2007 Forum - Des Moines, Iowa
Our Evolving Food System: Perspectives from the Heartland

Program

2007 Program

Presentations

• Opportunities for Farming in the 21st Century
  Paul Lasley, Iowa State University
• Agricultural Impacts on Water Quality and Quantity: a Perspective from Iowa
  Susan Heathcote, Water Program Director, Iowa Environmental Council
• Food Policies: Supporting Farmers and Promoting a Healthy Local Economy
  Thomas L. Dobbs, Professor Emeritus of Economics and Food & Society Policy Fellow, South Dakota State University
• Risk Management - USDA
  Nancy Beaumont, Risk Managment Agency
• SGlobal Agripower - Who Benefits? Public Policy Impacts? Power Dynamics?
  Margaret Krome, Policy Director, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute

Additional Resources

• Blog Entries by Daniel Moss, Grassroots International, attendee of the 2007 Forum
  http://www.onthecommons.org/
• No to Instant Death; Yes to Cancer and Poisoning!
  Posted by Daniel Moss on Mon, 07/23/2007 - 10:22am
• Throwing the Precautionary Principle to the Wind?
  Posted by Daniel Moss on Tue, 07/17/2007 - 1:04pm
• Ethanol's Dissonant Sounds: A Dirge for the Commons
  Posted by Daniel Moss on Thu, 07/12/2007 - 8:40am

Site Visits
A Global Treasure: Protecting Iowa's Farms and Natural Resources

• 1000 Friends of Iowa
  http://www.kfoi.org/
• Agricultural Sustainability and Smart Growth
  Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities'
  Translation Paper #5
  
• American Farmland Trust
  http://www.farmland.org/
• Bear Creek, Iowa
  http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/NPS/Ecology/chap6bea.html
• Farming on the Edge of Development
  http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/nwl/1999/1999-2-leoletter/99-2lavon.htm
• Land Use Planning
  Food Security Learning Center
  A good resource for food systems folks to learn about land use planning
  
• Riparian Buffer Zones - Bear Creek
  http://www.buffer.forestry.iastate.edu/HTML/demosites.html
• Balancing the Hunger for Energy and Protein: Ethanol and Livestock Production
  Biofuels: Opportunity or Threat? A Background Briefing
  Commissioned by Environmental Grantmakers Association and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders
  
• Building Sustainable Futures for Farmers Globally
  Policy recommendations for 'Sustainable Biomass" (found under The Issues Section at www.globalfarmer.org)
• Lincolnway Energy
  http://www.lincolnwayenergy.com/
• Renewable Energy from Farms
  Sustainable Agriculture Coalition position paper
  

Workshop Sessions

How Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO's) are Endangering the Health, Environment, and Economic Viability of Rural Communities

• The Farm Bill: Food Policy in an Era of Corporate Power and the Farm Bill 101: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/us-farmbill
• Food Safety Consequences of Factory Farms: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/factoryfarms/foodsafety-factoryfarms
• Got Pollution (dairy factory farms): http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/factoryfarms/industrial-dairy-farming
• Foul Fowl:
  http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/pubs/reports/salmonella-chicken
• Food Policies: Supporting Farmers and Promoting a Healthy Local Economy
  The 2007 National Organic Research Agenda, published in April 2007, presents a catalogue of research needs for organic agriculture. Based on a series of scientist/producer meetings held by the Scientific Congress on Organic Agricultural Research (SCOAR), this volume emphasizes topics related to soils, systemic management of plant pests, organic livestock and poultry management, and breeding and genetics. http://ofrf.org/publications/publications.html
• Cities and the Wealth of Nations by Jane Jacobs
  From a review: Jacobs argues fairly convincingly that significant, distributed wealth is created by cities that are inventive enough to replace imports by their own local production, that this is the only reliable source of wealth for cities in the long run, and that these cities need other like-minded cities to trade with in order to survive and prosper.
• Woodbury County - Rural and Economic Development Department
• See http://econ.sdstate.edu/Research/NSL.htm for links to the following articles:
  • No. 484, Time for Change in U.S. Farm Policy: Fundamental Reform Emphasizing Institutions Based on Agriculture's Multifunctionality? (March 21, 2007)
  • No. 483, Competing Visions of U.S. Agriculture: Can We Have Our Cake and Eat It Too in Reforming Federal Farm Policy? (Feb. 28, 2007)
  • No. 456, Local and Regional Policy Implications of Agriculture's "Multifunctionality" (Dec. 10, 2004)
  • No. 454, Recognizing Agriculture's "Multifunctionality": Implications for Policy Making in the United States (Oct. 3, 2004)

