Bluegrass Local Food Summit
March 22-24 2012 Lexington KY Crestwood
Christian Church, |
Map | 1882 Bellefonte Dr. Lexington KY
Thursday March 22, 2012
Focus: Role of Local Government
SAVE THE DATES! March 22-24, 2012 Local Food Summit in Lexington
The
food system has enormous potential as a driver of economic recovery, but the
shift must be intentional. Local government officials can play an essential
role in cultivating a vibrant food system to drive local economic recovery. Local
elected officials must be champions on this issue, which transcends government
department and community silos and affects every constituent’s quality of
life. More and more city leaders are recognizing that food creates jobs,
and that food security is energy security and economic security.(National Association of Counties,
League of Cities)
We
invite you to join us in Lexington for the Bluegrass
Local Food Summit held March 22-24, 2012 as
we work to build a more sustainable, equitable and healthy local food system
that builds local capacity and connection. For the past four (4) years this
Summit
has been a one (1) day event, but in
2012 we will expand to three days because of the comments and needs expressed
at our 2011 Bluegrass
Local Food Summit. This three (3)
day Summit is now designed so that local government leadership in relationship
with farmers, businesses, faith members, educators, chefs, youth and other
citizens can attend the Summit as a team
and leave with a shared vision for a local food system that serves to
restore our economic vitality while also improving the health of people and the
environment. Summit participants will return
home with a comprehensive understanding of and increased capacity for
regenerating a vibrant local food system that will accelerate the good work already going on in our
communities throughout the state.
We define local as food grown within 100
miles of a community with local processing, packaging, educating and marketing
for local consumption. As you know local governments can take significant
actions to help facilitate local food systems. Local
elected officials can support small business infrastructure and catalyze
connections between farmers and consumers to keep food dollars circulating
within the local economy. While some actions are clearly outside of their
realm and must be tackled at the state or federal level, or by NGOS or other
agencies, clearly there are some relevant and important actions local
governments can take. During this Summit we will provide speakers, tool-kits, tours,
panel discussions and much more that better equip local government and citizens
with the capacity to tackle local food systems in a comprehensive way.
Topics
for local government participants will include: public education about local
food issues; recruiting and retaining more local food producers; deferred
property taxes on farmland used to support the local food system; providing for
a wide range of commercial and niche farming opportunities; encouraging
regional food processing/storage/distribution facilities; creating farmers
markets; fostering more equitable access to healthy foods; local food policy councils
; farm to school/institutions programs; linking transitioning farmers to those
who want to farm ; support for community gardening; increasing land trusts and
conservation easements; use of state and city owned land for food production;
farms and greenway planning; and create agriculture economic development
coordinators. We trust that these topics will help lay the foundation for the
development of a local food system
action plan that will guide the efforts at a local and regional level.
The Schedule for Day 1
March
22, 2012
8am-4:30pm
Crestwood Christian Church,
1882 Bellefonte Dr. Lexington KY
Local_Food_Summit on-line registration and payment
Thursday March 22 Local Government
Day
8:30am Welcome, Overview and
Introductions of participants
Jim Embry, Sustainable Communities Network
Sylvia Lovely, Sunnyside Up Radio/Azurs
Rev Kory Wilcoxson, Crestwood Christian Church
Mayor Jim Gray, Lexington
9:00-9:50am Local Government
Leadership to Rebuild our Local Food Economy
Speakers:
Mayor Steven Connelly,
Berea
Theresa Zwacki (Mayor Gregory Fischer), Louisville
Louisville
KY State of Food
Building
Louisville’s Local Food Economy
9:50am-10:30am Local
Governments, Food Systems Planning and Sustainability
Speakers:
Tammy Zborel, Senior Associate
for Sustainability, National
League of Cities
Lenny Stolz, Bluegrass Area Development District &
Kentucky Council of Area Development Districts,
10:30am-10:45am Break
10:45-11:00am Role of Food Policy
Councils to Create Local Synergy
Speaker: Mark Winne, Mark Winne and Associates
Introduced by: Anne Hopkins, Garrett Spear, Good Foods Market and Cafe
11:00-11:30 Farmer’s Roundtable on Ways Local
Government Can Support Farmers
Facilitator: John Mark Hack, Marksbury Farm Market
Speakers:
Mac Stone, Elmwood Stock farm
Todd Clark,
Clark Farms
Sandy Corlett, Earth's Promise Farm, Kentucky Farmer's Market Association
Tricia Houston, Napoleon Ridge Farms, Community Farm Alliance
11:30-12 noon
Joe Blue, Hopkins County Jailer, County Jail garden and culinary program
12 noon-1:15 pm Lunch
Where did my food come from?
