Good Food, Strong Communities: Promoting Social Justice through Local and Regional Food Systems

by Steve Ventura (Editor), Martin Bailkey (Editor)

Overview

Many Americans are hungry, while others struggle to find healthy foods. What are communities doing to address this problem, and what should they be doing? Good Food, Strong Communities shares ideas and stories about efforts to improve food security in large urban areas of the United States by strengthening community food systems. It draws on five years of collaboration between a research team comprised of the University of Wisconsin, Growing Power, and the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, and more than thirty organizations on the front lines of this work in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Madison, and Cedar Rapids. Here, activists and scholars talk about what’s working and what still needs to be done to ensure that everyone has access to readily available, affordable, appropriate, and acceptable food.

The approach begins by laying out the basic principles of food security and food justice in light of the diversity of food system practices and innovations in America’s cities. The contributing authors address land access for urban agriculture, debates over city farming, new possibilities in food processing, and the marketing of healthy food. They put these basic elements—land, production, processing, and marketing—in the context of municipal policy, education, and food justice and sovereignty, particularly for people of color. While the path of a food product from its producer to its consumer may seem straightforward on the surface, the apparent simplicity hides the complex logistical—and value-laden—factors that create and maintain a food system. This book helps readers understand how a food system functions and how individual and community initiatives can lessen the problems associated with an industrialized food system. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609385439
Publisher:	University of Iowa Press
Publication date:	12/01/2017
Edition description:	1
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Steve Ventura is the Gaylord Nelson distinguished professor of environmental studies and soil science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also the director of the Land Tenure Center in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

Martin Bailkey conducted one of the first assessments on the viability of using vacant urban lots for farming. He also taught in various fields at the university level. More recently, Martin served as outreach and program coordinator for Growing Power, and coproject manager of the Community and Regional Food Systems Project. Both Steve and Martin live in Madison, Wisconsin. 

Table of Contents

Foreword Will Allen xv

Preface 1

Chapter 1 Connections between Community Food Security and Food System Chance Steve Ventura Martin Bailkey 7

Food Justice and Food Sovereignty 10

The Sankofa Project, Community Services Unlimited, Los Angeles Neelam Sharma 14

Collective Impact and Innovation as Agents of Change 16

A Framework for Food Systems 19

The Five As of Food Security Steve Ventura 21

Chapter 2 Land Tenure for Urban Farming: Toward a Scalable Model Nate Ela Greg Rosenberg 24

The Challenge of Securing Affordable Land for Urban Farming 25

Key Concepts 26

Program Design: Eight Strategic Questions on Landholding for Urban Farms Nate Ela Greg Rosenberg 31

The Role of Nonprofit Organizations in Urban Farming 34

The Role of Land Trusts in Providing and Protecting Affordable Land for Urban Farming 36

The Central Server Model: A Scalable Approach to Urban Farming 39

Case Study: NeighborSpace, Chicago 41

A Land Trust for For-Profit Urban Farms? 45

Might the NeighborSpace Model Be Replicated Elsewhere? 46

Best Practices for Designing Central Server Programs 46

Conclusion 47

Chapter 3 Crowing Urban Food for Urban Communities Anne Pfeiffer 49

Improving Access to Food 50

Social Goals 52

Growing Home, Chicago April Hanington Harry Rhodes Rebekak Silverman 54

Making Urban Agriculture Work 56

Conclusion 63

Chapter 4 Distribution: Supplying Good Food to Cities Lindsey Day-Farnsworth 64

Background 64

Challenges Facing Community and Regional Food Distribution 66

Potential Advantages of Regional Values-Based Food Supply Chains 67

Regional Food Freight Michelle Miller 72

Rethinking Equitable Food Distribution 74

Los Angeles Food Policy Council's Healthy Neighborhood Market Network Oona Mackesey-Green 76

Toward Integrative and Systemic Solutions 80

Community Services Unlimited's Village Market Place Oona Mackesey-Green 82

The Detroit People's Food Cooperative Nicodemus Ford Malik Yakini 84

Conclusion 85

Chapter 5 Food Processing as a Pathway to Community Food Security Greg Lawless 87

Inadequate Fruit and Vegetable Consumption 88

Increasing the Accessibility and Affordability of Locally Grown Fresh Produce 88

Constraints on the Local Supply of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables 89

Constraints on the Demand for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables 91

Food Processing Strategies in Los Angeles and Wisconsin 93

Comparison of Effects on Supply-and-Demand Constraints 101

Observations on the Potential for Food Processing as a Pathway to Community Food Security 104

