Hunger and homelessness go hand in hand on P.E.I., symposium looking for solutions hears [Video]

About 80 Islanders attended a symposium at the University of Prince Edward Island Thursday night that zeroed in on the intersection of food insecurity and homelessness.

“We need to have a conversation between consumers [and] farmers — and maybe cut out the guys that have chateaus in France and extra yachts,” said Rita Jackson, a district director for the National Farmers Union, adding that farmers don’t make enough when trying to get their products into big corporate grocery stores.

“There is greed; it is not the farmers,” she said. “We’re getting older and we are being forced out by all kinds of international forces.”

The symposium on food insecurity in the province was hosted by the Institute of Island Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Ideas suggested in the room included things like turning shipping containers into affordable small homes.

Jennifer Taylor is a professor teaching about food …