Blog Archives

UB Food Lab, UN FAO to lead training session at UN Habitat III conference in Ecuador

The University at Buffalo Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab (Food Lab) has partnered with the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization to lead a training session on food systems planning and policy at the upcoming Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador next week.

The workshop, titled Planning for Food Systems in Urban Settlements: Lessons and Challenges from North America, will focus on planning tools that strengthen the capacity of local governments in supporting food security and agricultural viability, as well as information and strategies for how the New Urban Agenda can be implemented. The session will provide participants with information on community-led food systems planning techniques that have been used successfully in North America, particularly Buffalo and Seattle. The workshop is designed as a fast-paced interactive session and includes brief presentations and hands-on activities for participants.

The workshop will be on Sunday, October 16, 2016, from 14:30 – 16:00 in Room B, One UN Pavilion.

If you are interested in attending the workshop, please RSVP here.

For more information, see the full press release from University at Buffalo here.

Funding from EPA announced to assist rural communities revitalize downtowns

The Environmental Protection Agency has released information on new technical assistance programs designed to help rural communities revitalize downtown areas. Read more below about Rural Advantage, Local Foods, Local Places, Cool and Connected, and Healthy Places for Healthy People.

EPA Offers Assistance to Help Rural Communities Revitalize Downtowns

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today invited rural communities to apply for planning assistance to develop strategies that help grow the economy and revitalize downtown neighborhoods. EPA is offering this assistance as part of Rural Advantage, a suite of federal economic development planning assistance programs for rural communities.

“Rural Advantage is helping communities reinvent themselves in ways that are good for the economy and the environment,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “We are excited to partner with communities that want to use their unique rural assets to create a brighter, healthier future.

Communities may apply for assistance through the following programs:

  • Local Foods, Local Places (LFLP), which helps communities leverage local food enterprise to diversify their economy and renew their downtowns.
  • Cool & Connected, which helps communities use broadband service to create walkable, connected, economically successful neighborhoods.

Healthy Places for Healthy People, a new program that will help communities partner with health care facilities to catalyze downtown revitalization and to improve options for healthy living and economic opportunity.

Rural Advantage is part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to place-based strategies to help communities develop competitive advantages. In these places, federal experts are working side by side with residents and local leaders to create customized solutions, bolstering coordination across agencies and improving how we interact with and serve community partners.

Under the Obama Administration, EPA and federal partners have provided rural advantage assistance to 83 communities, to date.  Sixty-eight communities have been selected for assistance through Local Foods, Local Places, and 15 communities have received assistance through Cool & Connected, ten of which are in Appalachia.

In 2012, Williamson, W Va., was selected to participate in the Livable Communities in Appalachia program, the predecessor to LFLP. Through that effort, a team of small-town development experts worked with Sustainable Williamson to create an action plan tailored to achieving the town’s goals, including improving access to food to realize better health outcomes.

Upon implementing the plan, Sustainable Williamson received an $80,000 planning grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration. That grant helped create a Federally Qualified Health Center that later received an additional $650,000 to support clinic operations. Sustainable Williamson also established a downtown farmers’ market and community garden that increased access to healthy foods for Williamson residents. The Williamson Health and Wellness Center also received LFLP assistance, in 2015, to provide support to new entrepreneurs starting up their businesses in the local food and health care sectors, and to expand the community’s innovative approaches to creating a culture of health.

In Montrose, Co., the Cool & Connected action plan helped advance Proximity Space, an award-winning coworking project, and link it to the community’s efforts to build a walkable and investment-ready downtown. Coworking space allows people to access high-speed internet, conference rooms, and office equipment, and is one of many ways that small towns can leverage broadband to boost main street development.

Communities selected for this latest round of assistance will work with an EPA-supported team of experts, including through a two-day workshop, to develop strategies and action plans that enable them to realize their local revitalization goals.  The team will include people with expertise in community development, and representatives of the federal agencies that sponsor the three programs so communities can build connections and take better advantage of federal programs and resources.

Working with federal partners, EPA will select thirty or more communities for assistance through a competitive process.

EPA’s Rural Advantage federal partners are the United States Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Delta Regional Authority and the Economic Development Administration.

