index

Local Food Strategies LLC Documents & Products

"Changing Eating Habits with More Local Food" on KCUR's Up to Date
Alan Hunt and Otavio Silva (Consultant to Good Natured Family Farms) explaining the role of local food distribution and access
to obesity prevention and the local actions and national policies needed to reduce obesity.

Analysis of the Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2011 - updated February 9, 2010
Highlights include a cross-agency Regional Innovation Initiative, a cross-agency national Healthy Food Financing Initiative, Farm
to School tactical teams, and increased support for SNAP EBT use at farmers' markets.

"Selling Locally: New Market, Familiar Challenges" - Farm Bureau News December 7, 2009
Invited as a guest writer for a rural development article profiling Midwestern and Southeastern local and regional food distribution
enterprises.

Other Food Systems Resources --
Case Studies, the Policy Process, & Food System Mapping in the US & UK

Compilations of US Local and Regional Food Systems Case Studies

Since about 2008 several compilations of local and regional food enterprises have been profiled, most in a case study format:

Community Food Enterprise, by the Wallace Center, provides financial history and organizational structure of 12 U.S. local and
regional food enterprises (plus another 12 international examples).

Report - Scaling Up: Meeting the Demand for Local Food, by the University of Wisconsin, profiles 11 enterprises and lists an
additional 40 in the report appendix.

The USDA Economic Research Service has several resources profiling the local food sector: Local Food Systems Concepts
provides a data overview of the sector and Comparing the Structure, Size, and Performance of Local and Mainstream Food
Supply Chains compares direct to consumer, regional, and mainstream supply chains in 15 sectors across 5 US regions. One
key finding is that local and regional supply chains were shown to deliver competitive and occassionally cheaper food products
than mainstream distribution systems.

The Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development Center website offers short grant synopses for emerging, food access related
projects.

Visualizing the US Policy Process

By far, this award-winning colorful, easy to read diagram is the best visualization I've seen of the policy process and is an
essential tool to anyone planning federal policy advocacy: How Our Laws Are Made.

Mapping the Food System in the US

The National Food Environment Atlas, by the USDA Economic Research Service, combines national data from many
government and NGO resources, including the US Census, US Census of Agriculture, and Farm to School Projects. Its
mapping ability has been an influential tool to illustrate the food environment factors, including: proximity to retail stores,
availability of farmers' markets, food assistance use, and food consumed away from home, states with food taxes, health
characteristics, physical activity levels, and socioeconomic characteristics.

Localharvest.org is voluntary website that maps thousands of farmers and food enterprises (e.g. farm stands/shops, CSAs,
farmers markets, etc.) across the US. One powerful feature of this map is that producers can list product by type and seasonal
availability and consumers can search by those characteristics. Also, each location on the map can have its own webpage. It
started, I believe, as a side project of two web-developers, and grew as people added to it.

Small-scale slaughterhouse locations and availability was mapped by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service, a regulatory
and outreach agency.

Farmers Markets can be searched for from a national database. There are plans to add this data to the National Food
Environment Atlas.

Farm to School projects are tracked and mapped by the National Farm to School Network.

Regional Food Hubs are being mapped nationally by the USDA.

National Map of Local and Regional Food Distribution Models is a Google map of over 50 local and regional food hub
models. This type of map is easy to set up and any user may add an enterprise. They are classed by business model: auction,
cooperative, farmer aggregator, home delivery network, independent business, non-profit organization, and value-added operator.

Market Maker is an online marketplace and map that allows producers, buyers, sellers, and transporters to list their services
on offer and identify what they are looking for in over 15 states in the US. It is an effort coordinated by the University of Illinois
Extension and works by establishing a fee-based collaborative partnership with other universities.

A regional food map, report, and plan of the greater Philadelphia region relates production areas, retailers, and
socio-economic characteristics over a 100-mile area that includes two major watersheds.

A San Francisco-area regional food system study relates current production areas, farmland preservation areas, potential
production capacity, consumption, income, health and factors.

A regional foodshed map for the New York City region and east coast of the US is being developed at Columbia University.
The project overview has a map of the urban/agricultural zones surrounding major cities on the east coast.

The local productive capacity of land, by community, is being mapped by researchers at Cornell University in New York
State. The map converts estimate of land productivity into an area-based food calorie measure.

New York City Green Markets lists markets by location that targeted for low-income consumers (which accept EBT cards)
and compost drop-off points.

The Vermont Fresh Network maps out farms, distributors, and chefs/restaurants that want to work with local farmers with
local chefs.

The Detroit Food Movers maps mobile produce truck routes for the downtown Detroit area.

Farmers Markets in Michigan cities that utilize a dollar for dollar match for produce purchases (of up to $20) called "Double
Up Food Bucks" are mapped by the Fair Food Network.

Mapping the Food System in the UK

The Good Food Channel has a national map of British farms, farm shops, butchers, and bakers which make sales directly
to consumers.

Making Local Food Work is undertaking a national food-web mapping project.

The National Farmers' Retail & Markets Association website can map farmers' market locations.

A Yorkshire Dales Local Food mapping project is underway and is funded through the EU Common Agriculture Policy
LEADER group in Yorkshire.

Bigbarn.co.uk maps farms that make direct sales to consumers across the UK by product type. Sellers are able to post a
page about their products.

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