COVID-19 and the Crisis in Food Systems
Organization: International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems
Published: 2020
The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) has taken stock of the past 100 days amid the global pandemic, with a new communiqué on COVID-19 and the crisis in food systems. What are the symptoms and causes of this food crisis? Why are we in the midst of this perfect storm? What can be done immediately to avert more damage to society and the economy? And what are the structural changes we now need to protect people and planet?
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COVID-19 and the NH Food System
Organization: NH Food Alliance
Published: 2020
A list of COVID-19 resources for New Hampshire.
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COVID-19: Online Ordering, Home Deliveries, and Closures in Central MA
Organization: Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)
Published: 2020
Searchable map of local food, home delivery, and curbside pickup in central Massachusetts.
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Dairy Education Resource Hub
Organization: FINE
Published: 2018
This webpage collects links to organizations and resources focused on dairy education initiatives in New England. Classroom lessons, educator workshops, cafeteria recipes, promotional materials, funding sources, and collaborative networks.
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Delivering More Than Food: Understanding and Operationalizing Racial Equity in Food Hubs
Author: Sarah Rodman-Alvarez, Roxana Rodriguez, Rich Pirog, John Fisk, Kimberly Carr, Phil Warsaw, Noel Bielaczyc, and Terri Barker
Organization: Michigan State University
Published: 2020
This report examines how U.S.-based food hubs understand engagement in racial equity work. Through interviews with food hub managers and other roles, the authors identify common facilitators and inhibitors to food hubs engaging in racial equity work. They offer recommendations and examples of how to operationalize their findings.
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Developing a seasonal harvest program
Organization: Health Care Without Harm
Published: 2019
Increasingly institutions are procuring local foods to meet customer demand and to align with organizational goals. While they are robustly engaged in this work, food service operators may not be actively promoting their efforts. A seasonal harvest program can meet their distinct need to do so. With ready-to-use materials that highlight the foods they buy and intentional messaging that conveys the value of local and seasonal eating, seasonal harvest campaigns can help institutions elevate their work to customers and leadership and increase awareness of the far-reaching impacts of their food service activities.
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Dining Operator Listserv
Organization: FINE
This listserv has been created through Google Groups as a collaboration tool for dining program directors, chefs, other food service operators and community partners engaged in the procurement, preparation and promotion of foods raised, grown and produced in New England.
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Distribution & Wholesale Financial Decision Making Tool
Organization: NOFA-VT
Published: 2020
This series of spreadsheets assist with decision making related to market channels and distribution options. In this tool you will find easy to use calculators to determine annual distribution costs and break-even analysis for dollar value or case count needed on a vehicle. These calculators will help you determine the costs associated with utilizing a shipping service, distributor, or self distribution, and will also break down costs of owning versus leasing a delivery vehicle. The workbook also includes a Wholesale Price Waterfall calculator which will allow you to model the potential return a producer may expect to receive if selling into wholesale channels, after margins and trade allowances are deducted.
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Early COVID-19 Impacts on Food Retail and Restaurants: Consumer Perspectives from Vermont
Author: Emily H. Belarmino, Farryl Bertmann, Thomas Wentworth, Erin Biehl, Roni Neff, Meredith T. Niles
Organization: University of Vermont, Johns Hopkins University
Published: 2020
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected people worldwide, disrupting food access and security. To understand how food systems and security are impacted during this pandemic, an online survey was launched in Vermont from March 29th - April 12th, 2020 (less than a week after the Governor’s Stay Home/Stay Safe order). A total of 3,219 Vermonters responded, and nearly half provided written remarks in response to open-ended questions about worries or general comments. This brief summarizes survey findings and respondent comments about food retail and
restaurants. We use quantitative data to understand the frequency of beliefs and behaviors, and qualitative data to understand respondents’ experiences and perspectives in their own words. Of note, the findings reflect early responses to and concerns with food-related risk; as more information was provided by experts, these fears may have been allayed. This will be investigated in future iterations of the survey.
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Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison
Author: Leslie Soble, Kathryn Stroud, Marika Weinstein
Organization: Impact Justice
Published: 2020
Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison is the first national investigation of its kind. This six-part report explores the inequities and troubling trends in prison food, centering the perspectives of people who have been incarcerated while also examining food services policies and practices that affect more than 1.3 million people incarcerated in state prisons and corrections facilities nationwide.
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Economic Contribution and Potential Impact of Local Food Purchases Made by Vermont Schools
Author: Erin Roche, Florence Becot, Jane Kolodinsky, David Conner
Organization: Center for Rural Stuies at the University of Vermont, Vermont Farm to School Network
Published: 2016
In 2015, the Vermont Farm to School (FTS) Network’s Economic Value Working Team partnered with
the Center for Rural Studies (CRS) and the Department of Community Development and Applied
Economics (CDAE) at the University of Vermont (UVM) to measure the economic contribution and
impacts of FTS in Vermont.
