Photo: Tomavo on Mountain Road in Moncton tries hard to stock as much local produce as it can. Image: Tomavo Facebook page.
MONCTON – Businesses are teaming up with non-profit organizations, government agencies, public institutions, community groups and farmers to get healthy, low-cost, local food onto the plates of New Brunswickers.
The ways local businesses are trying to do this are many and varied. They’re creating a network to provide food grown on the province’s farms to schools that need healthy meal options for kids. Local stores are doing their best to stock their shelves with local food. Innovative producers are trying to find ways to increase the production of local, affordable produce.
Companies like Speerville Flour Mill have been focusing on healthy, local food options for decades. But Laura Reinsborough, network director for the New Brunswick Food Security Action Network (NBFSAN), says food security issues like this are more top of mind now.
“Food security has been acknowledged as a priority for most regions in New Brunswick from a number of different perspectives,” she said.
Farm-to-Cafeteria
In 2016, on average, almost 20,000 New Brunswickers used food banks each month, according to data from NBFSAN’s Everybody Eats program. Today, around 21 per cent of children live in food-insecure households. Yet, Reinsbourough said some of the most creative and successful initiatives in Canada are taking place in New Brunswick schools. READ MORE
