What is a local food system?
It takes more than some fertile land and interested shoppers to make local food a success. Farmers need education and training about how to grow the high quality food that local consumers look for. They also need local businesses and networks to buy, sell and trade supplies. Once crops are grown and harvested, they need to be shipped to market. Some farmers do their own shipping, while others depend on trucking companies. If local items are bound for the grocery store, they may make a stop at a local distribution center first. All the people and steps it takes to get food to market make up a local food system.

Who is building local food systems?
Since today's food system is more global than local, organizations all over the country are developing programs to create local food networks and help consumers identify local products in the marketplace. Any person, group or organization that is working to connect farmers with consumers to increase access to local food is helping to build a local food system. Below are some of the leaders.

• ACEnet - Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (Ohio)
  ACEnet focuses on small businesses, including start-ups, primarily in the food, agriculture, artisan and wood sectors, giving priority to those who are lower income and reside in Appalachian Ohio. Their approach incorporates adult and youth entrepreneurship training, business incubation, technology training and resources, and regional initiatives in the art, wood, food and tourism sectors, including the development of an e-commerce site to sell the products developed by those businesses.
  
  ACEnet Food Ventures assists small food businesses by providing the use of a commercial kitchen and thermal processing facility. By producing products under the supervision of a food scientist in a licensed facility, small food businesses are able to minimize costs, including the heavy financial burden of equipment. Recipe development, product design, marketing assistance and business counseling are also available.
  
  ACEnet also sponsors Food We Love, a regional branding, marketing and distribution that promotes locally produced food.
  
  
• CAFF - Community Alliance with Family Farmers (California)
  CAFF's Community Food Systems' projects connect California consumers to local food.
  • Farm-to-school brings local food and farming into school cafeterias and classrooms, teaching future generations about the production of produce from seed to table. It provides the student nutrition services that our school cafeterias access to the freshest products available in their region. Direct market sales benefit local farms while exposing young palates to new flavors and food choices. Connecting students' daily activities to food and farming helps develop an appreciation of local agriculture while teaching healthy eating habits.
  • As a local chapter of FoodRoutes' Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign, CAFF offers consumers information in stores, markets and restaurants, allowing shoppers to make informed decisions about their purchases by identifying locally produced items. It advertises member farmers and retailers, distinguishing them as sources of local food. Media campaigns and educational outreach explain key concepts like food ethic and food security.
  • California Growers Collaborative sells local fruits and vegetables from family farms to public and private grade schools, colleges, hospitals, and corporate cafeterias. By marketing food from farms that are too small to work with conventional distributors, the collaborative removes a significant barrier for independent family farms across the state. Currently, the Growers Collaborative serves growers and institutions in Ventura, Greater Los Angeles, the Central Coast, and the Sacramento Valley.
  
  
• Crossroads Resource Center
  Crossroads Resource Center staff provides in-depth analysis of the local economic systems and opportunities available to communities through the development of a local food system. To date, economist Ken Meter has performed studies on 38 regional food systems in 18 states, creating a better understanding of where and how food dollars travel and the tremendous potential for communities to strengthen their economies through local food projects.
  
  
• CISA - Community in Support of Sustaining Agriculture (Massachusetts)
  CISA's "Be a Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown" public awareness and marketing campaign was launched in 1999 and is the country's longest running and most comprehensive "buy local" program for farm products. This year more than 170 farms, 35 restaurants, 40 grocery stores, 9 landscape/garden centers, 6 specialty producers and 10 institutions in the Western Massachusetts area joined together to raise awareness and sales of locally grown farm products.
  
  The Local Hero campaign uses a wide array of paid advertising, including print, radio, and website, as well as public relations efforts such as press releases, and special events to engage the public and increase support for local farmers.
  
  CISA's Local Hero campaign operates in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, a three-county region spanning the Connecticut River, with some of the most productive agricultural soils in the world. A large farming community spans the valley, producing diverse seasonal and year-round products for local, regional and national consumption. Recent projects include a Farm2City program connecting rural farmers with urban consumers, and an institutional buying project that increases use of local farm products at area schools and hospitals.
  
