NE-185 Regional Research Project

Annual Report 2000

Consumers, Commodities, and Communities:

Local Food Systems in a Globalizing Environment

Progress of the Work and Principal Accomplishments:

OVERALL

Foremost among this year's accomplishments has been the finalizing of research protocols for two of the projects primary objectives. The foodshed analysis template crafted by California researchers for use in Objective 3 is currently being used in nearly all states engaging that objective, with plans in most states to engage the designated rural, urban, and peri-urban counties by the conclusion of the project's first five years. To a lesser degree, interview methodologies designed by Wisconsin scientists to monitor and evaluate emerging food ventures will also be used in several states participating in Objective 3. New York scientists have taken the lead in crafting a research protocol for typing and collecting data on food retail establishments that will be used by several states engaged in Objective 1. In addition to these and other important steps along the research pathway, participants in NE-I85 published significant reports on the state of the conventional food system, developed food system curricula, presented panels and workshops at professional meetings, consulted with public planners and policy makers as well as with private food organizations, and joined with NGOs to explore and impressive array of outreach efforts.

OBJECTIVE 1

New York and Pennsylvania continue to provide leadership for Objective 1. During the past year, New York developed a typology of food retail outlets based on size, annual sales, offerings, and ownership that consisted of four major retail store types and nine subtypes: hyperstore, conventional grocery, green grocery, and discount grocery. Data was collected on seven cases of each major type in Tompkins County, NY., and revealed complexities not predicted by the typology. In a course on local food systems at Rutgers University, the retail store typology was used to introduce students to a relevant research methodology. It was also employed in interviews of retail food stores in four counties in Iowa. New York researchers also examined consumption trends, dietary guidelines, and agricultural productions trendslcapacity in the state. Analysis of the data will be reported in the Spring, 2001 with focus on evaluating how closely to the food pyramid state residents are eating, on identifying groups of foods that could be sourced within the state, and on engaging state policy makers with these issues.

Pennsylvania researchers interviewed thirty-three county and municipal planners in eighteen counties in southern Pennsylvania to determine their involvement in food system issues, their interests in food systems, and openings for relationships with Extension. A masters thesis is underway evaluating the potential for local food relationships in Lopez Island in the San Juan archipelago of northwest Washington state. The findings will be applied to land use planning on the island. Researchers in Iowa and Kansas have adapted the Cornell retail store interview methodology to analyze existing food retail establishments in their respective states. In addition, Iowa is conducting interviews with meat processing establishments, and Kansas continues to conduct research on the Common Ground Project in Topeka.

Following an emerging issue for NE-185, the growth of urban and ethnically-oriented agri-food activity, researchers in Massachusetts surveyed farmers' market customers relative to the acceptance among Latino buyers of a larger-sized variety of Asian pepper. Analysts in New Jersey have focused on four related research projects associated with "food work skills," e.g., the knowledge and physical capacity of local population groups to absorb locally grown (as well as generally less processed) foods into their diets, e.g., whether school cafeteria workers or college students recognize local produce, know where to buy it, and have the cooking skills to transform raw food into meals. In association with the National Farmers Organization, researchers from the University of Missouri have authored a report focusing on increasing concentration in the food retail and dairy processing sectors, and on the implications for local food systems. Missouri has also surveyed Kansas City restaurants' interests in buying locally, finding considerable interest in fresh vegetables. Other research from this institution focuses on place-based food labeling approaches, including comparative research in France, Spain, Belgium, and Canada. Finally, social scientists at the University of Wisconsin have studied the opportunities and barriers to sourcing more local and organic food through the food services of the state's colleges and universities.

OBJECTIVE 2

A leadership gap ensued for Objective 2 with the decision on the part of the representative from Michigan State University to no longer participate in the NE-185 project. Nevertheless, considerable work continues on commodity analyses in several states. Researchers in Iowa continue work on pork production, focusing on this commodity chain in its four-county analyses. In Missouri, scientists are evaluating grassfed beef and dairy systems with both environmental and economic criteria. As indicated above, researchers from the University of Missouri have authored a recent study of the dairy processing sector. Research in West Virginia has focused on the economics of transitioning from conventional to organic vegetable systems, and on evaluations of small-scale aquaculture enterprises in the state. Taking a systems approach, this latter research is collecting data on the state's primary aquaculture enterprises, processors, alternative water sources, tourist destinations, and market outlets. An input/output analysis will be done to shed light on the economic impact of small-scale aquaculture in West Virginia. Researchers in Wisconsin continue to study alternative poultry production systems, with perspective being provided by evaluations of France's very successful "label rouge" labeling system for mid-scale poultry enterprises that are farmer controlled and vertically coordinated. Researchers at this institution are also beginning work with researchers in Nebraska on specialty cheese systems. Finally, scientists in New Jersey have studied small scale urban livestock systems, another example of the urban and ethnic agriculture theme introduced earlier.

OBJECTIVE 3

The principal accomplishment associated with Objective 3 has been the finishing of research protocols and the moving on to data collection and analysis. Strong efforts along these lines have occurred in California, New York, New Jersey, Iowa, Puerto Rico and Wisconsin. Researchers in California completed a foodshed data collection template that features nine types of indicators: demographic, environmental, agricultural resource base, food distribution network, economic productivity, food systems wages and employment, food consumption, community food security/food access, and education/advocacy/policy. State of the foodshed reports are being written for 3 counties in this state, with some of the data coming from a sister research project exploring the nature and impacts of farmers' markets. With the addition of a fourth county (Johnson), work in Iowa currently focuses on foodshed indicators (using the California template), food venture inventories (using the Wisconsin methodology), food retail store analysis (using the New York interview guide), and base line data collection on alternative food ventures in Audubon country to be used for a longitudinal study. The California template is also being applied to counties in Kansas. Participatory research with the Common Ground Project in Topeka continues in this state, guided by theoretical frameworks generated by other NE-185 participants.

