Good Food for All

Show Your Support for Increased Farmers Market Access for SNAP Recipients by 5 PM November 17

A letter from Wes King, Policy Coordinator, Illinois Stewardship Alliance:

"Are you interested in increasing access to local food for low-income and under-served populations through the support of programs and policies to provide SNAP/EBT Infrastructure at Farmers' Markets and other farm-direct enterprises?

If so please consider signing on to the attached letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack asking him to make some key administrative changes that would level the playing field for farmers markets and break down barriers that have left farmers markets on the wrong side of the digital divide."

If you would like to sign-on to the letter please email Wes at wes@ilstewards.org by 5:00pm on Thursday. 

Download FINAL DRAFT VILSACK LETTER pdf 

 

For more information about www.ilstewards.org

Daily Digest: City Provisions Deli opens, African American farmers in the Chicago Region, and Community Food Project Grants

City Provisions recently opened a local and sustainable food deli on Chicago's North Side.  

Chicago Reader features an in-depth article profiling African American farmers in Hopkins Park and how they are trying to connect to markets on the South Side. 

USDA announced its Request for Applications (RFA) for the Community Food Projects (CFP) Competitive Grants Program.  Deadline is Nov. 17.  Free grant assistance resources are available on the CFSC website. 

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food, an initiative of USDA to support local and regional food systems, posted updated slaughter maps in the U.S., to assist small ranchers and farmers. 

Heartland Local Food Network released its farmers market guide to accepting Illinois Link cards, based on its program at the Downtown Bloomington farmers market.  Download the guide here.  

Loyola University will offer a Sustainable Food Operations course in Jan. 2011, taught by Greg Christian of Greg Christian Catering and the Organic School Project. 

Daily Digest: Go for the Gold Campaign and LINK at Chicago Farmers Markets

Chicago Public Schools and Healthy Schools Campaign officially launched the Go for the Gold Campaign, in partnership with USDA Midwest, as part of the HealthierUS Schools initiative to promote healthier school environments.

Food & Water Watch has produced a blueprint for a healthy food system, in preparation for the reauthorization of the Farm Bill in 2012.

Walgreens is converting some of its Chicago stores into full-service grocery stores.

Fed Up with School Lunch, a blog written by a teacher in Illinois who is eating school lunch for a year, volunteered at Common Threads summer camp at Kennedy-King College in Englewood.  Read her post(s) here.

City governments are growing food for local food pantries from Madison to Des Moines.

Check out the updated Jobs and Opportunities page at Good Food for All.

LINK cards are currently accepted at five Chicago farmers markets.  Groundswell Films produced this short video below on the LINK program. Read more about The Experimental Station, which began the pilot program this year.

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.

Daily Digest: National Farmers Market Week, FRESH screenings and Backyard chickens

In honor of National Farmers Market Week, read this post on the importance of partnerships in administering the Double Value Coupon Program.

FRESH the movie will be showing at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago until Aug. 5. 

Download the full FamilyFarmed.org report "Ready to Grow: A plan for increasing Illinois fruit and vegetable production." The report details current obstacles and recommendations for meeting the increasing wholesale demand for local foods. 

Whole Foods opened its first on-site community garden in Virginia, which could serve as a potential model for other stores.    

A community-supported agriculture (CSA) drop-off site was almost shut down by the City of Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. 

Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks' current newsletter features an interview with Tiny Greens Organic Farm. 

Backyard chicken enthusiast groups continue to grow in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. 

The City of Chicago approved a 3rd Wal-Mart store, in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood. 

The Community Food Security Coalition 14th Annual Conference will take place Oct. 16-19, 2010, in New Orleans, LA. Scholarships are available and early registration deadline is Aug. 13. 

Attention farmers market managers in Illinois: Illinois Department of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Statistics Service are requesting information on growers and vendors represented at this year's farmers markets.  Download the full letter here.

