The Illinois Stewardship Alliance is made up of individuals and organizations that support local food systems in communities across Illinois. Join the Alliance and become a part of the good food movement!

*Supporter level members will receive a copy of the seasonal cookbook, - “From Asparagus to Zucchini” or an ISA t-shirt
*Steward level members will receive two tickets to ISA’s Annual Harvest Celebration held in Springfield in September
*Lifetime level members will receive a food-bearing tree planted in your honor and two tickets to ISA’s Annual Harvest Celebration

Membership Benefits
• Invitation to attend annual lobby day for FREE, including free lunch ($25 value)
• Discount ($15) on tickets for ISA’s Annual Harvest Celebration in Springfield
• Receive up-to-date information about current policy issues impacting local food systems and small farms in Illinois as part of the monthly ISA newsletter
• Invitation to have a “Represented” organizational seat on Grassroots Policy Advisory Committee
• Discount of $15 to attend the Annual Harvest Celebration in Springfield
• Networking opportunities and information sharing including statewide and regional policy meetings
• Be part of an Alliance of consumers, farmers and other local food system stakeholders working to increase production and consumption of local foods in Illinois

Who Should Join
• Individuals
• Farms
• Community Gardens
• Food Policy Councils
• Non-profit Organizations (focusing on sustainable agriculture and/or local food systems)
• Environmental Organizations
• Community-Based Organizations
• Community Support Agriculture Operations
• Anti-Hunger Organizations
• Local Food Businesses 

1. Fill out this membership form

2. Select a method of payment (you will automatically be re-directed to a payment page after completing the online form)

A. JOIN ONLINE: 

Use your credit card to join or make a donation to Illinois Stewardship Alliance using Caring Habits a secure and verified credit card processor serving non-profit organizations.

Use Paypal: 

Membership Options

Individual$25.00 USD Student/Low-income$15.00 USD Farm/Organization/Business$60.00 USD Supporter$75.00 USD Steward$300.00 USD Lifetime$1,000.00 USD

B. MAIL A CHECK:

Illinois Stewardship Alliance

401 W Jackson Parkway

Springfield, IL 62704

Please include your address, phone number and e-mail address.

Thank you for your support!!

  

Membership Drive

May 16 - June 30 

Illinois Stewardship Alliance is a grassroots membership-based organization that promotes food and farm systems that are environmentally sustainable, economically viable and socially just.  Our members span the state and are people that care about where their food comes from and how it was raised.  Join us in advocating for fresh, healthy local foods! Read more in a letter from our board president. 

Who Should Join:

• Individuals   • Farms   • Community Gardens   • Food Policy Councils   • Non-profit Organizations    •Environmental Organizations   • Community-Based Organizations   • Community Support Agriculture Operations    • Local Food Businesses   • Restaurants   • Schools   • Farmers Markets

Why Join:

ISA is a leading statewide advocacy organization promoting local food and farm systems.  From organizing local food dinners to create new markets for small farmers to keeping our members up-to-date on the legislation that affects local food and farms, we are here to serve you.  In just the past year we have:

-Organized a Farm to School Summit in Springfield raising awarness
-Held 27 Local Flavors dinner providing new markets for farmers and fabulous food for diners
-Served over 102 Buy Fresh Buy Local Central Illinois members with marketing materials to promote their business
-Provided thousands of central Illinoisians with a Buy Fresh Buy Local directory to help them find local food
-Conducted outreach to over 1,000 farmers about conservation programs

How to Join: 

Join online by clicking here or download and print a membership form here.

Membership Benefits:

• Discounts on events, merchandise and other local food and farm related fun
• Discount of $15 to attend the Annual Harvest Celebration in Springfield
• Invitation to attend annual lobby day for FREE, including free lunch ($25 value)
• Receive up-to-date information about current policy issues impacting local food systems and small farms in Illinois as part of the monthly ISA newsletter
• Invitation to have a “Represented” organizational seat on Grassroots Policy Advisory Committee
• Networking opportunities and information sharing including statewide and regional policy meetings
• Be part of an Alliance of consumers, farmers and other local food system stakeholders working to increase production and consumption of local foods in Illinois

Membership Appreciation Event:

Join us at Rolling Meadows Brewery, an on-farm brewery just north of Springfield, for a membership celebration.  This members-only event is on June 30 from 4 - 7 pm and reservations are required.  Read more info here. 

Dear Friends,

Today Illinois Stewardship Alliance (ISA) is launching a spring membership drive with the goal of reaching 100 new members.  As a grassroots organization, ISA members play an integral role in our efforts to advocate for a healthier, more just food system. Through our work at ISA, we are working for a food system that helps us to lead healthier lives, builds community through improved relationships and closer connections to our food and the people who grow it, and one that enables farmers to earn a living wage, but not at the expense of our environment.  This is why ISA is here: to support and nurture local food systems in Illinois’ communities and give farmers and citizens alike, a voice in creating viable local food systems from the ground up.

