Okanogan Region Food System Assessment
Led by Blue Sky Minds Nonprofit with multiple collaborators.
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What is a Community Food System Assessment?
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a community food system is one in which food production, processing, distribution, and consumption are geographically integrated and benefit a particular community's environment, economy, and social and nutritional health. A food system assessment helps communities better understand intersecting and complex elements that impact food economics, the land, access, justice, and equity. They are unique to the specific region and influenced by the collaborations reflected in the document. Food system assessments are a reflective and collaborative process that articulates the strengths and challenges faced by a specific community. Often used for action planning, these documents serve as a springboard for further collaboration to address community-determined needs.
Purpose of this Report
Community stakeholders collaboratively developed the Okanogan Region Food System Assessment. The geological region of this report includes the Colville Reservation and Okanogan County. It is a living document that Okanogan Region collaborators can use to take actionable steps to build a more equitable, sustainable, and economically viable food system. This report synthesizes existing data from the Okanogan Region food system. It offers a baseline for long-range planning and forecasting based on historical, and when available, current data and information. As a springboard rather than a terminus, this food system assessment intends to foster and extend collaboration amongst the many constituents committed to the resilience and sustainability of the Okanogan Region’s food system.
How to Use this Report
All elements of a food system are interconnected. The table of contents is an effort to organize food system sectors for clarity. However, such categorization can be fraught. We hope users of this report recognize the interconnectedness of all these elements as a strength. Additionally, subject matter experts in specific areas can offer additional insights into the identified focus areas, such as policy or small food producer livelihood. They may have additional data or information that will complement the publicly accessible information within this document.
When using content from this report for any planning or decision-making, we ask that readers situate the data within the larger context of the report and seek out any current data, as updates are inevitable within the coming years.