Visualizing Rural Assets: How Community Planning Can Protect Agricultural Lands

• American Farmland Trust resources: www.farmland.org
• Farmland Information Center: www.farmlandinfo.org
• AFT technical assistance services: http://www.farmland.org/services/default.asp
• Planning for Agriculture Guides For New York
• Planning for Agriculture Guides For North Carolina

Moving Beyond the Choir: Building Successful Food Networks in Rural Regions

• Supply Chain Options for Biobased Businesses
  Rhonda Lummus, ISU COllege of Business, 2004
• The Learning Supply Chain, Christopher Peterson
• Good to Great and the Social Sectors - Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer
  Jim Collins (2005) Monograph available through www.jimcollins.com

Securing the Safety Net: Federal Response to Weather Disasters on the Farm

• Regional Office Crop Fact Sheets http://www.rma.usda.gov/pubs/rme/fctsht.html
• Organic Farming Practices http://www.rma.usda.gov/pubs/2006/organics.pdf

Water: The Power to Nourish

• Deep Trouble: The Gulf in Peril
  This is a 15-part series published in the Naples Daily News Sept 28-Oct 12 2003 Part 1, published on September 28, 2003 included an article on the water pollution problems in the Iowa and the Midwest and how this pollution is affecting the Gulf of Mexico "Soiling the Gulf: from Iowa to the Everglades, farm fertilizer and waste pollutes waterways". The article is available online.
• Drever, James I., 1982., "The Geochemistry of Natural Waters", New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 388p.
• Dunne, T. and L. Leopold, 1998, "Water in Environmental Planning", New York: W.H. Freeman and Co., 881 p.
• Emoto, Masaru, 2004. "The Secret Life of Water", New York: Atria Books, 178 p.
• Freeze, R. Allen and John A. Cherry, 1979. "Ground Water", New Jersey: Prentice-Hall 604 p.
• Maas, Arthur, 1979, "….and the Desert Shall Rejoice", New York: Random House
• Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Action Plan
  Describes a national strategy to reduce the frequency, duration, size, and degree of oxygen depletion of the hypoxic zone of the northern Gulf of Mexico and was submitted as a Report to Congress on January 18, 2001.
• Reisner, Marc., 1981, "Cadillac Desert", New York: Random House
• Threatening Iowa's Future: Iowa's Failure to Implement and Enforce the Clean Water Act for Livestock Operations
  Published in May 2004 by the Environmental Integrity Project, examines the impact of livestock operations on Iowa's water quality and how the state is implementing and enforcing federal and state laws to protect water quality.
• Water Quality in the Easter Iowa Basins, Iowa and Minnesota, 1996-98
  USGS in depth study of water quality in Eastern Iowa from 1996-1998 and compared the findings of this study with water quality in other parts of the United States. Some of the major findings from the study are that nutrient concentrations in Iowa streams are some of the highest in the country and that streams in areas with concentrated animal feeding operations have higher nutrient pollution levels than streams in areas with fewer livestock

Plenaries
Global Agripower: How Midwest corn and soy affect your health, wealth and the future of the planet

• Sociology of Rural America
  "Rural America at a Glance." USDA Economic Research Service, Rural Development Research Report 97-1, September, 2003. pp 1-6
  
• "New Farm Bill and U.S. Trade Policy: Implications for Family Farms and Rural Communities"
  Talk by John Ikert at "Grain Place" Farm Tour and Seminar, Aurora, Nebraska, July 27, 2002.
  
• "Does the Family Farm Really Matter?"
  Paper by Dr. Harold Breimyer, Agricultural Economist at University of Missouri on University of Missouri Extension website.
  
• "Policy Challenges for Ag-Based Rural Development"
  Presentation by Christopher Merrett, Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, 2005
  
• Agriculture, Profitability and Rural Communities
  "Strategies to Revitalize Rural America." A compilation of articles from the Center for Rural Affairs Newsletter, by Chuck Hassebrook, November 2003
  
• "Concentration in U.S. Agriculture."
  Report to the National Farmers Union, 1999. Dr. Bill Heffernan, Dr. Mary Hendrickson, Dr. Robert Gronski.
  