As a market gardener running a medium-sized CSA, I spend a lot of time with vegetable seedlings this time of year.  While fussing over my “babies” the other day, it struck me that there were some definite parallels between these seedlings and the local food movement.  In the early stages of their life cycle, my vegetable plants need a lot of special care including just the right temperature and moisture level as well as nutrient rich soil.  As they grow older, they are gradually hardened off and eventually are able to survive more or less on their own in all kinds of weather and conditions.

I think the same can be true of great ideas. Many ideas die on the vine because they don’t get the care and nurturing that they need to make it through the fragile seedling stage.  That is why I have been an active member of ISA the last four years and why I think you should support our efforts as well.  ISA’s board, members and staff have been and continue to be key nurturers of the local food movement in Illinois – whether it is guiding local-food-economy-friendly legislation through the maze of the halls of the Illinois General Assembly or by helping small farmers access new markets for their products.   ISA has played a key role in caring for and growing the local food movement in Illinois.

As the time of this writing, we have 322 members from across the state and that number is growing.  Illinois Stewardship Alliance members are farmers and gardeners, teachers and parents, students and professionals.  ISA members care about where their food comes from, how it was grown and its impact on their communities.  Please consider joining us today.  If you are already a member, please consider inviting friends or family to join.  We need a critical mass to continue to make a difference to Illinois’ local food system. And as an added bonus, new members, renewed members or existing members who recruit a new member will be entered to win a $75 gift certificate to one of Illinois’ premier restaurants serving locally grown and produced food.

As a small-scale farmer growing real food to feed my family, friends, neighbors and community and as the board president of Illinois Stewardship Alliance, I invite you to join us on the front lines of the local food movement in Illinois. 

Sincerely,

John Curtis
Barefoot Gardens, Macomb, Illinois
Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Board President

Rolling Meadows Brewery will host our celebration with local food, craft beer and music!  Door prizes too!

 Tickets are $10 per person and include appetizers and delicious craft beer.  This event is open to members only so please be sure your membership is up to date.  You can also pay for your membership and a ticket by clicking on the link below. Not sure if your membership is up to date?  Contact Dee at (217) 528-1563 or dee@ilstewards.org

Space is limited so please make a reservation by filling out your information here.

 Pay online:

Pay by check:

Illiniois Stewardship Alliance, 401 W. Jackson Pkwy., Springfield, IL 62704

To pay for your membership, please choose from one of the following options:

1. JOIN ONLINE: 

Use your credit card to join or make a donation to Illinois Stewardship Alliance using Caring Habits a secure and verified credit card processor serving non-profit organizations by clicking here.

Use Paypal: 

2. MAIL A CHECK:

Illinois Stewardship Alliance

401 W Jackson Parkway

Springfield, IL 62704

Thank you for your support!!

May is the last month of the spring that the Illinois General Assembly is scheduled to be in session in Springfield. Most of the attention has been focused on the budget, pension reform, and some other big ticket items. The following are a couple of quick local food and farm updates and a link to an updated version of our 2012 bill tracker:

• Senate Bill 3456, sponsored by Senator Frerichs, which would create a new permit that, would make it easier for Illinois winemakers and Illinois craft beer makers to sell their local wine or local beer at farmers markets and other community events was passed by the Illinois Senate with a vote of 55-0. Representative Lou Lang is the chief sponsor in the House. Unfortunately, SB 3456 has been languishing in the House Rules committee since passing the Senate at the end of March.
• HB 5893, originally sponsored by Representative Kosel in the House would amend state economic development laws to encourage convention center boards to support farmers markets by opening their doors free of charge or at reduced rates for farmers markets on inclement weather days, was passed by the Illinois House of Representatives by a vote of 105-1. Senator Dave Koehler is the sponsor in the Senate. HB 5893 is moving along fairly quickly, the Senate Agriculture and Conservation Committee unanimously recommended HB 5893 to the full Senate. HB 5894 is currently on 3^rd reading waiting to come up for a final vote, which barring some unforeseen roadblock it will pass and be sent to the Governor’s desk for his approval.
• To read ISA’s full bill tracker click here.

While the Illinois General Assembly is entering the final stretch of the spring session in Washington D.C. work around the 2012 Farm Bill is really beginning to heat up! On April 26^th The Senate Agriculture Committee voted the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act — the proposed name for the 2012 Farm Bill — out of Committee on by a vote of 16-5, sending it to the Senate floor for full consideration. 

The committee bill includes historic reforms to commodity subsidies.  In addition to replacing automatic direct payments with a shallow loss revenue-based payment, the bill limits payments to not more than one farm manager per farm operation.  Beyond these historic changes, in regards to local food and sustainable agriculture the bill is a mixed bag. The following links will take you to a series of in-depth analyses on the content of the bill written by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition organized by topic area:

• Local Food Systems and Rural Development
• Commodities and Crop Insurance
• Beginning Farmers & Ranchers
• Organic Agriculture
• Research, Education and Extension
• Conservation Stewardship Program
• Conservation Compliance
• Other Conservation Programs
• Energy
• Overall Funding Levels

While, The Senate Agriculture committee has passed a new farm bill with the hopes of having floor time in the full Senate sometime in June, the process in the House Agriculture Committee is lagging behind that in the Senate. However, they are moving forward and are hopeful that the House Agriculture Committee will have finished its work on a bill by the end of June. There are a lot of factors at play complicating the possible path forward, election year politics and partisan bickering, but the good news is that things are moving forward and there seems to be a real desire to get a new farm bill done this year.