Chapter 6 Markets and Food Distribution Greg Lawless Alfonso Morales 108

Historical Considerations 109

Some Economic Context: The Supply of Marketplaces and Marketing 110

The Supply of Healthy Food 111

Networks and Collaborative Marketing Partnerships Drive Food Hub Development in Cedar Rapids Jason Grimm 114

Assistance with Markets and Marketing from Local Extension Offices Greg Lawless 119

Summary 121

Chapter 7 The Consumer: Passion, Knowledge, and Skills Monica Theis 125

Background 126

Cooking Literacy 127

Designing Education Programs for Cooking Literacy 128

The Food Pantry at Middleton Outreach Ministry 129

Field to Foodbank: A Program of Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin Oona Mackesey-Green 132

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department 135

Conclusion 140

Chapter 8 It All Starts with the Soil Steve Ventura 141

The Composting Environment: Capacities and Constraints 144

Home-Scale Composting Steve Ventura 148

Composting Dollars and Sense 153

Community and Cultural Relations 154

Chapter 9 Uprooting Racism, Planting Justice in Detroit Jeffrey Lewis Nicodemus Ford Samuel Pratsch 157

Detroit's Struggle for Justice 158

Striving for Food Justice through Antiracism Work 159

Theory of Change 160

Training in Dismantling Racism 161

Saturday Gatherings 162

Caucuses 163

Initiatives and Solution-Oriented Activism 166

Summary 169

Chapter 10 Achieving Community Food Security through Collective Impact Greg Lawless Stephanie Calloway Angela Allen 170

Understanding Collective Impact 170

The Milwaukee Food Council's Collective Impact Initiative 175

Reflections on the Collective Impact Initiative 183

Chapter 11 Education and Food System Change Desiré Smith Steve Ventura 186

Community Groundworks Orchards Project: A Different Kind of Common Core Shelly Strom 188

People: The Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence 190

Chapter 12 Community and Regional Food Systems Policy and Planning Lindsey Day-Farnsworth Margaret Krome 201

How Is Federal Food Policy Created? 202

How Does Food Policy Vary across Jurisdictional Levels? 206

Mechanisms for Developing Community and Regional Food Systems Policy 212

Dudley Grows: Community-Based Neighborhood Food System Planning at a Glance Lindsey Day-Farnsworth 213

The Good Food Purchasing Program: Institutionalizing Good Food Values through Policy, Partnerships, and Supply Chain Innovation Colleen McKinney 219

Milwaukee's Local Food Policy Audit: Adapting Urban and Regional Audit Models to Promote Food Equity at the Metro Regional Scale Marcia Caton Campbell 222

From the Grassroots to the Farm Bill: The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's Process for Gathering Local-Level Input Margaret Krome 225

Conclusion 226

Chapter 13 Cultural Dissonance: Reframing Institutional Power Erika Allen Rodger Cooley Laurell Sims 228

Narrative Ownership as a Power-Shifting Strategy for Community-Based Food System Practitioners 228

Funder and Coalition Insights into Social Equity and Justice 232

Acknowledging Privilege and Power Dynamics in Creating Equitable Community Partnerships 235

Chapter 14 Innovations and Successes Steve Ventura 239

Vibrant Farms and Gardens 239

Justice and Fairness 242

Strong Communities 243

Thriving Local Economies 244

The Multiplier Effect Steve Ventura 246

Sustainable Ecosystems 247

Healthy People 250

System Thinking and Collaboration 251

References 253

Contributors 275

Index 277

What People are Saying About This

Molly D. Anderson

“This engaging edited volume tells us ‘what works’ in different cities to simultaneously bring about vibrant farms and gardens, just and fair food systems, strong communities, thriving local economies, sustainable ecosystems, and healthy people. It incorporates welcome reflection on dismantling racism through community-based work in large urban food systems.”

Christine Porter

“Because this compilation grounds an overview of practical and ethical issuesin U.S. community food systems with important and original case stories, it makes a unique and useful contribution to the field.”

Editorial Reviews

Because this compilation grounds an overview of practical and ethical issues in U.S. community food systems with important and original case stories, it makes a unique and useful contribution to the field.

Christine Porter

This engaging edited volume tells us ‘what works’ in different cities to simultaneously bring about vibrant farms and gardens, just and fair food systems, strong communities, thriving local economies, sustainable ecosystems, and healthy people. It incorporates welcome reflection on dismantling racism through community-based work in large urban food systems.

Molly D. Anderson