On December 5 & 6 2011, Virginia’s farm, food, health and environment advocates will meet in one place to plan for the future of food security in Virginia.  The first Virginia Food Security Summit was held in 2007. It sparked the creation of a statewide Virginia Food System Council, established in 2009. The report from the first summit is available online.

Now, almost five years later, Virginians are building on this momentum. Researchers at Virginia Tech and partners from the Virginia Food System Council have developed a new statewide Farm to Table plan for Virginia, which will be launched at the 2nd Virginia Food Security Summit in 2011 (virginiafoodsummit.org/). Participants in the Summit will help design plans for implementing the Farm to Table Plan over the next five years, hear leaders and policymakers discuss national food system trends, meet Virginians from across the food system, and learn from food system innovators working in schools, food distribution, and food entrepreneurship. The Summit is hosted by a collaborative partnership of leaders in Virginia’s local food system, including:  University of Virginia; UVa Food Collaborative; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia Farm Bureau Federation; Virginia Food System Council; Virginia State University School of Agriculture; Virginia Tech, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Washington and Lee University; Piedmont Environmental Council.