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Economic Impacts of Farm to School Case Studies and Assessment Tools
Author: Libby O. Christensen, Becca B.R. Jablonski, Lacy Stephens, Anupama Joshi
Organization: National Farm to School Network
Published: 2017
This report presents findings from surveys conducted with 26 producers in nine states, highlighting economic impact assessment findings from two case studies: Minneapolis Public Schools and the state of Georgia. The findings of these case studies provide new insight
into the potential for farm to school procurement to
positively impact local economies.
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Economic Injury Disaster Loans for Farmers/Ranchers Affected by COVID-19
Organization: Farm Commons
Published: 2020
Farmers and ranchers are now eligible for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) through the Small Business Administration (SBA), as of April 24, 2020. The EIDL program provides an emergency grant of up to $10,000 for small businesses suffering a loss of revenue because of COVID-19. In this tutorial, Farm Commons discuss the specifics of eligibility and how to submit an application through the SBA. Issues with how the program has performed over the past few weeks will also be in the discussion, as well as how EIDL works with other relief options. This is a valuable opportunity, especially for farms unable to receive a Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loan.
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The Effects of COVID-19 Will Ripple through Food Systems
Author: Laura Poppick
Organization: Scientific American
Published: 2020
Article in Scientific American. Subheader: "Staple crops are likely to be less affected by measures to control the virus, but farmers growing more specialized ones could feel the pinch."
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Emergency Covid Food Policies: Can They Become Permanent Reform?
Author: Christine Grillo
Organization: John Hopkins Center for Liveable Future
Published: 2020
Article on policy responses to COVID-19, including programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), and the Universal School Meals Program Act.
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Engaging Students in Local Food: Strategies for Effective Communication
Organization: FINE
Published: 2018
Have you been wondering how to communicate the value of local food to the students on your campus? Are you looking for fresh ideas for storytelling, advertising, and event programming? Watch the recording of our one-hour “forum” to ask questions, share resources, and listen to engagement strategies from a panel of four speakers with perspectives from all sides of the issue. Moderated by: Holly Fowler of Northbound Ventures LLC, Mike Zastoupil of FINE. Speakers include: Aaron Witham of Univeristy of Southern Maine, Jennie Porter from NOFA VT, Megan Kennedy of Unity College, and Abby Ducker of Harvard University
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Equitable Development Toolkit: Local Food Procurement
Organization: PolicyLink
Published: 2015
This toolkit provides an overview of how stakeholders can advocate for and implement local food procurement policies in a manner that ensures the equitable improvement of local and regional food systems.
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Evaluating the economic impacts of farm-to-school procurement: An approach for primary and secondary financial data collection of producers selling to schools
Author: Libby Christensen, Becca B. R. Jablonski, Lacy Stephens, Anupama Joshi
Organization: Colorado State University, USDA
Published: 2018
This paper presents a framework for
evaluating the economic impacts of farm-to-school
programs, adapting the USDA’s “Local Food
Economics Toolkit” for this specific context. The
approach combines primary and secondary data to
customize an input-output model, reflecting the
complex supply chains that link producers and
schools. Additionally, to
illustrate the approach, we
summarize the findings from two case studies of
local food procurement by schools between 2016
and 2017.
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Evaluation for Transformation: A Cross-Sectoral Evaluation Framework for Farm to School
Author: Gail Feenstra, Tia Henderson, Anupama Joshi, Michelle Markestyn Ratcliffe
Organization: National Farm to School Network
Published: 2014
Evaluation for Transformation defines the outcomes that farm to school has the potential to achieve and it offers common language, guidelines and metrics to understand those outcomes for the first time. The framework is organized around four key sectors: public health, community economic development, education and environmental quality. Beyond the four sectors, the framework is also structured around three levels of action: program, research and policy.
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Exploring Economic and Health Impacts of Local Food Procurement
Author: Jess Lynch, Ken Meter, Grisel Robles-Schrader, Megan Phillips Goldenberg, Elissa Bassler, Sarah Chusid, Coby Jansen Austin
Organization: Crossroads Resource Center, Illinois Public Health Institute
Local food initiatives across the US have launched determined efforts to encourage
institutional purchasers to source locally grown foods. These have generated significant
enthusiasm at the local level. Yet the evidence base for documenting positive impacts
on health and local economies is still being developed.
This study seeks to draw insight from both scholarly studies and on-the-ground
experience in order to distill practical strategies, recommend ways to conceptualize
and measure economic and health impacts, and highlight effective methods for
building the capacities of communities for this work.
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