With Chef Jeremy Ashby
Recognitions of Women in Agriculture: Tammy Horn( EKU Environmental Research Institute, Beekeeper), Cheri Bryant Hamilton( Louisville Councilwoman, District 5)
Women in Agriculture
Lunch catered by Saute' Cafe(Cathy Vance)
Food sources: Elmwood Stock Farm, Berries on Bryanstation, Kenny's Cheese, Good Foods Market and Cafe, Third Street Stuff, Vibrant Greens
1:15-2:00 pm Local Government Partnership with
Community Groups
Panel Members:
Tammy Horn, EKU Environmental Research Institute, Beekeeper
Herb Petitjean,
Brownfield Coordinator, Division of Compliance Assistance
Elizabeth Crowe, Kentucky Environmental Foundation
Marydale Debor, ( NYT) (CTMag) , CONNMAG, co-founder PlowtoPlate.org,, advisor
to Exec.Director, New Milford(CT) Hospital,
2:00pm-3:45pm Afternoon
Working Groups
- ·
Working
Group #1 Moving Towards Greater Environmental Stewardship in Food
Waste Composting, Reclaimed Mining Areas, Contaminated soil
- How do we weave even greater environmental stewardship within local government, institutions and community efforts to create an integrated approach. Environmental stewardship includes: protection of water and soil, prevention of
erosion and water pollution, Flood management, Wildlife
conservation, Protect archaeological sites and historic features, Provide
public access to the countryside, Conserve rare traditional livestock
breeds and varieties, mine reclamation.This
will serve as a working session for sharing best practices and
discussion of ways to integrate the efforts with each community
Moderator: Anne Hopkins, Good Foods Market and Cafe
Resource people:
Tammy Horn, EKU Environmental Research Institute, Beekeeper,
Herb Petitjean,
Brownfield Coordinator, Division of Compliance Assistance
Elizabeth Crowe, Kentucky Environmental Foundation
Best Management Practices for Incorporating Food
Residuals into Existing Yard Waste Composting Operations
·
Working
Group #2 Combining Urban Agriculture, Public Health and Access Disparities for Healthy Communities
Urban farming is generally practiced for income-earning or food-producing
activities, though in some communities the main impetus is recreation and
relaxation. Urban agriculture contributes to food security
and food safety
in two ways: first, it increases the amount of food available to people living
in cities, and, second, it allows fresh vegetables and fruits and meat products
to be made available to urban consumers.
Improving access to healthy local foods
is a way to address hunger and poor nutrition in underserved communities
throughout our state. Improving the quality, freshness, and diversity of food
may also help prevent obesity and other diet-related diseases. In Kentucky and
across the US, many initiatives have focused on ways to identify and reduce
disparities in food access and public health through food banks, community
gardens, and other programs. Individuals living in poverty often live in areas
with limited access to retail grocery stores and public transportation. As a
result, lower income communities often lack access to healthy foods.
Moderator:
James Coles,
Community Ventures Corporation,
Resource people:
Jacie Rowe, Louisville District 5 City Council
Jodie Koch,
Food Works/Bluegrass Community Foundation
Rick Christman, Employment Solutions
- ·
Working
Group #3 Food Policy Council and Local Economy
Food
Policy Councils are an officially sanctioned group of stakeholders that provide a comprehensive examination of a state
or local food system, develop food and agriculture policy recommendations and focus on food systems as an economic
development strategy that links farm production, conservation and farm
viability with public health, food security and community well-being. Food
systems incorporate food production, processing, distribution, and consumption.
They may also incorporate waste disposal and recovery systems.
Food Policy Council Resources
Facilitators:
Speaker: Mark Winne, Mark
Winne and Associates
Food is a sustaining and enduring
necessity. Yet among the basic essentials for life — air, water, shelter, and
food — only food has been absent over the years as a focus of serious
professional planning interest. This is a puzzling omission because, as a
discipline, planning marks its distinctiveness by being comprehensive in scope
and attentive to the temporal dimensions and spatial interconnections among
important facets of community life.
Several reasons explain why planners
have paid less attention to food issues when compared with long-standing
planning topics such as economic development, transportation, the environment,
and housing. Among these reasons are:
- a view that the food system — representing the flow of
products from production, through processing, distribution, consumption,
and the management of wastes, and associated processes — only indirectly
touches on the built environment, a principal focus of planning's
interest;
- a sense that the food system isn't broken, so why fix
it; and,
- a perception that the food system meets neither of two
important conditions under which planners act — i.e., dealing with public
goods like air and water; and planning for services and facilities in
which the private sector is unwilling to invest, such as public transit,
sewers, highways, and parks.
Moderator: Sylvia Lovely, Sunnyside up Radio,
Resource people:
Tammy
Zborel, National
League of Cities
Lenny Stolz, Bluegrass Area Development District
Sarah Fritschner, Louisville Farm
to Table
Theresa
Zwacki ( Louisville Mayor Gregory
Fischer),
T
4:00pm-4:30pm Working Group Reports
& Adjourn
See you in Lexington March 22-24!
Register and make payment at: Local_Food_Summit on-line registration and payment
For more information contact co-facilitators:
Sylvia Lovely,
Jim Embry, Sustainable Communities Network sustainlex.org/ embryjim@gmail.com,
859-270-3699
Contact info:
Jim Embry
Sustainable Communities Network
573 Stratford Dr. Lexington, KY 40503
http://sustainlex.org/, embryjim@gmail.com,
859-270-3699
