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Strengthening Local Food Systems was hosted in Jun3 2003 by a consortium of organizations and agencies including: Minnesota Food Association (MFA), Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA), and Renewing the Countryside (RTC); Land Stewardship Project (LSP), Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), and The Minnesota Project (TMP); Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), Minnesota FoodShare, Hunger Solutions Minnesota, and University of Minnesota’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences (COAFES).
The Values Framework established by the planning group informed the participants of the Summit as they: 1) explored the barriers to creating and sustaining a healthier local food system; 2) identifying keys to success and programs; and 3) developing strategies around identified topics/successes/programs. Funding from MISA permitted the Summit conveners to contract with two facilitators, who in turn trained small-group facilitators to keep the day-long summit advancing. The Summary Report identified strategies by Topic Area, and by Geographic Area (Please see Resources). Throughout the report there is every indication of the need for increased cooperation and collaboration among, and between the various sectors of the food system, including one of the Topic Area strategies being the development of local food system structure.
Following the Summit, MFA staff began to meet with interested parties in creating a local food council, beginning with Mark Ritchie, President of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy who wrote a memorandum to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. In follow-up to that memo, meetings were held with representatives from the City of Minneapolis Environmental Sciences and Minneapolis City Council members. Those early meetings indicated an interest, not only in a Minneapolis Food Council, but one that reached across the Mississippi River to St. Paul. |