• Hunger, Poverty, and Community Food Security
  Community Food Security definitions, policy initiatives, examples of community food security needs and local projects
  
• 'Hunger in the U.S.'
  A report by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) Jan 2007
  
• The adoption of 'food insecurity' to replace 'hunger,' Nov, 2006
  
• FRAC, Hunger & Obesity, July 2006
  
• Diabetes prevention and food access, June 2007
  
• Student report, good references, 2005
• Journal report linking obesity to poverty and rising food prices, Jan 2004
• Population in Rural Areas and on Farms
  W. Goudy. 1999. "Dimensions of the Rural Population." Rural Development News--Vol. 23 No.3.
• D.A. McGranahan and C.A. Beale. 2003. "Understanding Rural Population Loss." Rural America, Vol. 17, Issue 4.
  
• S.J. Goetz and D.L. Debertin. 1996. "Rural Population Decline in the 1980s: Impacts of Farm Structure and Federal Farm Programs." American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Aug., 1996), pp. 517-529
  doi:10.2307/1243270
• USDA Economic Research Service. 2007. "Nonmetro Population Growth Slower Now Than During the 1990s".
• L.A. Whitener and T. Parker. 2007. "Policy Options for a Changing Rural America". Amber Waves May 2007.
• Aging of the Farming Population
  Fred Kirschenmann, "Potential for a New Generation of Biodiversity in Agro-ecosystems of the Future" Agron J 99:373-376 (2007) DOI: 10.2134/agronj2006.0104
• USDA Economic Research Service. 2002. "Farm Structure: Questions and Answers."
• Domestic Violence
  Detailed report is available at http://ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/pub/domviol.htm
• See Rural Assistance Center website for info on rural domestic and intimate partner violence: http://www.raconline.org/info_guides/public_health/domesticviolence.php
• Mental Health and Suicide
  P.G. Beeson. "Some notes and data on rural suicide."
• Rossman, Michael. 2003. "Meeting the Challenges of Suicide Prevention in Rural and Frontier Areas." Presentation to Suicide Prevention Resource Center Regional Planning Conference, October 28-30, 2003.
• G.K. Singh and Mohammad Siahpush. "Increasing Rural-Urban Gradients in US Suicide Mortality, 1970-1997" Am J Public Health. 2002 July; 92(7): 1161-1167.
• Z. Sloboda et al. 1997. "Introduction: Substance Abuse in Rural America". National Institute of Drug Abuse Monograph 168.

Funder Collaborations

• Allison H. Fine, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age
  (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006)
• Lucy Bernholz, Creating Philanthropic Markets (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley, 2004)
• Howard Gardner, Changing Minds (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006)
• Joel L. Fleishman, The Foundation: A Great American Secret (New York: Public Affairs, 2007)
• Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest (New York: Viking, 2007)
• Leading Boldly: Foundations can move past traditional approaches to create social change through imaginative - and even controversial - leadership
  Ronald A. Heifetz, John V. Kania, & Mark R. Kramer Winter 2004

Agricultural Chemicals and Human Health
Are EDCs blurring issues of gender?

• Environmental Health Perspectives
  
• Atrazine Lovers
  
• Epigenetics: The Science of Change. Environmental Health Perspectives
• Myers, J.P. 2006. Good genes gone bad. American Prospect
• Myers, J.P. 2007. Does 'the dose make the poison?'
• Scientists: EPA chemical screening program flawed.
  Dallas Morning News.
• www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org
• www.OurStolenFuture.org

Creating Business Models for Sustainable Food Systems: New Perspectives on the Traditional Bottom Line

• Chris Anderson, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
  (New York: Hyperion, 2006)
• Bo Burlingham, Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big
  (New York: Portfolio, 2005)
• Bill McKibben, Deep Economy (New York: Times Books, 2007)
• George Pyle, Raising Less Corn, More Hell (New York: Public Affairs, 2005)
• Michael H. Shuman, Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age
  (New York: The Free Press, 1998)
• Michael H. Shuman, The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating The Global Competition (San Francisco: Berett-Koehler, 2006)

2006 Forum - Portland, Maine
Farming on Land and at Sea: Visions for Sustainability

Program

2006 Program

Keynote Presentation

Sustainability and ‘Stuff: ' Some Observations on a Biobased/ Carbohydrate Economy, Materials, and Other Pressing Issues
Karl R. Rábago

Marine/Fisheries

Websites

• Penobscot East Resource Center: www.penobscoteast.org
• Damariscotta River Association: http://www.draclt.org/
• Darling Marine Center: http://server.dmc.maine.edu/welcome.html
• The Saltwater Network: www.saltwaternetwork.org
• The Cobscook Bay Resource Center: www.cobscook.org
• The Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance: www.namanet.org

Books
Obstacles & Opportunities for Community-Based Fisheries Management in the United States. (2005). Published by Coastal Enterprises, Inc. in Maine. Available online by clicking here.

