Happy February!
Thanks to our inspiring and informative speakers during our January 27th local foods and economic development virtual meeting. As I feared, we ran short of time. If you had questions for our speakers or you'd like to contact them, please see the meeting summary below.
As promised, I'll also re-schedule Jen Miller for a future meeting. As i plan that meeting, I'd like suggestions on programs, models, or speakers you'd like me to feature. If you can let me know what would be of interest, I'll do the legwork to get speakers and models scheduled. Please send your suggestions to [email protected]
In addition to providing a meeting summary, I'm also sharing updated grants, resources, and opportunities. As a reminder, USDA's Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (formerly known as the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Program (FINI)) and USDA's Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program remain open. Please find information on these and other grants below.
If you have questions about USDA programs or GoodGreens or you'd like to contribute an item for a blast, please email me or call 312-353-1044.
Please forward this email to others who may be interested in signing up to receive GoodGreens emails.
Stay well!
Alan Shannon
Public Affairs Director
USDA Food & Nutrition Service, Midwest Region
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January Economic Development
& Local Food Systems Meeting Summary
Our January 27th meeting was packed with inspiring and knowledgeable speakers who shared information on many assets and resources for building and sustaining local food models and systems which support economic development. Thanks to all of our speakers! If you have a question for a speaker or you'd like to connect, please email them via the links below. Please note: some of the slide decks exceeded Constant Contact limits and so could not be included. If a link to slides is not provided, please contact the speaker to obtain the slides.
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Jude Barry, Associate Director, Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems, shared research which included the local and regional food system workforce landscape in Michigan. As a starting point, researchers sought to determine how many Michiganders worked in food-related occupations and whether they received a living wage. Using a recent ALICE report, researchers found that 29% of employed Michiganders do not earn a living wage. Michigan-grown and processed foods are vital to Michigan’s economy and workforce. Food and agriculture contributes $104.7 billion annually to Michigan’s economy and is the largest portion of the state’s workforce. See the State's assessment. For more information or slides, please email Jude.
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Allison Rowland, Manager, Research & Technical Assistance, Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA), noted that CDFAs are looking at how they can become more engaged in supporting the development of local food systems and are using the renewable energy sector as a blueprint for how the overlooked food sector could be approached for development. See this recent white paper on Advancing Local Food Systems Through Development Finance or sign up to receive the informative Food and Agriculture Finance Update monthly newsletter. For more information, please see Allison's slides which include case studies or email her.
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Tricia Kovacs, Deputy Administrator, Transportation & Marketing, USDA Agriculture Marketing Service, discussed several USDA programs and AMS grants that support local food system development and growth. She highlighted how USDA programs support the local food supply chain and also mentioned USDA's Local Food Systems Response to COVID. Finally, she shared the EPA-led Local Foods Local Places technical assistance program which can assist communities with building or strengthening local food systems. For more information, please email Tricia or view her slides.
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Ted Penesis, Director of Community Outreach, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, explained how his agency is promoting economic development through the removal of Asian carp from waterways and how this public/private partnership can directly and indirectly support hundreds of jobs in the food industry. The approach is a good example of how to turn a challenge or problem into an opportunity. For more information, see this website, Ted's slides or email him for more information or to collaborate.
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Jennifer Miller, Co-Owner/Farm, Prairie Wind Family Farm. Jen and her family operate a successful CSA ("Community Supported Agriculture") model. Due to technical difficulties, we weren't able to hear from Jen, but we'll schedule her for a future meeting. In the meantime, for more information or to see Jen's slides, please email her.
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Amy Halloran, Education & Outreach Working Group Coordinator, Artisan Grain Collaborative (AGC), shared the exciting work being done by AGC and other support groups to provide critical relationship development within the grain supply chain, including bakers, grains to institutions, and grains to schools. Just as farmers markets allowed for tremendous growth of small scale direct marketing farming over the last 30 years, these groups are virtual and relational spaces developing regional grain systems. For more information or to view Amy's slides, please email Amy.
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Christine Quane, Regional Food Hub Director, Eastern Market, shared a lot of exciting news from one of the most successful local food enterprises in the nation. Eastern Market operates regular markets and supports local farmers, but also supports local food entrepreneurs through its community kitchen network, incubator kitchen, and its upcoming accelerator. For more information, please see Christine's slides or email Christine.
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Opportunities & Resources
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USDA Ag Outlook Forum: Building on Innovation: A Pathway to Resilience Dates: 2/18-19/21
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Food Finance Institute Scaler Series: Monthly workshops to help food or farm business grow (Enrollment free for 2020-21): Marketing & Branding Planning, 2/4/21; Operations & Organizational Planning, 2/24/21; Sources & Uses of Capital Planning, 3/18/21; Food Safety & GFSI Planning, 4/14/21.
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Rogue Farm Corps Beginning & Advanced Farmer Training Programs Deadline: 3/1/21.
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USDA Seeks Members for Advisory Committee on Urban Agriculture Deadline: 3/5/21.
- USDA offers loans, education and training, grants, and technical assistance programs to help veterans start or grow a business or career in agriculture. Learn more.
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SBA Loan Programs. SBA lenders can participate in two pilot loan programs, Community Advantage and Express Bridge. These pilot programs will operate for a limited time, unless extended or made a permanent part of the SBA’s loan programs. SBA launched the Community Advantage (CA) loan program to assist small businesses in underserved markets. The Express Bridge loan program allows SBA Express lenders to provide expedited financing to small businesses located in declared disaster areas. Express Bridge loans are intended to be interim loans. Businesses use these funds for disaster-related purposes while they apply for and await long-term financing.
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Local Food System Response to COVID Resource Hub. Local and regional farms and facilities tend to be more vulnerable to market disruptions as they are operated by smaller, new/beginning, historically underserved or low resourced producers and business owners.
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Food & Land Sovereignty Resource List for COVID-19. Soul Fire Farm, Black Farmer Fund, and Northeast Farmers of Color have created a resource hub for needs and offers for specific mutual aid related to community food sovereignty and farmers.
- U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loan and debt relief options.
- USDA PROGRAMS IN THE LOCAL FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
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USDA COVID-19 Federal Rural Resource Guide. The COVID-19 Federal Rural Resource Guide will help rural leaders, whether they be in local government, education, health care, faith leadership, or any other capacity, understand what federal assistance is available to them during this unprecedented time.
- Black Farming: Beyond 40 Acres & A Mule Conference Full Recording
- Ralph K. Morris Foundation Cooperative Leadership Fund
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What is GoodGreens?
GoodGreens is a collaboration facilitated by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service Midwest Region to share resources and best practices that support local food systems, highlight new and emerging food models, provide connections to USDA grants and resources, and increase consumption of healthy, locally grown foods. Email blasts with news, grants, resources, and events and opportunities are sent approximately monthly.
Interested in a specific topic or having a model featured in a GoodGreens blast? Please email Alan Shannon to let us know!
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USDA is an equal opportunity lender, provider, and employer.
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