Skip to content

Sustainable food production expert speaks at the Okanagan Regional Library at the Hedley Seniors’ Centre

A team of facilitators will guide participants through the morning to consider our current local food system.

“Food Security” is about creating helpful environments that make “healthy eating the easy choice”.

Food Secure places are where people are able to meet their nutritional requirements in personally acceptable ways.

Keynote speaker, Kent Mullinex, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Richmond will speak at the Seniors Centre in Hedley on Friday April 25.

Dr. Mullinex will focus on examining the challenges and transgressions of our contemporary dominant agri-food system. He will inform and direct our thinking and subsequently our actions towards creating a sustainable food system that could form the foundation of a sustainable community and society.

Saturday’s workshop, a team of facilitators will guide participants through the morning to consider our current local food system, to identify our strengths and opportunities, in order to direct actions and recommendations that could form the foundation of a more sustainable and healthy community in the Similkameen and Okanagan valleys.

Let’s roll-up our sleeves and examine how we can become more self-reliant in food production, processing and distribution by connecting our people with the land and their food supply. We’ll further enhance our communities, create economic opportunities, and build a more resilient Similkameen.

If you are a rancher, orchardist, grower, bee keeper, involved in your local a Farmer’s Market, or a concerned consumer – come to this important Community Conversation!

Local food production is a rapidly developing component of communities that is on the minds of the public and governments alike.

Speaker’s Biography:

Kent Mullinix is Director of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security and is engaged in research and development to advance sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Before joining Kwantlen Polytech University, Dr. Mullinix held the Endowed Joint Chair in Pomology and was an Associate Professor at the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Washington State University and was concurrently Professor and Director of Agriculture Programs at Wenatchee Valley College.

Before that he was a horticulture research specialist (fruit and nut crops) for the Universities of Missouri, Minnesota and Kentucky. His specific areas of research and other scholarly work include development of ecologically sound, human intensive horticulture food crop production methods, development of bio-regional agri-food systems and family-based agriculture revitalization. Dr. Mullinix is also an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia.