NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Relatively little of the value added in agriculture accrues to farmers for the agricultural commodities they produce. As the number of small and medium scale farms continues to decline, rural communities throughout the U.S. are facing uncertain futures. The purpose of this research is to increase knowledge and understanding about the forces that motivate the formation of place-based food systems, how they are created and sustained, and what impacts they have had in communities.

OBJECTIVES: 1.Collaborate with local food system stakeholders to identify high priority information needs and the forms in which information should be shared. 2.Identify and analyze ongoing and potential forces that are maintaining or transforming the relationships between localities and their food systems. 3.Examine the diverse strategies local food system stakeholders are currently using or might use to create and manage ongoing or potential change in the food system.

APPROACH: In this project, we will use several interrelated objectives for examining ways to sustaining local agriculture and food systems in a globalizing environment. We will examine the policies, projects and events that are transforming local food systems. We shall explore the ways local communities are responding to the forces of globalization and look at the diverse contributions of local food systems to the community. Throughout the project, we will collaborate with food system stakeholders to identify high priority information needs. The goal of this project is to increase systematic knowledge of how communities can generate, support, and benefit from more localized food systems.

KEYWORDS: food; globalization; economic impact; sustained use; food supply; sociology; social impact; food economics; stakeholders; collaboration; market information; information dissemination; food marketing; market structure; structural changes; economic policies; policy analysis; communities; value added

PROGRESS: 2006/01 TO 2006/12
OBJECTIVE 1. The work in North Minneapolis to link rural producers to urban dwellers to provide markets for producers and to enable urban residents to access healthy, local foods continues. This project addresses community and economic development in rural and urban Minnesota. OBJECTIVE 3. During the 2006 Minnesota State Fair, the fourth annual "Minnesota Cooks" event was co-sponsored by many organizations and featured restaurant chefs/owners who conducted cooking demonstrations using meat and produce obtained from Minnesota farmers. The day-long event was well attended. A calendar, including recipes from the chefs, was distributed to 10,000 people during the fair and subsequent events. The Eco Experience exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair was the largest environmental event of its kind in the country in the last two decades. For twelve days, the 25,000 square foot exhibit attracted a high level of interest among Fair visitors. The Eco Experience was the second most popular exhibit at the Fair. "Healthy Local Food" was one of the exhibitions within the Eco Experience building. http://www.pca.state.mn.us/ecoexperience/eco-food.html

IMPACT: 2006/01 TO 2006/12
The overall multi-state project will: (1) increase research knowledge from which to understand change in the food system; (2) make policy recommendations and assist food system strategizing; (3) promote better understanding among community leaders, educators, and other professionals of ways to engage with the food system to meet community goals; (4) promote more informed public discourse about the nature and impacts of different kinds of food systems; (5) create new knowledge about intervention strategies to improve community environmental, economic and social health and to increase engagement in the food system; and (6) promote the expansion of existing markets and the creation of new markets and other outlets for locally produced food products.

PUBLICATIONS (not previously reported): 2006/01 TO 2006/12
Local Food Marketing Handbook. In press, December 2006. Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture

PROJECT CONTACT:
Name: Murray, H.
Phone: 612-625-0220
Fax: 612-625-1268
Email: hmurray@umn.edu
URL: http://www.misa.umn.edu