The Purdue Extension program in West Layfayette, Indiana is now offering a training to local educators and community members on how to provide high school and elementary students with healthy meals and nutrition education by connecting schools to area farmers. The program is offered through a partnership between Extension and the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems and the U.S. Department of agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education (SARE) program.

It is a Farm-To-School-Professional Development initiative to teach participants how to locally source more menu items for school food service operations as well as incorporating good eating habits into general education curriculum.  Each of the participating school districts who apply are required to establish action committees consisting of 6-10 members – who may be from school leadership or various actors in the local food system.  All schools, both public and private, K-12 are eligible to apply, and participation is free.

Find the application here: https://www.purdue.edu/dffs/localfood/purdue-resources/f2straining/

The Our Farms, Our Future conference, hosted by SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) and NCAT/ATTRA (National Center for Appropriate Technology) will bring together the nation’s diverse agricultural community: farmers and ranchers, agricultural professionals, agribusiness, students, researchers, scientists, agency representatives, and nonprofit leaders. Every 10 years SARE hosts a conference to look at the progress of sustainability in agriculture, and to understand our trajectory for the future. The conference will feature:

• Dynamic keynote speakers
• Engaging panel sessions where you will hear from new and established farmers and ranchers
• Farm tours
• Project posters by SARE grant recipients
• Breakout sessions on topics such as cover crops, soil health, grazing for beef and dairy, urban agriculture, success stories in farming and ranching, and water challenges
• A pre-conference session led by NCAT/ATTRA for military veterans featuring previous Armed to Farm program participants

SARE’s mission is to advance innovations that improve profitability, stewardship and quality of life by investing in groundbreaking research and education.

SARE’s vision is an enduring American agriculture of the highest quality. This agriculture is profitable, protects the nation’s land and water and is a force for a rewarding way of life for farmers and ranchers whose quality products and operations sustain their communities and society.

Learn more about SARE here.

The Food Law and Policy Clinic of Harvard Law School released a great new tool yesterday to help planners, policymakers and community members review and evaluate policies related to food waste. Created in partnership with ReFED, the U.S. Food Waste Policy Finder is an interactive tool for exploring federal and state policies that affect food waste reduction and diversion. It provides a comprehensive database of laws surrounding food waste and contains searchable maps that allow users to explore state-level laws around date labeling, tax incentives and liability protection for food donation, feeding food scraps to animals, and organic waste bans and waste recycling laws.

View the database here.

A new state program in Massachusetts encourages those with limited incomes to eat more local produce through a financial incentive. SNAP or food stamp recipients can now participate in a healthy incentive program where the amount of purchases made at farmer’s markets, mobile market, farm stand, or community supported agriculture program is deposited back into their food account. A purchase of $4 automatically results in $4 being deposited back into their account. By incentivizing purchases at local farms, the money stays within local economies.  Although there are dollar limits according to family size, which typically ranges from $40-$80 per month.

Hear the story here.

Solutions From The Land, a national collaboration led by forestry and conservation leaders, has teamed up with Ohio State University’s Initiative for Food and Agricultural Transformation (InFACT) and other partners to coordinate a 3-5 year project for Ohio farmers. The project aims to assist farmers throughout the state in adapting to the changing climate through improving the resiliency of their farms in addition to increasing their capacity to support local communities through producing nutritious foods. The initiative was facilitated by the establishment of strategic partnerships among various stakeholder groups within the food system whose focus areas include food policy, water quality, and sustainable agriculture projects.

With the initiative launching this week, the Steering Committee will hold its inaugural meeting and review the goals, objectives, expected outcomes, timeline, and plan of work for the project.

Learn more about this initiative here.

The Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS) recently updated its comprehensive list with an additional 55 scholarly citations on structural racism within the United States food system.

The CRFS aims to engage people, especially those working in local and regional food systems space who are white, to understand the underlying inequities and disparities in the food system, which are symptoms of greater issues embedded within food systems structures.

It can be viewed here.

On Monday March 27th the Las Cruces City Council featured a presentation on the Healthy Food Financing Initiative in Dona Ana County and proposed for the creation of  a Healthy Food Financing Initiative in Dona Ana County.

A Healthy Food Financing Initiative would provide loans, grants, and technical assistance to support the investment and establishment of new food businesses in low to moderate income communities who have low access to nutritious affordable food. By improving access to healthful foods, public health improves, and as a result can spur economic growth and employment. To learn more about this proposal, click here. To learn more about the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, click here.

The Blueprint for a National Food Strategy is a collaborative project that calls for a national food strategy in the United States to strengthen and support our current and future food system needs. This project comes out of a collaboration between The Food Law and Policy Clinic of Harvard Law School and Vermont Law School‘s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS).

Read the report here:

http://foodstrategyblueprint.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Food-Strategy-Blueprint.pdf

The report, written in collaboration with our colleagues at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), presents actions the federal government should take to better align federal laws and policies with the goal of increasing the donation of safe surplus food. Don’t Waste, Donate offers 16 actionable recommendations spanning five key areas of federal policy that can increase the amount of safe, wholesome food donated to those in need, along with an appendix targeting specific recommendations directly to Congress, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Read the report here: Dont-Waste-Donate_-March-2017

Growing Food Connections collaborated with the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Local Food Economics Toolkit Team and Community of Opportunity stakeholders, Doña Ana County, Luna County and La Semilla Food Center, on February 14, 2017 to bring over forty food system planning community members together to learn how to measure the economic impacts of local food investments. The Toolkit team shared best practices, applied research, data resources and community case studies while also facilitating group learning exercises to help participants brainstorm long term community food system visions and goals. Click the link below to access presentation slides, workshop agenda, and materials to develop a community-driven assessment. You can also access the workshop resources on the GFC Presentation page here.

Toolkit New Mexico