Good Food for All

Daily Digest: FoodCorps, Young Farmers and Food Buying Clubs in Chicago

CDC released updated statistics on the continued rise of obesity in America, citing "a major public health threat" in many states. 

Register now for the Fall 2010 Environmental Leadership Training Series with Chicago Conservation Corps.  Apply here. 

Food buying clubs are growing in Chicago, including Healthy Food Hub, Chicago Food Co-op, Edible Alchemy and Woodlawn Buying Club. 

FoodCorps, a national AmeriCorps school garden and Farm to School service program, is holding monthly open conference calls to discuss program updates and working groups.  The next call is Thursday, Aug. 5th at 4 p.m. CST / 5 p.m. EST.  Call (218) 936-4141. Code: 572334#. 

Experienced farmers in southwestern Ohio are assisting young farmers in procuring loans with the Farm Service Agency (FSA). 

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: Mobile Food Collective in Chicago, USDA Farm Transition Program Announced, and Farmers Using Social Media

Increasing numbers of farmers are utilizing social media to sell their products. 

USDA announced a new Farm Bill program, the Transition Incentives Program (TIP), to encourage retired or retiring farmers to transition their land to beginning or socially disadvantaged farmers. 

Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council (CFPAC) is organizing neighborhood council meetings. The next meeting will take place: 

West District Loop: June 1, 2010 at 6:00pm at the Pilsen Wellness Center (2319 S. Damen Ave)
[CFPAC is also working on getting a Northwest District Neighborhood Council established, which would include neighborhoods from West Town, Humboldt Park, and Logan Square to Jefferson Park and Albany Park. If you would like to get involved, please contact Dennis Ryan at Experimental Station].

Seeding Chicago has an overview of the recent Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture study on the economic impact of increased fruit and vegetable production in Illinois. 

Students at Archeworks have organized a Mobile Food Collective, including a Mobile Food Unit that will be used for food storage, meetings, and programming. 

As part of the Let's Move campaign, large-scale food manufacturers have agreed to cut over 1 trillion calories from their products by 2015. 

Daily Digest: Local Food Distribution Models, Fresh Food Consumption and Slow Money

The New York Times has a comparative infographic showing the amount of fresh food vs. packaged food consumption in the United States (via OrganicNation.TV). 

Join Illinois Stewardship Alliance in Springfield, IL, on Wednesday, April 28 for Local Food Awareness Day.  Activities will include legislative updates and a lobbying training.  Registration is due Monday, April 19.  

Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems in Wisconsin has a national map of local food distribution models.  View the map here. 

Secretary Vilsack visited RMH Foods, a meat processing facility in Morton, Illinois.  RMH is a recipient of a USDA Rural Development loan and the owners succeeded in maintaining the business and retaining over 130 jobs. 

To further its civil engagement, USDA released the Open Gov Plan, accessible here.  Anyone can register and submit ideas or feedback on the website. 

The Slow Money National Gathering "ISM" (Inspired by Slow Money) will take place June 9-11 at Shelburne Farms, Vermont.  Register and view the program schedule here. 

Daily Digest: Improving Farmers' Market Technology, Antibiotic Use in Livestock, and Upcoming Events

Learn about the Farmers' Market Technology Improvement Act, sponsored by Illinois State Representative LaShawn K. Ford.  HB 4756 would improve consumer access to the Illinois Link Card Program, allowing participants to redeem their SNAP benefits at farmers' markets. 

To find contact information for your state representative, click here. (h/t  Illinois Stewardship Alliance) 

Across the nation: 

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer released "FoodNYC: A Blueprint for a Sustainable Food System. Read the full report. 

On CBS Evening News, Katie Couric spoke with Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, and Dr. David Kessler about the use of antibiotics in livestock. 

Upcoming workshops and events:

Financing Farm to Fork Conference and Chicago Food Policy Summit: March 11-13, 2010 (Buy tickets here). 

Growing Food and Justice Initiative Chicago Local Empowerment Group Dinner: Sunday, March 28, 2010, 5-7 p.m. at Experimental Station.   

Garden Park Conservatory will host a series of upcoming workshops on gardening and composting. 