Articles
The Working Waterfront http://www.workingwaterfront.com/article.asp?storyID=20060417

Policy

NSAAS News Gleanings: Northeast States Association For Agricultural Stewardship
A weekly gathering of news sent via email. To subscribe, send an email to: mkilkelly@csg.org

Papers/Books

• Northeast Farms to Food: Understanding Our Region's Food System, Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, 2002. Update, 2004. Available at www.nesawg.org
• Agriculture Policy in the Northeast States: Inventory and Innovation, NESAWG, 2003. Available at www.nesawg.org
• The New Power of Regions: A Policy Focus for Rural America -- A Conference Summary, Mark Drabenstott and Katharine H. Sheaff. Available at www.kc.frb.org
• Citizen Panel on the Future of Food in New England, University of New Hampshire Office of Sustainability Programs, 2003. Available at www.sustainableunh.unh.edu/fas/futurefood/index.html
• "Coming into the Foodshed", Jack Kloppenburg, Jr. et al., Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 13, No. 3. (Reprint available from NESAWG.)
• "That We All Might Eat: Regionally Reliant Food Systems for the 21st Century", Sharon Lezberg and Jack Kloppenburg, Jr., Development 1996:4. (Reprint available from NESAWG.)
• "Thinking Regionally, Acting Locally: Emerging Rural Regions in the U.S.", Kendall McDaniel, Center for the Study of Rural America, May 2003. Available at www.kc.frb.org
• "A consideration of the Devolution of Federal Agricultural Policy", Craig Gundersen, et al., November 2004. USDA/ERS AER# 836. Available at www.ers.usda.gov
• Civic Environmentalism: Alternatives to Regulation in States and Communities
  Dewitt John, (October 1993)
• Strategic Ranchland in the Rocky Mountain West. Available at www.farmland.org
• Forests on the Edge. http://www.fs.fed.us/projects/fote/reports/fote-6-9-05.pdf

American Farmland Trust Resources:
Farming on the Edge: What's Happening to Our Farmland? http://www.farmland.org/resources/fote/default.asp

Overall US Map showing loss of farmland: http://www.farmland.org/resources/fote/states/default.asp

Wellness

Websites

• School Nutrition Association http://www.asfsa.org
• Local School Wellness Policies http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Index.aspx?id=1075
• Model Guidelines for Health and Wellness http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Index.aspx?id=1075
  
• Center for Ecoliteracy - Rethinking School Lunch http://www.ecoliteracy.org/programs/index.html

Maine Agriculture

Websites

• Maine Department of Agriculture's local foods marketing www.getrealgetmaine.com
• Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association www.mofga.org
• Eat Local Foods Coalition: www.eatmainefoods.org
• Maine Foods Network www.mainefoods.net (articles & more)
• Harvest Fund http://www.maineinitiatives.org/harvestfund.aspx

Access To Local Markets: Beyond The Farmers' Markets

Websites

• AG in the Classroom http://www.aginclassroom.org/
• Center for Ecoliteracy - Rethinking School Lunch http://www.ecoliteracy.org/programs/rsl.html
• Community Food Security Coalition - Farm to School Project http://www.foodsecurity.org/farm_to_school.html
• Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources farm to school web page: http://www.mass.gov/agr/markets/Farm_to_school/index.htm
• National Farm to School Network http://www.farmtoschool.org/
• Seeds of Solidarity http://www.seedsofsolidarity.org/communities.html

Tools

Potential Customer evaluation form for use by farmers (by Kelly Erwin)

Articles

Farmers Strive to Meet the Demand for Local Food Products

Worst Case Scenario - Distaster Preparedness

Guides

• Disaster Grantmaking: A Practical Guide for Foundation and Corporations
  Published jointly by Council on Foundations and European Foundation Centre November, 2001. Available on-line at: http://www.cof.org/files/Documents/International_Programs/disasterguide.pdf

