SHIP 3 Accomplishments
Eat Well! Healthy Eating Initiative - coming soon!Faribault County Community Food Partnership - coming soon!
Watonwan County Community Food Partnership - coming soon!
Rural Advantage - coming soon!
Wells Area Chamber of Commerce- coming soon!
Wells Area Food Shelf- coming soon!
Easton Community Garden- coming soon!
SHIP 2 Accomplishments
Food Policy Council
Eighteen months
ago Rural Advantage of Fairmont applied for a Statewide Health Improvement
Program grant to examine how food systems are operating in Southwestern
MN. Rural Advantage is uniquely
positioned as a successful MN nonprofit organization whose mission is to
promote the connections between agriculture, the environment and rural
communities in order to improve ecological, health, economic viability and
rural vitality. Under the leadership of
Linda Meschke, Rural Advantage has successfully partnered with multiple
stakeholders from local and government agencies for over 34 years. Meschke determined the time was right to
determine interest and benefit for our rural counties with the input of a Food
Policy Council.
Food Policy Councils are a grassroots effort
involving stakeholders from local food sectors (nutrition, health, agriculture,
education, policymakers, community designers and businesses) who examine how
the food system is operating and develop recommendations on how to improve
it. FPC’s can educate, help shape public
policy, co-ordinate programs and start new programs. Ironically, FPC’s are rare in rural areas
where we currently produce world feeding supplies of corn, soybeans, beef and
pork but less than 1% of total ag production is available in staple food groups
of fruits and vegetables.
With SHIP
grant funding, Rural Advantage invited a group of stakeholders to a planning
meeting in April, 2012 titled “Planning Tomorrow’s Lunch”. From this initial meeting, attendees were
invited to serve on the newly forming Food Policy Council (FPC) and a list of
10 priority issues surrounding access to and consumption of local foods was
developed: 1. Promote local growers, 2. Hunger and lack of access to healthy
food, 3. Food preparation, 4.Compost education, 5. Healthy food at corner stores, 6. Community kitchens, 7. Schools, 8. Local government incentives for
beginning farmers, 9. Education and marketing around
developing a brand campaign, 10. New USDA regulations for schools
The FPC has
been meeting monthly throughout the 5 county area of Faribault, Martin,
Watonwan, Cottonwood, and Jackson counties.
What began
in April, 2012 as an innovative grassroots effort to examine access to local
foods in Southwest MN culminated in June with resolutions being presented and
unanimously passed in Faribault, Martin, Cottonwood and Jackson Counties. The four key points resolved to:
1. Strengthen
the local economy: 1. Support
the creation and diversification of additional small family farms for the
production, distribution and sale of local foods. 2. Businesses
that produce, process, distribute, and sell local grown, healthy food should
grow and thrive in south central Minnesota. 3. Encourage
policies and procedures that promote local food production, sales, processing
and distribution.
2. Empower
residents: 1. Enhance
access for individuals or businesses to address gaps in local food processing,
storage and distribution infrastructure by encouraging and allowing access to
local economic development resources.2. Support
consumer purchasing and consumption of local grown food through county policies
and processes.
3. Actively
support access to healthy food for all: 1. Research
shows significant gaps between what people are eating today and what USDA
recommends, 2. To
support enterprises that help bridge those gaps, 3. All
residents in our area should have enough to eat and access to affordable,
local, healthy, sustainable, culturally appropriate food. 4. Encourage
businesses to utilize menu and health product labeling techniques to identify
healthy food options.
4. Promote
awareness of best practices to reduce food waste: 1. Increase
awareness and encourage people to minimize and/or recycle food waste.2. Integrate
food waste management into the decision making process through composting or
recycling.
3. Explore
alternative reuses for food waste.
In addition
to the Food Policy Council, Rural Advantage and SHIP have been working with
Martin County Farmers Markets to increase access for all income levels by
acquiring a merchant terminal that allows EBT access for SNAP clients and
supporting the local food shelf by providing cooler storage for local produce
and supporting community gardens.
Brandt Gardens and Greenhouse
Brandt Gardens and Greenhouse is improving access to healthy foods by
creating a model of distribution in which fresh produce is available to
employees at worksites. With a $3,000
SHIP grant, Brandt Gardens and Greenhouse developed a list of potential
worksite partners and marketed the mobile produce distribution model to area
worksites. Funding was utilized to
create a marketing flier, to purchase insulated tote bags and to support the
staff hours to develop a work plan and network with potential partners. Brandt Gardens and Greenhouse successfully
identified three worksites that understood the value of healthy employees and
the effects of healthy eating. Weekly
stops at these worksites were scheduled to increase access to fresh produce. The operation relies on a refrigerated
trailer that runs off a generator to keep produce fresh while it is sold in the
parking lot of area businesses. The
trailer is marked with the company logo to promote and identify the program. Brandt Gardens and Greenhouse now accepts
credit cards and EBT cards to serve the needs of all clients.