Daily Digest: Inspired by Slow Money (ISM), Mobile Food Collective and School Lunch Reform

Community Food Security Coalition and Farmers Market Coalition released a report, "Real Food, Real Choice", detailing the obstacles for SNAP participants to redeem benefits at farmers markets.  Download the full report here. 

The Mobile Food Collective visited Logan Square Farmers Market this past weekend.  Check out the video and blog for upcoming events. 

An increasing number of local Illinois farms are offering "haycations" for families.   

Civil Eats offers insight on last month's Slow Money National Gathering. Watch this video to learn about "ISM" = Inspired by Slow Money. 

The House Education and Labor Committee passed the "Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act".   Both bills are now on the House and Senate floors and must be passed by each chamber before becoming law. 

Daily Digest: Governor Quinn Signs Farmers' Market Technology Improvement Act

On Saturday, Governor Quinn signed the Illinois Farmers Market Technology Improvement Act.  HB 4756 lays the groundwork for enabling more farmers markets to use Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) to accept Illinois LINK cards. Download a fact sheet on the bill here. 

In Michigan, one teen is using her backyard to do a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) for 14 members.  Click here to view the slideshow.   

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams features a “Making a Difference” story on CEO of Wholesome Wave Foundation Chef Michel Nischan’s very successful efforts to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to SNAP recipients.  Click here for a link to the story and watch the video below. 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Daily Digest: City Council Approves Wal-Mart, Whole Foods to Start Growing Own Produce, GoTo2040 Plan on Local Food Systems

The Chicago City Council approved the construction of the city's second Wal-Mart on Wednesday.  Listen to the full story here.  

Whole Foods will start to grow its own produce at one of its Virginia stores.  

USDA released a "How To" guide for farmers market managers to use Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) machines to accept SNAP benefits.  Read the press release and download the guide here.  

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) has released its draft report on local food systems for the GoTo2040 plan.  The full draft report is open for public comment until Aug. 6th.  Comments can be left on the website or submitted via email.  Click here to download the Local Food Draft Report for GoTo2040. 

Gourmet Gorilla was featured on NBC News about serving local and organic school lunches. 

A new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health shows obesity levels in Illinois increased almost a full percentage point in the past year.   Illinois is ranked 4th in the nation for the highest rates of childhood obesity. 

Daily Digest: FoodCorps, Farmers Markets, and Food Truck Legislation

FoodCorps is in the planning stages for developing an AmeriCorps School Garden and Farm to School program.  If you would like to participate in a working group, you can fill out this survey. 

Food truck legislation was delayed until further notice at the Chicago City Council meeting this week. 

To promote farmers markets across the country, American Farmland Trust is sponsoring its annual "America's Favorite Farmers Markets" contest.  Vote here! 

The USDA Food Environment Atlas is an excellent tool for food security and food access data. 

Prairie Fruits Farm in Champaign, IL will receive a USDA Value-Added Producer Grant to conduct a feasibility study and create a business plan "for an on-farm, goat-milk-to-gelato operation."  Click here to see what other Chicago foodshed farm enterprises will receive funding.  

Good Food for All has an updated listing of jobs and opportunities in the Chicago foodshed, as well as links to other useful websites. 

Daily Digest: Local Meat Processing and LINK Redemption Availability at Chicago Farmers Markets

Record sales for SNAP redemption were posted at the Daley Plaza farmers market last week.  Experimental Station launched the EBT/LINK program at five farmers markets this year, in addition to offering a double value redemption program at 61st Street Farmers Market.  The food stamp credit program will be available at Lincoln Square and South Shore farmers markets this week. 

Crain's has two articles focusing on the local food movement and creating distribution networks for locally grown food in Illinois.   

USDA released a study on gaps in small-scale slaughter processing availability.  Click here to read the full release and here to see a slideshow with detailed maps. 

Healthy Schools Campaign highlights the Go for the Gold campaign and how Chicago Public Schools are adopting the Gold Standard for the HealthierUS School Challenge with their school lunch menus.