Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Press Release from NYS Healthy Farms, Healthy People Meeting


New York State Healthy Farms, Healthy People Meeting, Tuesday, October 16, 2012


Full Press Release

The Rural Health Network of South Central New York is honored to be hosting the New York State Healthy Farms, Healthy People Meeting on October 16, 2012, in Binghamton, New York as the first day of the two-day Growing Health 2012 program.  Participants from throughout the state will register by region and spend the day considering four critical New York State Healthy Farms, Healthy People issues: 1. NYS Agricultural Capacity and Infrastructure; 2. Individual and Consumer Access to NYS Food Products; 3. Business and Institutional Access to NYS Food Products and; 4. NYS Food Coalitions, Networks, and Collaborations.

State and national farm, food, and health leaders will facilitate these four concurrent sessions throughout the day. Regional groups will participate in each of the four sessions. David Haight, New York State Director of the American Farmland Trust will provide a keynote presentation, and our lead facilitator for the day will be Mary McFadden, Supervising Public Health Educator, Broome County Health Department and Rural Health Network Board Member.

The New York State Healthy Farms, Healthy People Meeting will help those with little or no experience accessing NYS-produced food to do so efficiently and effectively. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for those with NYS food production and procurement experience to learn more about opportunities available to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Finally, the meeting will connect stakeholders within regions, to improve networks leading to increased efficiency in the procurement and use of NYS food products to improve health, food security, and local economies.

Regions will meet at the end of the day and then report out in a plenary session on one or two actions each region can take to increase utilization of NYS agricultural and food products to improve health.  Facilitators will also meet at the end of the day and report on policy recommendations that would help address barriers and increase opportunities to utilize more NYS agricultural and food products to improve health.  These policy recommendations will be shared with the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, New York State Department of Health, the United States Department of Agriculture, and other appropriate governmental and advocacy groups.

This meeting is a part of the Healthy Farms, Healthy People (HFHP) State Meetings Learning Community. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has supported the learning community through its cooperative agreement with the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI). NNPHI has provided funding to selected state meetings and contracted with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) to provide technical assistance to meeting organizers. The views expressed during this meeting do not necessarily represent the views of NNPHI, IATP, CDC, or the Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition.

New York State Healthy Farms, Healthy People partners include: The Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship, The Food and Health Network of South Central New York, and The New York State Department of Health.

For more information about the NYS Healthy Farms, Healthy People Meeting, please go to: http://growinghealth.rhnscny.org/hfhp or call the Rural Health Network of South Central New York at (607) 692-7669.  Register on-line at: http://growinghealth.rhnscny.org/registration

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