Learn about the five practices of agroforestry on March 5th with Illinois Extension and Calhoun County Farm Bureau in Kampsville, IL. Register here. 

Daily Digest: Chicago Local Food Guide, Illinois Obesity Prevention Hearings, and Open Source Cooperative Software

A new local food website, Local Yolkel, founded by Cristal Mendlen, lists 2010 CSA listings, local food restaurants, and grocers located in the Chicago area. 

Logan Square Kitchen will host a pastry market, featuring local food vendors on Feb. 13. 

Illinois Department of Public Health will host three obesity prevention hearings (Chicago, Springfield, and Carbondale) in February and March.  To access the IDPH flyer, click here. 

UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems released a new report, "Scaling Up: Meeting the Demand for Local Food" which finds that "local food systems need to be scaled up or expanded from farmer-direct sales of small quantities of product to wholesale transactions." 

The Oklahoma Food Cooperative has its open-source software accessible here online. 

Link to: 

Sustainable Food Jobs & Opportunities

Daily Digest: Mobile Slaughter Units, Slow Food Chicago and Obesity Prevention

As part of Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food, USDA will be hosting two webinars on mobile slaughter units on Jan. 20 and Jan. 21. 

Small family farms are concerned about the potential construction of a road extension in Champaign, IL. Learn more. 

Eric Holt-Gimenez of Food First writes about the importance of local food policy councils. 

Kane County received an obesity-prevention grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 

Slow Food Chicago will host its annual meeting on Jan. 31 at Kendall College.  View the Event Calendar here. 

Links to: 

Jobs & Opportunities 

Grants Database 

Daily Digest: Season Extension, National Fresh Food Financing Initiative and Good Food, Good Jobs Program

University of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center monitored and tracked organic vegetable production in high tunnels this past year.  

The White House also installed a winter garden with the help of USDA.  More locally, Angelic Organics Learning Center will be offering workshops on season extension in February and March. 

Two initiatives were put forth this week regarding access to healthy food and workforce development. 

1) The National Fresh Food Financing Initiative:  Legislation was introduced to Congress in support of creating an economically sustainable solution for improving access to fresh and healthy food. 

2) "Good Food, Good Jobs: Turning Food Deserts into Job Oases" is a new report by Joel Berg, Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.  The report calls for the creation of a Good Food, Good Jobs program that would increase investment to food-related workforce development initiatives, food processing and urban aquaponics. 

Daily Digest: Backyard Poultry, Food mapping tools, and National School Lunch Week

WTTW featured a segment on keeping chickens in backyards, and why some residents in Evanston are ignoring the ban. 

A new Michigan wetlands law could help boost the cranberry industry. 

As of Oct. 1, a new WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) food package is being offered, which includes more fruits and vegetables.  Read more details here. 

Oct. 12-16 is National School Lunch Week. Learn more about the 2009 Child Nutrition Reauthorization and the Time for Lunch campaign. 

The Connecticut Attorney General plans to investigate the Smart Choices program. 

Healthy Affordable Food for All, a coalition of hunger and food justice organizations in Washington, D.C., has a project called DC Food Finder.  This comprehensive mapping tool lists low cost grocery stores, nutrition and cooking classes, community gardens, farmers markets, and much more.

Daily Digest: Sustainable Food on NPR and Value-Chain Infrastructure

Listen to the most recent NPR Science Friday program on "Sizing Up Sustainable Food" featuring Michael Pollan, James McWilliams, and Brian Halweil.  The program highlights the higher demand than supply of local food, the need for lifecycle assessments, and the importance of investing in local infrastructure capacity. 

The New York Times featured three different op-eds related to farming, climate change, and urban agriculture:  Nicholas Kristof, Thomas Friedman, and Dickson Dispommier. 

According to Progressive Grocer, organic food in Chicago is more expensive than New York or Los Angeles, but the store brand, or private label, is cheapest in Chicago. 

The National Good Food Network posted its most recent webinar on value-chain infrastructure.  You can view the video with Michael Rozyne, Co-Director of Red Tomato. 

National Good Food Network Cluster Call: Innovations in Value Chain Infrastructure - Michael Rozyne, Co-Director of Red Tomato from Wallace Center on Vimeo.