Work in Massachusetts has focused on providing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) education for entry-level Asian farmers, and on developing markets for Asian crops. Particular attention has been paid to aji dulce peppers, an important ingredient in Puerto Rican and Dominican cuisine. Work in Missouri has focused on the development and support of urban farmers' markets and community gardens, as well as on the place-based labeling work and analyses of the larger food system described above. Researchers in New Jersey have added two more counties to their food system analysis and undertook a case study in Middlesex County of urban livestock agriculture, a largely underground activity. Findings from this study are to be used to engage urban planners and policy makers regarding the legitimization of these urban livestock systems. Research in both urban and rural counties of New York have led to some interesting insights relative to the existence in both locales of "food deserts" and to the characteristics of an emerging and "civic agriculture." In Puerto Rico, foodshed analyses are being completed in the municipalities of Barranquitas (rural) and Caguas (urban), and work continues with community groups on the development of organic food cooperatives. West Virginia researchers have begun foodshed analyses of the U.S. Virgin Islands food system. The three islands closely approximate the rural, urban, and peri-urban classifications being used by other states working on Objective 3. Finally, researchers in Wisconsin continue monitoring nearly sixty alternative food ventures in Dane county and have begun comparisons between agricultural- and food security-based ventures in Milwaukee County,

OBJECTIVE 4

State Outreach Effort

Outreach work in California has focused on sharing the foodshed analysis template with several other counties in the state interested in the role of alternative agriculture in rural economic development and with other organizations involved in national food policy programs. Similar to many states, information from the project has also been used in state-wide agricultural publications, a range of reports, and professional articles and book chapters (See publications section). Information from the research in Iowa was presented to a local food systems conference and featured in several Leopold Center publications. Researchers in both Iowa and Kansas used information generated from the project to educate Extension agents regarding local food systems issues through participation in a SAKE Professional Development Project (PDP). In addition to authoring a major report on concentration in the food retail and dairy processing sectors, researchers in Missouri have focused their outreach activities on efforts associated with the Kansas City-based Food Circles Networking Project, consumer-farmer forums, community food security round tables, and computer data bases to help farmers direct market to restaurants. Scientists in New Jersey developed at new course fit Rutgers University entitled "Local Food Systems in a Globalizing Environment," and have collaborated with that university's Urban Ecology Program for student training purposes. Information associated with the project in New York has found its way into the Farming Alternatives newsletter, presentations to community groups, presentations at professional meetings, research reports, journal articles, and book chapters.

Project participants from Pennsylvania have researched the coverage of agri-food issues in the state's daily newspapers. Additionally, these scientists have developed a new course for non-food majors at Penn State University entitled "Food Facts & Fads."

Project participants from New York, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have also collaborated on the IFAFS -funded project "From Farm to School, Improving Small Farm Viability and School Meals." Finally, two states have been involved with successful community festivals that focus on local food systems. Puerto Rico's efforts involved presenting information at a local food, crafts, and music festival held annually in Barranquitas during the harvest of celeriac, a specialty crop of the island's central region. For the second year, researchers in Wisconsin were among the primary organisers of a highly successful "Food for Thought" festival in October, done in collaboration with the Chefs Collaborative 2000, and associated with the Dane county farmer's market.

Project-wide UsWeach Efforts

During 2000, researchers associated with Ne-185 planned two panels and a hands-on workshop to be presented at the joint meetings of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society and the Association for the Study of Food and Society, occurring in June, 2001 in Minneapolis. Additionally, one of the panels will be presented at the meetings of the Rural Sociological Association in Albuquerque, October, 2001. The project's World Wide Web site has been upgraded, and discussions were had during the project's annual meeting to explore two major outreach products culminating the conclusion of the first five years ofNE-185: a major conference on local food systems in collaboration with the Journalism School of the University of Missouri, and a book summarizing the findings of the project's three primary objectives.

Usefulness of Findings:

The foodshed data collection template designed in California has been used in several other counties in the state interested in the connections between alternative agriculture, agri-tourism, and rural economic development. In addition, the template will be used, through the Wallace Institute, in a project in Kentucky where plans are underway to revitalize rural counties formerly dependent on tobacco. Fifty percent of Kentucky's share of the "tobacco settlement" money (3.45 billion dollars over twenty-five years) will be involved. Researchers associated with the project in Iowa have been asked to do an educational evaluation of a state-supported direct marketing venture, building baseline data for ongoing monitoring and evaluation. As indicated above, researchers in Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa have been involved in SARE PDP programs to educate Extension agents about the dynamics and benefits of local food systems. Missouri scientists have also created computer data bases to help farmers market to restaurants, and Massachusetts researchers have conducted applied market research that indicated acceptance of larger sized peppers grown by Asian farmers. Other Missouri scientists studying place-based labeling systems have served as consultants to the state's Department of Agriculture and to new labeling organizations like the Midwest Food Alliance. Knowledge generated by the project in New Jersey has been used to inform youth training programs designed to teach entrepreneurial skills related to vegetable production and sales. Researchers in this state are also preparing to discuss with city planners and policy makers the implications of research conducted on urban livestock production. Project participants from Wisconsin are working directly with representatives from the Dane county executive's office on projects related to organizing farmers' markets in low income areas of Madison, and to sourcing more locally and organically grown food through the food services of county institutions. Finally, researchers in Puerto Rico continue to work with local farmers and consumers to organize organic food cooperatives, and have initiated new collaborations with scientists from West Virginia to apply some of these rural development strategies to the U.S. Virgin Islands.