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A Closer look at Fresh Promises — Iowa’s
“Buy Fresh, Buy Local” Campaign
Raising the profile of local foods more than doubled sales for some Iowa producers The
Fresh Promises report published by the Center is a handbook for local rural community development. Here is additional information about one of the programs highlighted in Fresh Promises.
A key to rural development is generating income on a local level. The “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” (BFBL) campaign has more than doubled the annual money spent in the northeast region of Iowa on locally produced food, according to Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI), a nonprofit organization.
“Our success in Northeast Iowa was very encouraging,” said Robert Karp, executive director of PFI. The group has since rolled out the process in central Iowa and is meeting with regional groups across Iowa to continue the growth.
How does the process work?
The BFBL project succeeds because it offers a step-by-step approach easily replicated in other areas. PFI raised the profile of local foods through advertising and placing Buy Fresh, Buy Local signs and banners.
They distributed over 20,000 Buy Fresh, Buy Local directories featuring over 200 farmers and provided promotional materials and assistance to farmers, retailers, and restaurants. They also sent weekly faxes to eight restaurants, seven institutions, and four grocery stores listing available produce and prices from local farmers. |
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>> The 2005 Practical Farmers of Iowa Annual Conference and 20th Anniversary Celebration will be held January 14 and 15 at the Airport Holiday Inn in Des Moines, Iowa. Saturday features a dual keynote with Stewart Smith, University of Maine ag economist and Woody Tasch, CEO of the Investors’ Circle, a national network of investors and entrepreneurs seeking financial, social, and environmental returns.
The event also includes Friday afternoon and Saturday workshops, a Friday night 20th Anniversary program, a Saturday All-Iowa Buffet, and more. For more information, contact Sandra Trca-Black at 515.232.5661 ext 101,
sandra@practicalfarmers.org
or visit www.practicalfarmers.org >> Stewart Smith will examine the role public policy can play in reintegrating crops and livestock at a January 17 seminar on the
ISU campus in Ames. The seminar begins at noon in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union. A public reception follows the seminar. Check the Leopold Center website for more information,
www.leopold.iastate.edu >> Find out how to make energy a profitable new crop. The fifth Harvesting Clean Energy conference January 20-21, 2005 in Great Falls, Montana will feature experts and farmers experienced with clean energy projects.
Speakers will walk through renewable energy feasibility and economic assessments, technical and financial resources, and finding markets. Register online at
www.harvestcleanenergy.org
or call 360.943.4241. >> “Building Better Rural Places” is a comprehensive guide to over 75 federal grant programs supporting innovative enterprises in agriculture and forestry; sustainable land and resource management; value-added and diversified enterprises; and community and economic development. The guide is available at
www.attra.org/guide |
Sounds like a big process and it was. But the results are impressive. Almost all the participating farmers saw their sales increase, with more than a quarter of the farmers registering a 1-to- 5 percent gain and another quarter seeing their gross sales increase from 6-to-10 percent. Twenty-eight percent saw the sales jump off the chart with increases from 11 to more than 20 percent.
With results like this, it is understandable that the project is rolling out in many places in Iowa, with six other communities preparing to start in the spring. Karp says the plans right now are to roll it out statewide in the coming years.
Great results – but the first step is … ?
But if all this sounds like a big effort, with lots of money in marketing and lots of effort, you might be wondering, how does your community get started?
“I think creating a directory of local farmers is a great beginning point,” said Karp. “For most groups, raising $3,000 to $5,000 – that seems doable.” Just listing the potential providers of locally available fresh foods produces results, he added.
As John Norwood, coordinator for the central Iowa effort points out, “If this urban-rural partnership can persuade local consumers and businesses to purchase just five percent of their food from local producers, that would translate to $70 million in annual reinvestments to our local economy.”
They are on their way. In this initial central Iowa campaign, over 1,000 consumers returned cards pledging to “Buy Fresh, Buy Local.”
If you are in Iowa, for more information contact Practical Farmers of Iowa www.practicalfarmers.org
If you are outside Iowa, check with contact Joani Walsh of Food Routes
www.foodroutes.org to see if there is a coordinator for your region to help you get started.
Contact: Russ Gifford for more information on this article,
russg@cfra.org Jon Bailey, jonb@cfra.org
and Kim Preston, kimp@cfra.org authored our Fresh Promises
report, available on our website, www.cfra.org
Annual Gathering: Celebrate with Us
New and old friends are invited to the Center’s Annual Gathering next month
Rural development, small business, marketing, agriculture, state and federal policy – this meeting has them all. More importantly, it brings people who care about rural America together to explore how to make it thrive
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We invite you to join us for the Center for Rural Affairs Annual Gathering and Small Business Fair on February 26, 2005 at the Lifelong Learning Center, located at 801 E. Benjamin Avenue in Norfolk,
Nebraska, adjoining the Northeast Community College campus.
Registration runs from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Early arrivals can browse the Small Business Fair, cup of coffee in hand. After a brief welcoming session, we head to the first track of teach-in sessions.
Our focus turns to the Small Business Fair from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Up to 20 small rural businesses will fill the Learning Center’s atrium. Participate in our “visit all vendors” promotion, and you might be the lucky winner of a Small Business Fair grand prize later in the afternoon.