Golden Beet Awards

Celebrating Innovative Initiatives that Bring Local Foods to Illinois Communities

Join Illinois Stewardship Alliance in recognizing the creative, innovative and pioneering local food activities in Illinois. 

Why “Golden Beet” you ask? Well, awards are usually shiny and used for recognizing exemplary achievements.  We think the brilliant hue of golden beets with their unique standing in the world of edible plants represents the perfect symbol for honoring the innovators in Illinois. A symbol for relishing the activities in Illinois that are paving the way for the development of local food systems. Food systems that feed us and feed our soils.  Fresh. Healthy. Delicious. Community building and economy stimulating food.  Nominate a person, organization or business doing something fresh in your community.

Click here to view a map of Golden Beet Awards.

Click here to make a nominate someone in your community for a Golden Beet Award.

Categories:

Farm to School
Types of Activities: school gardens, local food curriculum, local food procurement
Possible Entities: school districts, schools, teachers, students, administrators

Restaurants and Institutions
Types of Activities: use of local foods, marketing, procurement, product integration
Possible Entities: restaurants, institutions, universities

Community Food Projects
Types of Activities: community gardens, local food policy councils, farmers markets
Possible Entities: non-profit organizations, churches, community based organizations, collaborative efforts, citizens

Innovative Farmer
Types of Activities: community supported agriculture, direct marketing
Possible Entities: Illinois farmers and local food producers

Scaling Up
Types of Activities: wholesale, processing, distribution, cooperatives
Possible Entities: private businesses, non-profit organization

Other Varieties
Have a nominee that doesn’t fit into the other categories? Use this one! 

Make a nomination

- Fill out this online form or download, print and mail this form.

- We'll follow up with the nominee by phone and mail them their award.

 2012 Directory Coming Soon!!!

Buy Fresh Buy Local (BFBL), is a local foods’ campaign to encourage the community to support localfarmers. This includes everyone from individual consumers to larger buyers, including restaurants and grocery stores. Through the BFBL campaign’s marketing materials (such as the logo above), consumers can identify locally produced foods and farmers can reach new local markets.
Remember to look for BFBL signage and tell your retailer or restaurant that you care where your food comes from. 

If you are a grower, producer, retailer, restaurant or other Central Illinois institution specializing in or utilizing
locally-produced foods and are interested in becoming a member of BFBL Central Illinois, click here for application information.

Also this year, BFBL Central Illinois will hold its fifth annual “Local Flavors” restaurant series. Over the last three years, Springfield-area restaurants have participated in hosting lunches and dinners featuring seasonal specials with locally produced and grown foods. 

If you have any questions or concerns about Buy Fresh Buy Local Central Illinois or “Local Flavors," please call the Illinois Stewardship Alliance at (217) 528-1563 or email isa@ilstewards.org.

2011-2012 Buy Fresh Buy Local Central Illinois Directory

This Op-Ed written by ISA's Policy Coordinator, Wes King, was published in the print edition of the State Journal-Register on 5/1/12.

While much of the national conversation on food and farm issues has focused on lean finely textured beef — “pink slime” — we are missing an important opportunity to move forward with creating a more economically, environmentally and socially just food and farm system. The opportunity I’m talking about is the next five-year farm bill that congress is currently writing. The farm bill is a comprehensive package of federal legislation that structures our country’s food and farm system— and if you eat, then you are impacted by the farm bill.

Instead of focusing solely on “pink slime,” we should be paying attention to the positive developments that are occurring all over the country. There has been phenomenal growth and interest in farmers markets, local food systems and sustainable agriculture over the last decade. According to the USDA, in 2000 there were fewer than 3,000 farmers markets operating across the United States. In 2011, that number had more than doubled to more than 7,000. In Illinois, we now have more than 300 farmers markets operating throughout the state.

Economic development, planning  and community officials are beginning to recognize the tremendous economic potential local food could have. Here in Illinois, more than 95 percent of the food Illinoisans eat comes from beyond Illinois’ borders; imagine the impact those food dollars would have circulating through rural, suburban and urban communities in Illinois. A recent study of 32 counties in central Illinois found that if consumers bought 15 percent of their food directly from Illinois farmers, it would mean an additional $639 million in new farm income!

While farmers producing commodities such as corn, soybeans, rice and wheat benefit from crop insurance, direct payments and a number of other policies and programs, the small and mid-sized farmers who are growing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that make up the majority of local food producers generally can’t access those benefits. Despite the increased demand for local food, government policies and programs have been slow to catch up.
It’s time to level the playing field. One of the proposals on the table right now is the Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act, sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and the bill would do just that.

The legislation would create new economic opportunities for small and mid-sized farmers and ranchers, improve local processing and distribution infrastructure, expand access to healthy food for all consumers, and provide the research and training that farm entrepreneurs need to be successful. Eighty members of the House and Senate have co-sponsored this legislation and more than 275 farm, food, public health and consumer groups have endorsed it.