local food summit
DESCRIPTION
Local Food SummitAnn Arbor, MIJanuary 2009Presentation to New World Agriculture and Ecology GroupUniversity of MichiganFebruary 2009TRANSCRIPT
Local Food Summit
grassroots definitions for a local agroecomony
Agenda
Who is HomeGrownBirth of the Local Food SummitParticipants ExercisesSpeakersMealsWorkshopsExamples Impressions
Homegrown
A group of impatient activists wanted to celebrate local food and local business
So they organized a festival.
Late one bar night...
A summit is born.
Shannon Brines convinces the rest of the HomeGrown Festival board of directors to host a summit.
Organizers: Erica Kempter, presidentShannon BrinesKim BayerDeirdra StockmannJason Frenzel facilitated by Lisa Brush.
Participants
Farmers GardenersChefsVendorsCity DeptsStudentsActivistsNonprofits MediaFarmers Market Managers"Eaters"Business OwnersDistribution Managers
Summit Format
"Local Food" topic. No further breakdown given by committee.
Gather Public Opinion: "Think privately for 2 min about what a 'local food system' means to you" Then...Exercise 1: Everyone writes sticky notes about our "Assets"
Exercise 2: Everyone discusses missing links, or "Needs"
Exercise 3: Everyone gets in groups to decide on "Actions"
Categories for Exercise 1
⁃ Producers Retail⁃ Distribution⁃ Policy⁃ Communication⁃ Education⁃ Outreach⁃ Promotion⁃ People Resources⁃ natural Resources⁃ Heritage⁃ Who Should Be here??⁃ consumers⁃ natural resources⁃ local programs⁃
Categories determined for Needs
A. Resources for young/new farmers B. database network to existing assets C. food policy/legistlation D. distribution E. collaboration F. increase production G. education H. accessibility/justice/food security I. simplify direct purchasing/bringing pruducers and purchasers together J. processing K. systems/infrastructure L. communication M. standards/labeling N. community self reliance
Speakers
Patty Cantrell from Michigan Land Use Institute Topics: Grow Jobs, Build Health, Save Land www.localdifference.org Mrs. Fran Alexander from Alexander Resource Consulting Topics: Food Security Study for Washtenaw Growing Hope and Food Gatherers effortsChris Bedford from Sweetwater Local Foods Market, Muskegon Topics: Farm to School as an Economic Recovery plan http://www.chrisbedfordfilms.com/
Food
Breakfast - Zingerman's zingermans.com
Lunch - A Knife's Work aknifeswork.com
snacks brought by participants
Workshops
People picked which one of the Exercise 2 categories to attend.
Each team required to come up with:• action/project• point person• future meeting time• email lists of all present
13 different meetings came out of those sessions, with future projects.
Example: The Data Clearinghouse
One of the most common "Needs" mentioned was a place or procedure to share information and connect similar efforts.
I created/joined a group that focuses on creating solutions to information problems.
Items created so far:• google group for internal organization• 3 wiki pages on ArborWiki (rough) to document Summit• aggregate calendar of local food events
this last is live, hosted at http://agrarianist.org
Impressions
Very well facilitated Good mixture of public involvement and organized leadership Format empowered participants Good representation of interests b/c of zero narrowing of topic = High likelihood of followthrough
Questions
Should we add the NWAEG calendar to the local food calendar?
Do we want to get involved in any efforts?