Related to Post-Hurricanes

• The Gulf Coast Ecological Health and Community Renewal Fund www.rockpa.org/gulfcoastfund
• "In the Wake of the Storm: Environment, Disaster and Race After Katrina"
  Special report by the Russell Sage Foundation, May 15, 2006 http://www.russellsage.org/news/katrinabulletin2
• "The School of Big Storms: The High Cost of Compromising Our Natural Defenses and the Benefits of Protecting Them"
  Joint report by the Gulf Restoration Network and the Sierra Club http://www.healthygulf.org/school_of_big_storms.pdf
• The Funders for Equitable Gulf Coast Rebuilding www.ega.org/fegcr
• "We Want to be at the Table: Helping Environmental Groups Rebuild After Katrina"
  A report compiled by the Environmental Support Center, the Institute for Conservation Leadership and the River Network http://www.icl.org/news/index.php?id=10
• "An Unnatural Disaster: The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina" prepared by the Center for Progressive Reform http://www.progressivereform.org/Unnatural_Disaster_512.pdf

Biofuels - The Bio-Based Future Vision: Way More Than Just Ethanol and Biodiesel!

Websites/Articles/Books

• 25x'25 Vision: By 2025, America's farms, forests and ranches will provide 25 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States, while continuing to produce safe, abundant, and affordable food, feed and fiber. http://www.25x25.org/ and http://www.agenergy.info/index.aspx?mid=38652
• After Oil - American Prospect 2006 http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=Green+Economy
• The Bio-based Energy Analysis Group, BEAG, was established in 2004 by the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Experiment Station. http://beag.ag.utk.edu/
• Biodiesel: A Brief Overview. David Ryan, P.E., NCAT Energy Specialist, December 2004 http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/biodiesel.pdf
• Bioenergy Feedstock Information Network (BFIN) - a gateway to a wealth of biomass feedstock information resources from the U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and other research organizations. http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/main.aspx
• Biofuels for Transportation: Global Potential and Implications for Sustainable Agriculture and Energy in the 21st Century.
  a comprehensive assessment of the opportunities and risks associated with the large-scale international development of biofuels. http://www.worldwatch.org/taxonomy/term/445
• Climate Change and Northeast Agriculture www.climateandfarming.org
  This site provides a unique and comprehensive set of resource materials to help farmers make practical and profitable responses to climate changes. Subjects include: Greenhouse Gases & Climate Change; Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture; and Energy, Greenhouse Gases & Farming.
• The Economic Impacts of Bioenergy Crop Production on U.S. Agriculture Though a number of scenarios were examined to study the impact of bioenergy crop production on the agricultural sector, two cropland scenarios are presented in this report. http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/misc/eco_impacts.html
• Energy Fact Sheets & Reports The Minnesota Project http://www.mnproject.org/pub-energy.html
• Farming and Soil Carbon: A Partial Solution to the Global Warming Problem http://www.mnproject.org/publications/Farming-Carbon%20web_3-31-06.pdf
• Green Procurement Review: Good Environmental Stories for North America. May, 2003, Five Winds International http://www.fivewinds.com/publications/publications.cfm?pid=56
• Iowa BioEconomy Working Group: organized in August 2003, a consortium of individuals and groups who have an interest in developing economically, environmentally and socially sustainable biobased businesses in Iowa. Funding is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Iowa Energy Center, Cargill Dow and the United States Department of Energy. The Partnership's activities include research and development grants and other projects carried out by three working groups. http://www.valuechains.org/bewg/homepage.html
• The Office of Energy Policy and New Uses (OEPNU) assists the Secretary of Agriculture in developing and coordinating Departmental energy policy, programs, and strategies. http://www.usda.gov/oce/energy/

Maine Streaming Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems: Coordination and Collaboration

Regional or Statewide Funder Collaboratives

The list of initiatives generated during the forum and others can be found on our regional initiatives page.

Papers

• Local Donor Collaboration: Lessons from Baltimore and Beyond. Alice C. Buhl, 2004, Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers, www.abagmd.org
• Moving Ideas and Money: Issues and Opportunities in Funder Funding Collaboration. Ralph Hamilton, 2002, Funders'Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities. www.fundersnetwork.org