QUILCENE — The Jefferson County Democrats will host a meting to discuss the future of food production and distribution in the county at a public gathering Tuesday, Aug. 23.
Representatives of Citizens for Local Food will speak at the meeting at 7 p.m. at the Quilcene Community Center. A potluck is planned at 5:30 p.m.
The event is open to anyone interested in local food.
Judy Alexander of Port Townsend, Al Cairns of Quilcene and Dick Bergeron of Brinnon will talk about the group’s intention to build an all-inclusive, countywide coalition focused on local food production to ensure that healthy food is accessible to all, said Teri Nomura, chairwoman of the Jefferson County Democrats.
They will urge increasing the amount of food grown locally and buying local food to support area farms.
“While we may always require some amount of food delivery from elsewhere, we can move in the direction of cultivating a sustainable food system close to home,” Nomura said.
Nomura said that at a recent Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce meeting, a regional economist from the state Department of Employment Security suggested that if everyone tried to eat only locally grown food, they would starve.
One of the projects Citizens for Local Food will be taking on in this coming year, patterned after Okanogan County’s report called “Can the Methow Valley Feed Itself?,” will be to assess Jefferson County’s capacity to do the same, Nomura said.
Said Cairns: “Okanogan County did determine, with the available agricultural land and current population, it could successfully feed itself.”
Alexander said, “Drawing on efforts from our own local experts and good data collection, we look forward to assessing our own capability to do the same.”