Communities may apply by submitting letters of interest by November 6. For more information and to submit an application, see: https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth

Urban Agriculture Magazine publishes a special issue on ‘Inclusive Use of Urban Space’ in partnership with the UB Food Lab Team

The profession of urban and regional planning aspires to create places that work for people. Yet, mainstream planning in the Global North and Global South continues to overlook the critical need to plan for people’s access to nutritious, affordable, and culturally relevant foods. Fortunately, community groups around the world are stepping up and demanding that planners plan for food systems, including urban agriculture.

The University at Buffalo Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab team is pleased to partner with The RUAF Foundation on the publication of a special issue of the Urban Agriculture Magazine (UAM), titled “Inclusive Use of Urban Space”, focused on community involvement in planing and policy to strengthen city-region food systems. Key questions explored in this issue are how communities are engaging in urban food policy making and planning and how local governments are responding to community demands for food policies and plans. The issue includes case studies from across the globe, including in Buffalo, NY and Madison, WI.

The full magazine will be released in print at the United Nations Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador in two weeks.

Thank you to UB Community of Global Health Equity for supporting this publication!

GFC team announces new ‘Exploring Stories of Opportunity’ series

In 2015, eight communities from across the county were chosen as Communities of Opportunity (COO), places where there is significant potential to strengthen ties between small and medium –sized farmers and residents with limited food access.  Each Community of Opportunity established a Steering Committee and commenced on charting a vision for their community’s food system.  Through our ongoing partnership with each COO, Growing Food Connections is excited to announce Exploring Stories of Opportunity, a series of case studies that explore how each COO is overcoming barriers to strengthen their food systems through planning, policy, and partnerships within communities. These case studies are informed by extensive research, including the ongoing capacity building of the Growing Food Connections Steering Committees in each Community of Opportunity.

Each case study in the series contains sections highlighting opportunities and challenges within the county’s food system in separate sections on food production and food security.  A following section summarizes the local public policy environment, including ways in which community-led civic organizations and private entrepreneurs have partnered with supportive county, city, and town governments. The case studies conclude with ‘Ideas for the Future’, a section on key future policy and implementation efforts that can strengthen each county’s food system.

Our first case study of the series, Growing a Local Food Economy for a Healthy Wyandotte, draws on interviews with Wyandotte County stakeholders and secondary data sources.  It is designed to inform the work of the Wyandotte Steering Committee, as well as serving as a resource for planners and policy makers in Wyandotte.  Read the full case study to learn how Wyandotte County, KS is transforming their food system and building healthier communities for all their residents:

Exploring Stories of Opportunity: Growing a Local Food Economy for a Healthy Wyandotte

Urban Agriculture and the Next Farm Bill Symposium, Friday Sept. 30

The GW Sustainability Collaborative’s annual symposium brings together policy makers, academics, and practitioners to identify current scientific findings and future research questions in the field of sustainability. This year’s conference will focus on the role of urban agriculture in the forthcoming 2018 Farm Bill. The symposium will take place on September 30th, 2016 from 9am to 5pm in the Jack Morton Auditorium on the George Washington University Campus. 

The event is co-hosted by three organizations – AGree, Michigan State University, and the University of the District of Columbia. AGree’s mission is to drive positive change in the food and agriculture system by connecting and challenging leaders from diverse communities to build consensus, catalyze action, and elevate food and agriculture as a national priority. Michigan State University’s Center for Regional Food Systems is committed to research, education and outreach to develop regionally integrated, sustainable food systems. The University of the District of Columbia is the only public higher education institution in DC, and the only urban land-grant university in the nation with a College of Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences, as well as a College of Agriculture.

Featured speakers include Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH-9); Elanor Starmer, Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service; Nicolas Jammet, CEO and co-founder of sweetgreen; Debra Eschemeyer, former AGree Advisor, Senior White House Policy Advisor for Nutrition, and Executive Director of Let’s Move!; A.G. Kawamura, AGree Advisor and former California Secretary of Agriculture; Tom Forester, Milan Pact Awards Coordinator; Malik Yakini, director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network; and many more.

Free and open to the public. Please RSVP here! Also livestreaming at www.foodinstitute.gwu.edu. Please share this event widely with your networks.

