Local Food

On April 28^th, local food consumers, farmers and advocates from across the state will come together in Springfield to encourage their legislators to support local food and sustainable agriculture. Illinois Stewardship Alliance would like to invite you to join us for our annual local food and sustainable agriculture lobby day and legislative reception, on April 28^th, 2010.

For more information and how to register click here.

March 15, 4pm-6pm

University of Illinois Extension Sangamon-Menard Unit

Washington Room

The Springfield Area Local Food Taskforce has re-scheduled the Farmer Focus group that was originally scheduled for December of 2009 but was cancelled due to weather issues. The new date is set for March 15, 4pm-6pm in the Washington Room at the University of Illinois Extension Sangamon-Menard Unit office, located at 2501 North 8th Street
Illinois State Fairgrounds, Bldg #30, Springfield, IL 62702.

We are hosting a focus group on local food production in order to get a better understanding of the issues facing local food producers in the area, and more importantly to gain insight into current barriers and opportunities for local food production from the perspective of farmers. At the focus group there will be no “right” or “wrong” answers and all your answers and input will be confidential. In addition, we will provide all participants with a light dinner at the beginning of the focus group session.

We hope you can join us; the input of local producers is invaluable!

Please RSVP by responding to this email or calling 217-528-1563.

Not a farmer? We still want your help! We need volunteers to help take notes and facilitate the focus group. If you wish to help, please RSVP by responding to this email or calling 217-528-1563 and indicate that you are not a producer but would still like to help with the focus group.

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The Springfield Area Local Food Taskforce

The Springfield Area Local Food Task Force was formed to identify strategies to increase access to locally grown healthy foods by strengthening and building a local food system.  The task force plans to fulfill three goals: 1) conduct an assessment of the current food system, 2) initiate dialogue about local food systems with those with a vested interest in a local food system, and 3) write a comprehensive report providing recommendations to improve and strengthen our local food system.

I’m sure some of you have wondered, “What happened to that local food task force?” We have been doing some re-structuring and planning about the process of conducting a community food assessment. We are now gearing up to begin holding meetings again and moving forward with the Springfield Local Food Task Force. We hope you can join us for some of the upcoming committee meetings.

The task force was created by a coalition of community groups and members in order to identify strategies to increase access to healthy food by strengthening and building a local food system. The task force has identified three primary goals:

1. Conduct an assessment of the current food system
2. Initiate dialogue about local food systems with those with a vested interest in a local food system.
3. Write a comprehensive report providing recommendations to improve and strengthen a local food system.

The first project being undertaken by the Task Force is an assessment of the existing food system within the Springfield region.We are examining three components of the food system: production, infrastructure, and community access and created three corresponding committees.

For the most part each committee will be meeting separately. Below you will find a list of the upcoming committee meetings for November and December. Please feel free to go to whichever committee you are most interested in helping with, I would also encourage you to attend all the committee meetings and get involved as much as you can.

I am excited about the awesome work the task force is embarking on I can't wait too see what happens. I hope to see you at one of the upcoming meetings.

Committee Meeting Schedule

Production Committee: November 10^th, 2009, 10am-12pm, Lincoln Library – Carnegie Room North. Committee will brainstorm about questions and ideas for a Farmer Focus Group in December.  

Infrastructure Committee: November 10^th, 2009, 10am-12pm, Lincoln Library – Carnegie Room North. Committee will brainstorm about questions and ideas for a Farmer Focus Group in December.  (Note: the production and infrastructure committee will be meeting at the same time in separate parts of the room)

Community Access Committee: November 12^th, 2009,  9-11 am, IL Dept of Agriculture,  Room 66, 801 E. Sangamon Ave. Committee will discuss and examine community access assets that have been identified and to examine the opportunities for expanding upon these or creating new programs or policies.

Farmer Focus Group: December 9^th, 2009, 5-8pm, Lincoln Library – Carnegie Room North. The focus group will be a combined meeting of both the infrastructure and production committee. The goal of the focus group is to gain insight from farmers on assets, opportunities, needs, and barriers in relation to local food production and infrastructure for processing and distribution. 

Community Access Committee: December 15^th, 2009, 9-11 am, IL Dept of Agriculture, Room 66, 801 E. Sangamon Ave. Tentative 

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If you have any questions regarding the production committee, please contact Wes King at wes@ilstewards.org or 528-1563 

If you have any questions regarding the infrastructure committee, please contact Lindsay Record at Lindsay@ilstewards.org or 528-1563                       

If you have any question regarding the community access committee, please contact Pat Stieren at pstieren@gmail.com or Deanna Glosser at Deanna_Glosser@comcast.net or 629-8949. 

If you have any questions, comments, or ideas regarding the work of the Springfield Local food Task Force in general please feel free to contact any of the people listed above.