This model has been a comprehensive approach. Funding was secured from SHIP, as well as other
funding streams. For example, Brandt Gardens
and Greenhouse was awarded a grant from the US Department of Agriculture to
build a cleaning and storage facility.
The building is being erected and will soon aid in the process of safely
preparing and storing fresh produce. Brandt Garden and Greenhouse also received a grant from the
University of MN Extension to improve access to healthy foods for the Women,
Infants and Children (WIC) program in Jackson County. WIC clients receive discount vouchers to
purchase fresh produce, tear sheets are available for WIC clients that explain
how to prepare fruits and vegetables, and a recipe book has been developed for
WIC clients with healthy recipes that feature fresh foods.
Watonwan County Farmers Market
Rural Advantage Farmers Market
coming soon!
Heaven's Table Food Shelf
A refrigerated cooler was purchased for the newly established food shelf in Fairmont- Heaven’s Table. The cooler is being utilized to store fresh produce that is donated from the community gardens and citizens.
February 2013
The South Central Food Policy Council (FPC) met January 22, 2013 in Jackson. Jan Kelly, Southern Area Food Inspection Supervisor from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture addressed the topics of licensing, license types, and safe food handling practices. The information was requested as the continues to work towards their goals of promoting local growers and increasing access to local healthy foods. The Q and A opportunity was especially valuable to members as they address policy needed to support the local foods movement.
The five-county food policy council was created in April 2012 to assess, learn and improve the local food environment. At this meeting ten priority food issues were identified and monthly meetings have been held to learn more and address each issue.
· Promote local growers
· Hunger and lack of access to healthy food
· Food preparation – fast, fresh from scratch
· Compost education
· Healthy food at corner stores
· Identification of community kitchens and processors
· Schools
· Local government incentives for young farmers in nontraditional farming
· Education and marketing
· New USDA regulations for schools
After learning more about these issues, the FPC plans to create and offer policy to local decision-makers that will ensure commitments to advancing local, healthy food.
January 2013
Bill Brandt, owner and operator of Brandt Gardens and Greenhouse outside of Lakefield, MN has sold his fresh produce at area Farmers Markets for many years. Bill has always been frustrated by the limitations of selling at the local Farmers Markets, which include limited hours and days to sell. These limitations often did not allow most people the availability to visit the market due to work schedules. Bill recently partnered with CJFMW SHIP to pilot an innovative idea which includes bringing fresh produce to the people where they work by developing a mobile farmers market service targeting employers.
For the past few months, Bill has been developing a plan to partner with area worksites to create a delivery schedule to bring his fresh produce to worksites. He has purchased a refrigerated trailer and plans to regularly visit employers who are interested in providing this benefit to their employees. As a result of his use of high tunnels, a mechanism to extend his growing season, employees will have access to fresh produce longer than the traditional Minnesota growing season. He hopes to begin offering lettuce, spinach and kale in April, and then will provide a variety of herbs, fruits and vegetables through the summer months and continue to produce tomatoes, kale, spinach and lettuce varieties into October and November.
In addition to employees, employers will also benefit from the worksite farmers market! Research shows higher consumption of fruits and vegetables helps reduce obesity, a major driver of higher health care costs. People who eat healthy foods reduce their risk for heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Bringing fresh, locally grown foods helps employees and their families lead healthier lives!
If you are interested in a mobile farmers market at your worksite, feel free to contact Bill here.
August 2012
The Food Policy Council was establish and has been actively meeting since June, 2012. Each meeting, the FPC will learn more about their top concerns and issues impacting food systems in our rural communities. At the last meeting, schools were the topic of discussion with information shared from School Food Service about the new USDA school meal requirements. SHIP also recently released mini-grant opportunities to improve access and affordability of healthy foods (see main blog page for more info!)
April 2012
On Tuesday, April 17, thirty people from across Cottonwood, Jackson, Faribault, Martin and Watonwan Counties came together with a similar goal in mind- to discuss the food environment in their area. Audrey Arner (Moonstone Farms, Montevideo) facilitated the gathering which included discussions of all avenues of food (production, growing, processing, waste, health, etc.). At the end of the meeting, ten areas were identified as priority areas and a new Food Policy Council is currently being formed to work on these areas. A few of the areas identified include farm to school, farm to cafeteria, composting and healthy food avenues.
Audrey Arner facilitating group discussions