Questions? Please email Ariel Kagan, arielkagan@gwu.edu

Urban Agriculture and the Next Farm Bill Symposium, Friday Sept. 30

The GW Sustainability Collaborative’s annual symposium brings together policy makers, academics, and practitioners to identify current scientific findings and future research questions in the field of sustainability. This year’s conference will focus on the role of urban agriculture in the forthcoming 2018 Farm Bill. The symposium will take place on September 30th, 2016 from 9am to 5pm in the Jack Morton Auditorium on the George Washington University Campus. 

The event is co-hosted by three organizations – AGree, Michigan State University, and the University of the District of Columbia. AGree’s mission is to drive positive change in the food and agriculture system by connecting and challenging leaders from diverse communities to build consensus, catalyze action, and elevate food and agriculture as a national priority. Michigan State University’s Center for Regional Food Systems is committed to research, education and outreach to develop regionally integrated, sustainable food systems. The University of the District of Columbia is the only public higher education institution in DC, and the only urban land-grant university in the nation with a College of Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences, as well as a College of Agriculture.

Featured speakers include Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH-9); Elanor Starmer, Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service; Nicolas Jammet, CEO and co-founder of sweetgreen; Debra Eschemeyer, former AGree Advisor, Senior White House Policy Advisor for Nutrition, and Executive Director of Let’s Move!; A.G. Kawamura, AGree Advisor and former California Secretary of Agriculture; Tom Forester, Milan Pact Awards Coordinator; Malik Yakini, director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network; and many more.

Free and open to the public. Please RSVP here! Also livestreaming at www.foodinstitute.gwu.edu. Please share this event widely with your networks.

Questions? Please email Ariel Kagan, arielkagan@gwu.edu

COO News | New Initiative to Bring Fresh Food to Dougherty Citizens

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Dougherty County Extension officials are rolling out a new initiative to get healthy farm fresh foods to citizens of Dougherty County.

It’s known as the Communities of Opportunities program.

James Morgan, Dougherty County Extension Agent/Coordinator spoke to the county commission about the initiative during the commission meeting on Monday.

“Basically what the communities of opportunities does is go in and look at the food system and work with your local government to either create policies or change policies so that everybody has an opportunity to healthy, fresh foods,” Morgan said.

Dougherty County was selected as one of eight communities of opportunities from around the country. The initiative is working with a grant from USDA as well as the Growing Foods Connection National Advisory Board according to Morgan.

A steering committee is put together to spearhead the initiative and Morgan said the committee has four goals.

“One, we want to either establish local co-ops for the farmers here or we want to support the local co-ops. We also want to support a food hub that is being sought out there by the southwest Georgia project; that agency,” Morgan said. “We also want to be able to provide farmers an access or a market to sell their commodities and we’re talking about small vegetables and fruits producing farmers and we also want to make sure that everybody in Dougherty County has access to these foods. Whether it be from a convenience store, a super market, a food hub, and the local farmers. But make sure everybody has access to this food,” Morgan added.

They are working on community meetings in the six different wards in the county to make residents aware of what they are trying to do.

University of Kansas Planning Students Partner with Wyandotte County on Food Policy Assistance

In Spring 2016, the University of Kansas Urban Planning Department and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas partnered together to develop three options for integrating food access and food production into the current City Wide Master Plan. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas is a prime example of a community poised for practical, fresh food production and access policies. Healthy Communities Wyandotte (HCW), a health-focused countywide initiative, is an example of this sort of innovation. Through the work of numerous action teams, HCW works to mobilize community members to improve health, as Wyandotte County once again received the lowest health rating in the State of Kansas in 2016. Wyandotte County was recently selected to receive food systems policy and program training and assistance from Growing Food Connections to further their health initiatives. Healthy Food Happy County serves as a supplemental policy document, as directed by Growing Food Connections, that explores the viability of food systems policies within Wyandotte County.

