Local Food System Development in Ohio: Background

1. Local Food System Development in Ohio: Background, Resources, Actions

2. Instructors • Jeff S. Sharp, Associate Professor of Rural Sociology • Molly Bean Smith, Research Associate, Social Responsibility Initiative • Jill Clark, Director, Center for Farmland Policy Innovation • Shoshanah Inwood, Research Associate, Social Responsibility Initiative

3. Examining the Local Food System

4. Tools to Examine the Local Food System • Goal: • Provide an overview of practices/approaches practitioners and communities are undertaking to learn more about the local food system • Provide a listing of resources on practices/approaches to learning more about the local food system

5. Examining the Local Food System: Focus on Two Tools • Community Food Assessments • Surveying Key Actors in the Food System • Consumers • Producers • Intermediaries – Retailer, Distributors, Restauranteurs, and Institutions

6. Examining the Local Food System Community Food Assessments

7. Examining the Local Food System: Community Food Assessments • Community Food Assessments • “A Community Food Assessment (CFA) is a powerful way to tell the story of what is happening with food in a community, and to mobilize efforts to improve the food system. Through such assessments, diverse stakeholders work together to research their local food system, publicize their findings, and implement changes based on their findings.” (CFSC Website)

8. Community Food Assessments Are… • Processes aimed at facilitating decision-making • Aimed at Achieving Outcomes Missoula County Community Food Assessment (MCCFA)

9. Community Food Assessments • Answer questions such as: • How does my community satisfy households’ food needs? • Where are my community’s food production resources? • What is agriculture’s economic contribution to my community? • What are the marketing and distribution channels used by producers in my community? • What are the assets and barriers to creating a more viable and sustainable production system?

10. Community Food Assessments • Who conducts a community food assessment? • Food Policy Councils/Coalitions • Community Organizations • Public Agencies • Extension Teams • Class Collaborative Projects – College Students • Private firms/consultants

11. Community Food Assessments • Methods and Approaches • Diverse, but typically include: • Secondary Data/Document Compilation and Analysis • Institutional/Organizational Data • Departments of Education • Census of Agriculture • http://www.agcensus.usda.gov • U.S. Census Data on Population • http://www.census.gov/index.html

12. Primary Data Collection Efforts • Qualitative - Interviews and/or Focus Groups • Key informants/community representatives • People at risk of experiencing food insecurity • Consumers – food shopping patterns • Food producers • Others involved in the local food system

13. Community Food Assessments • Quantitative • Surveys – Producers, Consumers, Retailers, Institutions • Producers - Where sell products, what grow, what is preventing from growing different products, what would help to grow more locally, etc. • Consumers – Where food is purchased, barriers to purchasing, how far travel to get foods, proportion of food purchased locally, occurrence of gardening, economic adjustments, etc. • Retailers/Institutions – Procurement of local foods, barriers to purchasing, demand for local, market basket inventories • Mapping/Inventories – Healthy Food Access

14. CFA Mapping: Focus on Healthy Food Access • What is Healthy Food Access? • Shifted from hunger abatement to healthy food access • Access is multifaceted • Access must recognize cultural differences • What exacerbates problems related to healthy food access • Urban sprawl • Spatial mismatch in transportation • Lack of competition between outlets • Unhealthy foods are often cheaper (perceived or real)

15. Healthy Food Access - Assessment • Identifying areas in need - Food Access Gaps • Physical • Economic • Healthy • http://cffpi.osu.edu/fooddeserts.htm • Urban versus rural considerations

16. Rural Ohio Areas with Fast Food Access and not Large Supermarket Access (in green)

17. Ohio Food Policy Council – Healthy Food Access Task Force • Mission = Provide those in need with greater access to fresh and nutritious foods. • Goals • Identify rural and urban food deserts in Ohio by Dec. 31, 2009, and decrease these areas by 10 percent by providing access to healthy, local foods by 2015. • Increase the number of schools using the national farm to school program by a minimum of 50 schools by 2015. • List of specific recommendations and progress made • Such as farm markets and federal assistance program

18. Our Team’s CFA Approach - Evaluating Knox County’s Food System: Opportunities to Grow • One of a handful of Community Food Assessments conducted in Ohio • Partners: Social Responsibility Initiative, Center for Farmland Policy Innovation, Kenyon College’s Rural Life Center, and Knox County Extension • Goal: To identify opportunities and impacts of increasing local food production for local/regional consumption • Unique: Adapted community and economic development tools to understand the food and farming system

19. Knox County Methods • Examined Agricultural Statistics to Characterize Knox County Agriculture • Ag Sales, Farm Sales, Sales Direct to Consumers, Farm Size, Off-farm employment • Situated Knox County in the Region – Mapping • Examined Commuting Patterns • Conducted a Food Retail Market Analysis • Estimated the Economic Effect of 3 Development Scenarios* • Conducted interviews with Intermediaries to assess barriers and opportunities for increasing purchasing of local foods

20. Community Food Assessments • Outcomes • Awareness and Greater Visibility of Food System Issues • Establishment of Baselines for future monitoring • Documentation, Guides, Directories • Establishment of Food Policy Councils • Establishment of other formalized collaborations/partnerships • Policy Recommendations • Action Plans

21. Community Food Assessments: Pitfalls • Skilled leader / facilitator to guide the assessment • Before undertaking – should think about why an assessment should be done and how findings will be used • Should know up front what questions you want to answer • Resources to conduct and complete costly • Time & Labor

22. Community Food Assessment Resources • Community Food Security Coalition’s Community Food Assessment Guidebook, http://www.foodsecurity.org/cfa_guidebook.html • Planting the Seeds of Sustainable Economic Development: Knox County’s Local Food System. Social Responsibility Initiative Topical Report 09-04. August 2009. http://sri.osu.edu/pdf/Knox_County_Assessment_Summary-200908.pdf • USDA’s Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan02013/

23. Examining the Local Food System Primary Data Collection

24. Examining the Local Food System: Primary Data Collection • Consumer Survey Research • Goal: To better understand the market for local foods • Samples: • Statewide • Ohio Survey • Select subpopulations • CSA members • Food cooperative members • Farmers’ market shoppers

25. Consumer Research Can Usually Find a Place to Park

26. Examining the Local Food System: Producer Research • Goal: To understand existing production and development opportunities Have some direct sales to consumers by type of farmer (% yes)

27. Examining the Local Food System: Intermediary Research • Goal: To better understand opportunities and barriers to expanding the production and consumption of local foods • Examples of Intermediaries: Retailers, Restauranteurs, and Distributors

28. Survey Research Resources • USDA’s Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan02013/ • University and Extension Professionals • Dillman, D. 2000. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

29. Thank You.