Episode 6: Unlocking Farmers’ Markets’ Potential: Community, Policy, Food Sovereignty

Webinar #6: Unlocking Farmers’ Markets’ Potential: Community, Policy, Food Sovereignty 

Many of us are familiar with the general benefits of farmers’ markets: supporting local growers, producers, artists and crafters of all kinds, injecting and retaining money in the local economy, getting to connect with and form relationships with the people who grow our food, and more. Episode six in our series welcomes local food advocates, Suzanne Fournier and Justin Cantafio for a conversation that about the larger impacts that farmers’ markets have the potential to unlock, and discusses ways to unlock them. We will begin with an interview/panel discussion, followed by a Q&A.

This webinar series is by donation – our recommended donation is $10, but any amount is appreciated! A Zoom link and calendar invitation will be sent after you register.

Register (by donation) here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/webinar-6-unlocking-farmers-markets-potential-community-policy-food-sovereignty

Suzanne Fournier – Executive Director of the National Farmers Union New Brunswick (NFU-NB) is the Executive Director of the National Farmers Union in New Brunswick, a nonprofit accredited farm organization. The NFU-NB promotes policies that aim to revitalize agriculture in New Brunswick; on local, national, and international levels, the NFU advocates alternative structures and government policies that resist corporate control of food. Suzanne studied Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, and has been working for the NFU-NB for 7 years. She lives in Western NB and is chronically ill.

Justin Cantafio – Executive Director of Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia (FMNS) is a relocalization and food sovereignty advocate, a nonprofit executive, consultant, speaker, and Nuffield Scholar. He presently serves as the Executive Director of Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia, a non-profit cooperative of over 40 farmers’ markets. He is the Co-founder and President of Canadian Farmers’ Markets, Canada’s national farmers’ market association, and a founding member of the UN FAO-funded World Farmers Markets Coalition. Justin is a founder and Director of the Halifax Regional Food Hub Co-operative and a founder and Director with the Atlantic Food Action Coalition. He also serves as an Advisor for the Centre for Local Prosperity, a charitable organization specializing in relocalization.

Webinar context:

The world is changing at an unprecedented pace, leaving many individuals and communities with a sense of uncertainty, and in many cases, worry. How do we respond to this rapidly changing world? How do we strengthen our local agency and resilience, socially, economically, and ecologically? In our current context of trade partner volatility and imposed tariffs that threaten to worsen the financial realities within our communities, we want to shine a light on thriving examples of re-localization in our region!

Re-localization is a concept and movement with an aim to become more self-reliant in our production and consumption (while reducing reliance on distant supply chains) in every category — from energy, to food, to finance/investment, to climate solutions, and beyond.

This series will be held on the last Thursday of each month from 12-1pm Atlantic and will explore examples of re-localization across Atlantic Canada.