the Olympic Peninsula to use during the summer for farm tours. We offer fun swag as well, including branded twist ties that are available to farms and markets to help them identify local products.
We have talked with WA State Veterans Affairs about a map to veteran farms they want to create. We can work on developing connectivity between websites and creating custom links. Leveraging our resources that way helps to reduce costs for local areas.
Q: Wild Salmon Nation is interested in seeing more avenues to introduce more affordable WA-caught marine food proteins from local fisheries to Food Banks. What does ELF offer?
A: The Wholesale Vendor Finder provides producers an opportunity to say they’d like to sell to hunger relief organizations. It’s a great way to start opening those channels!
Business that accept SNAP/EBT are identified on the WA Food & Farm Finder, as are nutrition programs like Fresh Bucks. When we run a campaign, we offer links to assist in searches for businesses that are accepting those benefits.
Coastal Harvest is a resource. Brent Hunter: .