Public talk on food security at UPEI on March 18

Professor Mark Lapping of the University of Southern Maine will give a public talk about food security on Thursday, March 18, at UPEI.

The Institute of Island Studies is hosting this event from noon to 1 p.m. in the Main Building Faculty Lounge. People are invited to bring their own "brown bag" lunch; drinks and sweets will be provided.

A newly appointed research associate with the Institute, Lapping will speak about food security as it relates to rural areas, land use policy and community planning. He is currently working on a project in Cumberland County, Maine, to identify vulnerable populations, assess their levels of food insecurity and develop a plan to tie them together with food banks, farmers, farmers' markets and other agencies to address food insecurity problems.

As a result of this project, he is working with Maine's Good Shepherd Food Bank to determine how the food bank will provide an estimated 36,000,000 meals this year to hungry people, using more local food production and sources. He is part of a group that is working to establish a system of community foundations to handle what will be one of the largest transfers of wealth in American history over the next 20 years.

Lapping is the Distinguished Professor of Planning and Public Policy at the University of Southern Maine. He is author of eight books and several hundred chapters, articles and papers, and sits on the board of directors of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture. He has been working on food security issues for close to 20 years.

For more information, contact the Institute of Island Studies at (902) 566-0386.