WV HUB

The West Virginia Food Charter will be a roadmap for action that will help us all focus, measure and celebrate our collective progress towards a stronger local food system.  The Charter will offer a vision for West Virginia's local food  economy and will provide ways of measuring how statewide and local policies, programs, and community efforts are contributing to the strength of that food economy. 

Many organizations and agencies from throughout the state have contributed to the design of the West Virginia Food Charter, which is loosely modeled on the Michigan Good Food Charter.

The West Virginia Food Charter will be developed over the course of 2011 and early 2012.  The first step in gaining public input to the Food Charter was a series of Regional Roundtables held in April and May of 2011.  The second step was the Road Map for the Food Economy convening on Jan. 23, 2012. 

"Road Map for the Food Economy" Convening

"Road Map for the Food Economy" was a statewide convening on January 23, 2012 in Bridgeport, WV.  More thant 100 West Virginians participated in concurrent, day-long action planning sessions on four key food system issues:  Viability of Food and Farm Businesses, Farm-to-Institution and Institutional Food, Youth and the Next Generation of Farmers, and Improving Access to Healthy Local Food.  Participants also had the opportunity to join practical working groups, which will work on specific action items over the upcoming months.  Read more here.

The Regional Roundtable Series on West Virginia Food and Farms

Six Regional Roundtables on West Virginia Food and Farms were completed in Wheeling, Hico, Parkersburg, Berkeley Springs, Philippi, and Charleston during April - May 2011. Over 233 people participated in the roundtables.  The Regional Roundtable Series was a partnership of: The West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, West Virginia University Extension Service, West Virginia Department of Education, West Virginia Department of Agriculture, Rural Support Partners, West Virginia Community Development Hub and numerous statewide and local partners, with support from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. 

Read the executive summary of the Regional Roundtable findings here.

 Below are the notes and participant list from each roundtable event:

Wheeling, WV (April 11)                                                            
- Download notes
- Download attendee contact list             

Hico, WV (April 12)
- Download notes
- Download attendee contact list

Parkersburg, WV (April 13)
- Download notes
- Download attendee contact list

Berkeley Springs, WV (May 2)
- Download notes
- Download attendee contact list

Philippi, WV (May 3)
- Download notes
- Download attendee contact list

Charleston, WV (May 4)
- Download notes
- Download attendee contact list

Press Coverage on the Regional Roundtables:

• Find a full list of media stories on the Regional Roundtables on our "Press" page.
• Read the WV Food and Farm Coalition's news article on the roundtable series here.

.For more information, contact Savanna Lyons at 304.673.0053 or s.lyons@wvhub.org.