ROOM AT THE TABLE - Intersight - University at Buffalo

seed banks have a positive economic impact and the establishment of a seed
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To continue the vitality of Erie County produce, the local food
system needs to protect indigenous varieties of plant stock to secure the
niche of local food. This would also serve as an economic safeguard of
unique Erie County and Western New York agriculture. Erie County could
establish its own seed bank or participate in a regional seed bank. The
Cornell Cooperative Extension could support the creation of this seed bank,
and farmers could obtain the seeds for free or at discounted rates.
II. Erie County Department of Environment and Planning
5. Manage a county website on agricultural resources (High Priority)
There is a need for a County­managed, stand­alone website managed
on agriculture or local food production. The County has an opportunity
to give the public information connecting buyers, sellers and other
entrepreneurs in the food system, if they choose to make that information
available. The website would provide functions of making announcements,
blogging, horizontal business collaboration, contact lists, a County calendar
for food campaigns or harvest schedules, a discussion board for community
feedback, and a component for visibility to those outside of the County in
the form of a “Wiki.”
This Erie County Food Portal should be maintained by a centralized
entity like the Department of Environment and Planning, or a potential
Food Policy Council. There is a need for information made available on
the website, at a minimum, with an inventory of local farmers participating
by choice. This could also take the form of a Food Systems Assessment
much like this report, except the online version would be dynamic and
continuously updated.
Currently, no such website exists for Erie County stakeholders to
access such information. In light of the time and effort associated with the
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