WHEATLAND - The Policy Working Group (Policy WG) is working to advocate for the health of Wyoming’s food system, including physical and economic health for our producers, consumers, students, and local food industries. Over the past several years, the Policy group has taken on several legislative topics related to agriculture and food in Wyoming.

Most recently, a key topic during the 2022 Wyoming Legislative session was potential Medicaid expansion. Numerous studies have shown a direct relationship between increased access to healthcare, including Medicaid expansion, and improved food security. Because of the Wyoming Food Coalition’s commitment to improving food security, the Policy group compiled and distributed a brief to this affect.

In previous sessions, the Policy group has completed similar information-sharing outreach and direct testimony on several key subjects, including:

Speaking with legislative committees against re-imposing sales tax on groceries

Outreach to Wyoming’s Congressional delegation regarding the importance of the 2021 infrastructure bill to rural areas

Collaborating with other ag organizations on joint advocacy regarding agriculture property tax eligibility

Evaluation of and position statements on various amendments to the Wyoming Food Freedom Act

Policy Working Group members:

Livy Lewis, Working Group Chair, Wind River Food Sovereignty Project

Jude Buchanan, Sunlight Acupuncture, Casper Community Greenhouse Project

LeRoy Jons, Horticulturist, University of Wyoming Extension

LeAnn Miller, Eat Wyoming, Casper Community Greenhouse Project

Scott Zimmerman, Government Relations/Field Representative, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union

Alyssa Wechsler-Duba, Wyoming Food Coalition Secretary

Pennie Vance, Powder River Basin Resource Council

Adam Bunker, Papa Joe’s Produce

Jesse Miller, Eat Wyoming, Family Medicine Physician

The next Wyoming Food Coalition Speaker Series will be held April 28. Are You Thinking About Growing? It the monthly speaker’s topic. You can learn more and register at https://wyfoodcoalition.org/ Don’t forget to RSVP so the organization knows you are interested.

The growing season is here and the Wyoming Food Coalition is prepping for all things gardening.

“Join us for a discussion hosted by the Sustainable Ecosystems Working Group on starting your backyard garden or further enhancing the productivity of what you already have,” UW ag extension’s LeRoy Johns said. “Our speakers will share resources around how and when to soil test, composting, seed packets and how to read them, Barnyard and Backyard resources, Cent$ible Nutrition’s Grow a Little Extra Program and more information about the CWC Alpine Science Institute Incubator Program. We’ll have time for questions at the end.”

Speakers:

Leroy Jons, UW Extension, Horticulturalist, WFC vice president

Chad Yost, Soil Life WY

Abby Perry, UW Extension

David Keto, From The Ground Up

Lori Dickinson, Grow a Little Extra, UW Extension

Ethan Page, Alpine Science Institute Incubator Program

Upcoming coalition meetings are as follows:

Policy WG meets Wednesday, April 20, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Join here

Sustainable Ecosystems WG meets Monday, May 2, 12-1 p.m. Join here

Healthy People WG meets Friday, May 6, 9-11 a.m. Join here

Strong Native Communities WG meets Tuesday, May 10, 12-1 p.m. Join here

Vibrant Farmers WG meets Thursday, May 12, 12-1 p.m. Join here

Building the food equality state:

“If you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day…” The familiar moral of this parable is that it’s better to teach a person to fish, because then they can eat for a lifetime. That said, it takes more than sharing knowledge to enable someone to fish. Anyone who fly fishes knows, for example, that it takes substantial amounts of guided and solo practice, time, travel, negotiation of permits and regulations, access to clean streams with fish in them, not to mention equipment, to successfully fly fish. And that at the end of a day in the river, you might still not have enough to eat for dinner. (Also, hopefully you like fish and to fish, while having the equipment and set-up to turn a catch into a meal.)

Sharing fish, and sharing knowledge about how to fish, are both necessary, and also not sufficient, for ensuring that every Wyoming family has enough good food to eat.

The WFC envisions sustainable local food economies in Wyoming that are diverse, thriving, and equitable. This includes ensuring that everyone in Wyoming can partake in the best foods we produce (from gardens to the grocery store) and that economic livelihoods in the food system are equitably available and can make people a living. (Questions? Contact Christine Porter, the Fairness and Justice Work Group Chair)