Good Food for All

Weekly Digest: CSU's Aquaponics Program and 2010 State of the Plate on Sustainable Meat

This week's digest is cross-posted at ChicagoREgen.com.

• The Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op is sponsoring a one-day seminar on sustainable meat on Nov. 17.  Register today for the 2010 State of the Plate at Harold Washington Library.

• Chicago State University’s aquaponics facility, a research and resource program on campus, uses tilapia to help grow fruits and vegetables.

• Growing Power is offering a Commercial Urban Agriculture Training Program in 2011. Click here to learn more and to download an application.

• Chicago Tribune examines the regulations that bar CPS school garden produce from entering the lunchroom. An increasing number of studies show that students engaged in school gardens score higher on standardized tests.

 

Good Food for All Weekly Digest: Crop Mob, Chicken Coop Tour and CFSC Conference

The Good Food for All Weekly Digest is cross-posted this week on ChicagoReGen.com. 

• Sweet Water Organics, an aquaponics company and urban farm in Milwaukee, is featured this week in The New York Times.

• Take part in Hen-apalooza this weekend, a Chicagoland Chicken Coop Tour of 16 different locations with backyard chickens.

• A new grocery store, “Fresh Family Foods,” founded by entrepreneur Quentin Love, opened near Chicago State University.

• On Oct. 10, 2010 (10-10-10), Chicago Oxfam Action Corps is organizing a crop mob to Spence Farm in Livingston County, IL.  Click here for more details.

• Helping Others Maintain Environmental Standards (HOMES) is opposing the proposed construction of a large-scale dairy farm in northern Illinois.  View the trends of the milk industry here.

• Illinois had one of the biggest losses of prime agricultural land being converted to developed land from 1982 to 2007, according to the National Resources Inventory.

• New postings of sustainable food jobs in the Chicago region are available on Good Food for All.

• The last day to register for the Community Food Security Coalition Conference is Friday, Oct. 1.

 

Good Food for All Weekly Digest

The Good Food for All Weekly Digest is cross-posted this week on ChicagoReGen.com. 

• Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) will release its GO TO 2040 Plan for final approval on Oct. 13.  Download the full report, and read the chapter on promoting sustainable local food.

• USDA announced the 2010 Specialty Crop Block Grant Awards, which include a number of Illinois grantees including The Experimental Station, Illinois Stewardship Alliance and FamilyFarmed.org.

• Growing Home will host a community meeting on Oct. 7 to discuss the development of an urban agricultural district in Englewood and their proposal for an EPA Brownfields grant.

• A new report “Building Communities with Farms” features Prairie Crossing in Grayslake, IL.  The report provides insights on communities that have integrated farms with housing developments.

• Growing Power is developing a new 7-acre urban farm on Chicago's South Side.  The new project, Iron St. Farm, will include hoop houses and an aquaponics system.  Watch the feature clip on WTTW Chicago Tonight.

 

Daily Digest: Vertical farming in Chicago, Industrial Harvest Project, and Carbon Nation Celebration

Illinois celebrates National Farmers Market Week until Aug. 7.  Read the "Illinois - Where Fresh Is" Farmers Market Network newsletter.  The biggest growth in farmers markets is taking place in the Midwest. 

Illinois Stewardship Alliance is partnering with Industrial Harvest, a project to better understand the global commodities system through the purchase of a "wheat futures" contract from the Chicago Board of Trade. 

Sustainable Chicago magazine features Plant Chicago, a new project to combine industrial reuse with aquaponics to create Chicago's first vertical farm.  Another article highlights LEED-Neighborhood Development certification and Prairie Crossing Conservation Community. 

Chicago Tribune follows Growing Home's heirloom tomatoes from seed to the table. 

Chicago Garden features Chicago Botanic Garden's Green Youth Farm program. 

Spotlight on upcoming events: (Event Calendar is here). 

• North Lawndale Greening Committee Annual Garden Tour, Aug. 7 at 10 a.m. 
• Carbon Nation Celebration in Millennium Park, Aug. 10 at 7 p.m. 
• Locavore Dinner at StarGazer Cafe in Prairie Crossing, Aug. 20 at 6 p.m.  
• Corks & Crayons for Purple Asparagus, Aug. 29 at 4 p.m.