Task Force

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.

Governor Pat Quinn signed into law House Bill 3990 which will help build a local food system in Illinois.  The signing ceremony was held at the Illinois State Fair as a part of Agriculture Day and demonstrates the broad scope of the local food movement in Illinois.  The legislation's key elements include:

• Formation of the Illinois Local Food, Farms and Jobs Council, which will work with state agencies, Illinois businesses, organizations and Illinoisans to build an active local farm and food market.
• Establishment of local food procurement goals for state agencies to purchase 20 percent of their food locally by 2020. State funded institutions such as schools would have a goal of 10 percent by 2020.
• Creation of a local food purchase preference for state-owned food buyers that allows them to pay a premium of up to 10 percent above thelowest bid in order to purchase locally grown goods.

Go to the Illinois Food Farms and Jobs website here.