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Now that the 2020 Summit is complete, let us know about your experience!!
Photo: Keewenaw Food Co-Op
Wednesday, November 18 | 10:00-11:30 am
Wednesday, November 18 | 10:00-11:30 am
In this final session of the series, we learn of two community-support approaches to keeping communities fed and farmers farming during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In this final session of the series, we learn of two community-support approaches to keeping communities fed and farmers farming during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Hear stories about the impact of coordinating farmer check-ins and a community supported farmer relief fund that boosts the capacity of food pantries to serve fresh, locally-grown food!
Hear stories about the impact of coordinating farmer check-ins and a community supported farmer relief fund that boosts the capacity of food pantries to serve fresh, locally-grown food!
Grower Community Check-ins: Tools from Upper Peninsula Food Policy Councils in Response to COVID-19
Grower Community Check-ins: Tools from Upper Peninsula Food Policy Councils in Response to COVID-19
Connie M. Watson - Health Educator Project Coordinator, Bay Mills Indian Community
Alex Palzewicz - Market Manager, UP Food Exchange
Rachael Pressley - Assistant Regional Planner, Western Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Region
Abbey Palmer - Michigan State University Extension Educator, MSU Extension
As uncertain markets made business planning for the year difficult this spring, people in rural areas of the Upper Peninsula (UP) were also suddenly more isolated from one another. Community check-ins organized by food policy councils popped up to answer grower requests for ways to find connection, respond to the crisis, and carry out innovative solutions together. This panel is comprised of community check-in facilitators from three different areas of the UP, who will share how their place-based approaches to holding space for mental health in the agricultural and foraging community evolved and resulted in rapid-response local organizing around food security and food sovereignty led by farmers, foragers, greenhouse operators, and other food producers.
Groundwork Center’s Local Food Relief Fund: A Way to Pay Farmers and Support Emergency Food Distribution Networks During a Pandemic:
Groundwork Center’s Local Food Relief Fund: A Way to Pay Farmers and Support Emergency Food Distribution Networks During a Pandemic:
Christina Barkel - Food Equity Specialist, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities
Meghan McDermott - Director of Programs, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities
Chelsea Huddleston - Huddleson Farm
Jane Lippert - Community Outreach Coordinator, Central United Methodist Church
Groundwork Center’s Local Food Relief Fund program is a replicable, regional food procurement program showcasing the power of partnerships and collaboration to increase healthy food access and food system resilience during the COVID 19 pandemic crisis and beyond. This presentation will walk participants through the creation, fundraising and implementation of this emergency food procurement project. In addition, participants will learn how area food pantries, meal sites and baby pantries have increased access to whole, local produce and nutrient dense farm products direct to food pantries, and how these groups use educational materials and other resources to educate their clients about these products. Groundwork will also share how they formed relationships with local farmers and the economic impact for farmers of participating in this program during a time of intense upheaval in the food system.
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