In August and September of 2023, 75 surveys were collected from random community and MASH members. Highlights from the survey are summarized in this news article.
Students from Coast Mountain College in Smithers knocked on doors throughout the Hazeltons, people who came to our Apple Pressing in the Park event filled them out, District of New Hazelton staff and council were approached directly as were vendors at the Hazelton Farmers Market. Once we hit 70 responses, we digitized the survey and posted it on our social media and sent links to members we knew were out of town.
Results
60% of respondents were familiar with MASH, mostly from events, word of mouth and social media.
We also asked what services were most useful and no surprise, Apple Pressing and Supporting other local food security groups tied for first place at 50%, followed by Cooking classes at 46% and the Equipment Lending library at 35%.
We then asked about specific items for our Equipment Lending library present and future. Kitchen and food preserving tools were popular especially more expensive items like freeze dryers and apple grinders and pressers.
Cold storage emerged as a valuable service MASH could offer – both root cellars and freezers (meat lockers) as well as community composting programs.
And finally, there was considerable interest in small scale farming equipment, especially tractor implements such as manure spreaders, as well as rototillers and fencing related tools.
Next Steps
This survey was Step One in identifying community needs. Questions for the survey were designed based on feedback received during Food Security Forums organized by the NWBC Food Action Network (A MASH project) in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Proceedings from these forums and full survey results are available on our website or by request.
Step Two in our community engagement process will involve defining the scope of these projects and ranking them using a Prioritization Framework included in the Food and Agriculture System Planning Toolkit that we commissioned in May 2018 from Urban Food Strategies. We’re holding an Open House November 2 to get more community input for Step 2 and hope you can join us!