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?