New article by GFC investigators finds extension agents’ perspectives has an impact on their food systems work

A recent article led by Growing Food Connections investigator Jill K. Clark was released in the Journal of Agriculture and Human Values summer edition. The paper documents the perspectives of Cooperative Extension Educators on their role in shaping the food system. By conducting virtual focus groups with Extension Educators in communities engaging in food systems practice, the authors find that mobilizing resources to address food systems change relies on consensus among educators regarding goals and strategies for change. Findings suggest that Extension Educator goals for food systems change often focus on inclusion of marginalized actors by bringing resources, via projects, to under served producers and consumers. Because Extension Educators are politically neutral, changing the market paradigm via policy is often not a part of the extension framework. Click here to read the full article.

Citation:

Clark, Jill K., Molly Bean, Samina Raja, Scott Loveridge, Julia Freedgood, and Kimberley Hodgson. 2016. Cooperative Extension and Food System Change: Goals, Strategies, and Resources. Agriculture and Human Values. 33.2.

Abstract:

Recent attention to communities “localizing” food systems has increased the need to understand the perspectives of people working to foster collaboration and the eventual transformation of the food system. University Cooperative Extension Educators (EEs) increasingly play a critical role in communities’ food systems across the United States, providing various resources to address local needs. A better understanding of EEs’ perspectives on food systems is therefore important. Inspired by the work of Stevenson, Ruhf, Lezberg, and Clancy on the social food movement, we conducted national virtual focus groups to examine EEs’ attitudes about how food system change should happen, for what reasons, and who has the resources, power, and influence to effect change. The institutions within which EEs are embedded shape their perceptions of available resources in the community, including authority and power (and who holds them). These resources, in turn, structure EEs’ goals and strategies for food system change. We find that EEs envision working within the current food system: building market-centric alternatives that address inequity for vulnerable consumers and producers. EEs bring many resources to the table but do not believe they can influence those who have the authority to change policy. While these findings could suggest EEs’ limited ability to be transformative change agents, EEs can potentially connect their efforts with new partners that share perceptions of food system problems and solutions. As EEs increasingly engage in food system work and with increasingly diverse stakeholders, they can access alternative, transformational frames within which to set goals and organize their work.

Study reports that farmers’ markets should be only one part of larger comprehensive approach to decreasing health disparities

A new article in the Journal of the American Planning Association by Bryce Lowery, David Sloane, Jacqueline Illum, and Lavonna Lewis provides empirical research on whether farmers’ markets provide fresh vegetables and fruit consistently across locations.  The article reports findings from an audit of products at 24 farmers’ markets, supplemented by interviews with farmers’ market managers across Los Angeles County, CA. Findings suggest that there is great variety across farmers’ markets in produce offerings and produce freshness, with markets in low-income and non-White communities having fewer fresh healthy food options. Furthermore, farmers’ market managers struggle to attract farmers to their markets when they face competition from markets in higher income neighborhoods. The article concludes with a broader call to city planners to consider undertaking community food assessments to evaluate the proper role and placement of farmers markets within communities.

Citation:

Lowery, Bryce, David Sloan, Jacqueline Illum, and Lavonna Lewis. Do Farmers’ Markets Increase Access to Healthy Foods for All Communities? Comparing Markets in 24 Neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Journal of the American Planning Association. 2016.

Abstract:

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Farmers’ markets provide one option for remedying the startling decline in fresh vegetable and fruit consumption in the United States, particularly in low-income, non-White neighborhoods where opportunities to access these components of a healthy diet are often limited. We lack empirical research on whether farmer’s markets provide fresh vegetables and fruits consistently across locations. We audited product offerings at 24 farmers’ markets in Los Angeles at two points in time and interviewed a sample of market managers to compare market offerings across neighborhoods to determine whether farmers’ markets alleviate disparities experienced by low-income and non-White communities. Farmers’ markets in low-income and non-White communities are smaller and provide fewer fresh fruits and vegetables than markets situated in more affluent communities. Managers suggest that their first priority is to stock fresh produce, but other factors such as competition and farmer recruitment and retention often influence market offerings.

Takeaway for practice: Planners cannot count on farmers’ markets to fully remedy disparities in the availability of fresh vegetables and fruits. We need additional research to understand the range of social, ecological, and health benefits created by farmers’ markets in a neighborhood. Planners should begin working with other agencies to conduct community food assessments to better evaluate strategies for addressing inequalities seen in neighborhood access to healthy food.