  
• FoodRoutes
  FoodRoutes Network is a nonprofit organization based in Pennsylvania that provides communications tools, organizing support, and marketing resources to help its grassroots chapters throughout the U.S. rebuild local food systems and promote sustainable agriculture, by connecting consumers to fresh local food.
  
  Through outreach events, local food guides, and educational materials, Food Routes' Buy Fresh, Buy Local chapters makes it easy for consumers to get local food from farmers they can know and trust. From farmers' markets, restaurants, grocery stores, co-ops, and community supported farms to large-scale institutions such as colleges and retirement homes. Buy Fresh, Buy Local Chapters are helping to create demand for locally grown food in communities across the United States.
  
  
• Glynwood Center
  The Glynwood Center of Cold Spring, NY works with communities seeking guidance, training, and tools to make effective land-use decisions and create infrastructure that will foster economically viable and environmentally sustainable farming. As part of that effort, Glynwood staffers created A Guide to Serving Local Food on Your Menu for foodservice managers, caterers, chefs, and restaurateurs. Topics include where to begin, identifying sources of supply, developing relationships with farmers, working through existing distributors, and things to consider about the regional food system. Chefs, institutional purchasing agents and others share their experience in short case studies in the 32 page guide.
  
  
• IATP - Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
  IATP works to build thriving local food systems in the Upper Midwest and around the world by promoting small- and medium-scale sustainable farming operations, expanding market opportunities for farmers, creating innovative partnerships and advancing supportive policy change. In 2008, IATP staff launched a comprehensive local foods section on their website called IATP Local Foods: Growing local markets, which features many local projects and resources. Some highlights include:
  • Mini Farmers Markets: IATP partners with community organizations to host small farmers markets in Minneapolis neighborhoods that lack access to fresh, local produce.
  • Value Chain Development: IATP develops strategies for expanding markets for locally and regionally grown foods and building local food systems infrastructure.
  • Healthy School Food: IATP works to expand the use of sustainably and locally grown foods in K-12 schools and support healthier eating habits among school children.
  • Food Assistance Innovation: IATP promotes reforming government food assistance programs, like food stamps and the WIC program, to broaden access to healthy foods.
  • Food and Faith: IATP works with faith communities to support healthy eating, sustainable food production, good nutrition and improved food access.
  • Sow the Seeds: Sow the Seeds advances sustainable agriculture in the Upper Midwest.
  • Local Longer campaign supports season extension strategies for fruits and vegetables.
  
  
• Red Tomato (Northeastern U.S.)
  Red Tomato works with a network of more than 40 growers of high quality, sustainably raised produce in the Northeast finding local markets for their fruits and vegetables. Many of these products carry Red Tomato branding, making them easily identifiable as local food for shoppers. Through these efforts, farmers receive a premium price for their product, retailers are able to offer their customers local food, and consumers get fresh, high quality produce. Red Tomato also works as a consultant to other organizations that are working to bring local food to wholesale markets.
  
  
• Slow Food
  In the United States, members of Slow Food USA's 200 chapters celebrate the nation's amazing bounty of food and work to strengthen the connection between the food on our plates and the health of our planet by:
  • Raising public awareness, improving access and encouraging the enjoyment of foods that are local, seasonal and sustainably grown;
  • Caring for the land and protecting biodiversity for today's communities and future generations;
  • Performing educational outreach in their communities and working with children in schools and through public programs;
  • Identifying, promoting and protecting fruits, vegetables, grains, animal breeds, wild foods and cooking traditions that are at risk of disappearing;
  • Advocating for farmers and artisans who grow, produce, market, prepare and serve wholesome food; and
  • Promoting the celebration of food as a cornerstone of pleasure, culture and community.

Contact us if you know of other groups that are local food systems.

Page created January 2009