Good Food for All

Job Posting: Program Associate, Fresh Taste

Fresh Taste is looking for a new Program Associate.  Please share the job description below with anyone you think might be interested.  There is some exciting work opening up for someone with strong organizational skills who wants to help build the local food movement.  Thanks for your help! 

Download the job description.

Deadline is Jan. 7, 2011.  Interested individuals should submit a resume, cover letter and names of references to: resumes@cct.org.

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: 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. 

Fruit and Vegetable Study Reveals Significant Potential for New Jobs and Increased Income in Illinois

Illinois could gain more than 5400 jobs and over $988 million in retail sales through increased production and marketing of 28 types of fruits and vegetables for local consumption according to a major study of the economic potential of increased fruit and vegetable production in the upper Midwest. 

The same analysis shows that if local fruit and vegetable production were focused on the state's nearby major metro areas, including St. Louis, the potential gain could be approximately 4,100 jobs and over $783 million in retail sales. 

The study, done by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University and funded in part by Fresh Taste, reveals that meeting our entire statewide need for fruits and vegetables would require only about 69,000 acres of land, or just 0.3 percent of the state's 23.7 million acres of cropland. Just under 50,000 acres would be needed for the urban center option. 

To download the full press release,  click here. 

To read the full AP story, click here. 

The Leopold Center study is the first multi-state study in the upper Midwest to examine the potential economic benefits of fruit and vegetable production on a scale that would meet the needs of consumers in each of the six states.  Download the full report here. 

Daily Digest: Grow Montana, Local Food Entrepreneurs, and Wal-Mart in Chicago

Wal-Mart is having difficulty opening new stores in Chicago. 

Grow Montana produced this video to show the value of local food processing.  Watch the video below. 

The New York Times profiles jobless architects who are channeling their skills into new entrepreneurial endeavors. 

Lawmakers are asking USDA to increase regulations on the use of antibiotics in livestock. 

West Side restaurateur Eddie Pickens, Sr. talks about the generational gap between soul food and fast food. 

As backyard chickens are becoming increasingly popular in Chicago, so are pygmy goats. 

Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel shares his thoughts in The Atlantic, arguing that "Big Ag" will not feed the world. 

Daily Digest: Policy Updates, Reducing Childhood Obesity, and New Local Food Jobs

Healthy Schools Campaign details the potential benefits of The Children's Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009. 

At the United Conference of Mayors, First Lady Michelle Obama spoke about her upcoming campaign to stop the rise of childhood obesity.  

Civil Eats provides a comprehensive resource list for starting school gardens, highlighting an elementary school in Gages Lake, IL. 

Stay connected to food policy, urban agriculture, backyard chickens, and/or community gardens in the Chicago area by subscribing via email for updates (click on each of the links). 

New job postings and opportunities in sustainable food and urban farming are available for download at Good Food for All. 

Daily Digest: USDA Farm to School Site Visits, Dill Pickle Food Co-op, and Sustainable Food Jobs

If your school district is interested in being a site visit for a USDA Farm to School Tactical Team, apply online today. Deadline is Jan. 31. More info is available here. 

USDA Economic Research Service released its farm income and agricultural outlook report for 2009. 

Dill Pickle Food Co-op, Chicago's newest community-owned grocery store, published its first newsletter, "The Brine", available online. 

Chicago Rarities Orchard Project (CROP) will host a fundraiser at Uncommon Ground on Jan. 25. Visit the Good Food for All Calendar for more upcoming events and workshops in the Chicago foodshed. 

City Farm and the Resource Center is looking for a Director of Urban Agriculture.  

Links to: 

Jobs & Opportunities 

Grants Database 

Daily Digest: Invasive Species, Climate Change, and One Seed Chicago

Neil Hamilton, Director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake,  has a guest column in the Des Moines Register on the need for agricultural resilience and educating consumers on the climate dimensions of food. 

The New Yorker has an extensive profile on Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, who recently resigned as Chairman of the Board. 

Michigan is suing Illinois to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp. 

Vote for your favorite seed at One Seed Chicago, and receive the winning seeds in the mail for free. 

New job posting: Download the Garden Apprentice and Intern Program Instructor Job Description at the Gary Comer Youth Center. Click here for a full listing of job opportunities in the Chicago region. 

Jobs and Grant Opportunities in the Chicago Region

The Frontera Farmer Foundation is now accepting grant applications for 2010. Frontera will award grants to small-scale, sustainable farms for capital improvements of up to $12,000. Deadline is Jan. 31, 2010. 

A number of job openings are posted on Good Food for All's "Jobs and Opportunities" page.  

• Angelic Organics Learning Center: Program Manager, Farmer Training Initiative
• Healthy Schools Campaign: Communications and Public Policy Analyst 
• Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council: Download CFPAC Community Coordinator Job Description
• Student Farmworker Alliance: National Co-Coordinator
• Growing Home: Urban Farms Manager
• Margulies Geneva Project: Farm Manager and Interns 

Click here to see the full job descriptions.