The second set of teach-ins will run from 11:00 a.m. until just before noon. A delicious buffet lunch of local, family-farm produced beef and pork, potatoes, and greens will be served from noon to 1:00 p.m. The cost for lunch is $7.00.
Chuck Hassebrook, Center executive director, will cap the luncheon segment with his address, “Why Rural Matters.” There’ll be time for another spin around the Small Business Fair before the drawing for the give-away gift baskets.
The final set of breakout sessions will run from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Afterward participants can socialize with friends old and new, mingle with Center staff and board, and make final purchases at the Small Business Fair. Everything wraps up by 4:00 p.m.
Teach-in topics will include health care, school finance and property taxes, wind power, water issues, agritourism efforts, agriculture marketing, cooperatives, transitioning to organic, the Home Town Competitiveness Program, wealth transfer in communities, small business legal issues, better customer service, federal rural policy, the federal budget, and the Conservation Security program.
Watch for a final schedule on the Center for Rural Affairs Annual Gathering and Small Business Fair in next month’s newsletter and in your local media. Please invite your friends and neighbors to join us at this year’s gathering. Together we make a difference for rural people.
Contact: Marie Powell, mariep@cfra.org
or 402.687.2100 x 1011 for more information on the annual gathering or check the Center’s website,
www.cfra.org
Landing in Rural America — Airborne Couple Drawn to Kansas
Severe weather forced a couple to land their plane in rural Smith Center, and it became their dream home
Last month, I talked about rural America and what it takes to save it. The key is in people who already live in rural areas and those who are returning to rural communities. Here is one fascinating example.
Bruce and Bobbi Miles were well-established professionals living in Denver, Colorado, where they both taught at the University of Colorado. Bobbi did research for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in airborne studies, while Bruce did most of the flying. Together they owned a two-seater airplane.
On a trip in 1999, Bruce and Bobbi were forced to land their plane in Smith Center, Kansas (pop. 1800) to avoid severe storms that were upon them. They landed and found a local bed and breakfast. They were forced to stay in the town for three days waiting for the weather to change. Instead of hating the experience, the couple fell in love with the community and the rural serenity it offered.
By total irony, their plane was forced to land over this area twice more, once for darkness and the other due to running out of fuel. They were convinced it was a sign for them as they felt something special for Smith Center.
They decided that if Bruce could get a job somewhere in the Smith Center vicinity, they would move. He did “land” a job at nearby Kensington, and together they bought the bed and breakfast they had stayed in when they first fell in love with rural life in 1999.
Bobbi Miles took her passion for the area and region and now is the Smith Center Economic Development Director. While talking with Bobbi, I found she chuckles over the fact that she cleans toilets part of the day while trying to better the community through her other job.
As a research scientist, she never dreamed this would have happened prior to 1999. Now she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Last month, I wrote how the rural experience differs for all those involved. The Miles family proved that in defining theirs, they also helped rural Smith Center, Kansas to become an even better place.
Contact: Michael L. Holton, michaellh@cfra.org
for more information on community revitalization.
Travel Scholarships for Food Alliance Meeting
Travel scholarships are available for Extension educators interested in attending the Food Alliance Midwest’s fourth Annual Meeting on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005. The meeting will be held in the Twin Cities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Scholarships will reimburse Extension educators for up to 200 miles of travel to attend the meeting, and will cover registration costs. The scholarships are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information and/or to reserve a scholarship, please contact Food Alliance Midwest Certification Coordinator Ray Kirsch at 651.653.0618 or
ray@foodalliance.org
Food Alliance is one of the nation’s leading certifiers of environmentally friendly and socially responsible farms and foods
http://www.foodalliance.org Food Alliance Midwest, a regional affiliate of Food Alliance, finished 2004 with over 70 market partnerships and more than 100 different Food Alliance certified products.
At the annual meeting, educators will have an opportunity to learn how farmers are using Food Alliance certification and how Food Alliance market partners—distributors, retailers, and food service providers—are working with certified farms to capitalize on consumer demand for local, environmentally friendly, socially responsible foods.
Corporate Farming Notes
Supreme Court hears checkoff case; asthma and hog farms; Iowa studies air quality
>> On December 8, 2004, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in
Veneman v Livestock Marketing Association. The Supreme Court must determine if the mandatory one-dollar checkoff fee violates producers’ rights of free speech and free association under the First Amendment.
The case began in June 2002 when Federal Judge Charles Kornman ruled the checkoff unconstitutional and determined the program would come to a close that July. USDA appealed to the 8th Circuit Court, stating the speech was “government speech” and not subject to the First Amendment. The 8th Circuit granted USDA the right to continue collecting the checkoff fee while they examined the case.
In July 2003, the 8th Circuit upheld the Federal Court ruling, stating it did infringe upon free speech protected under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court is expected to issue their decision by July of this year.
>> The University of Iowa released a study that suggests children living on farms producing hogs have higher rates of asthma than those living on farms with no hogs. The study focused on 644 rural Iowa children, aged up to 17 years.
The study found that 46 percent of children living on farms producing more than 500 hogs suffer from asthma. On farms where antibiotics are administered, 55.8 percent of children suffer from asthma. The asthma rate for children living on farms with no hogs was 33.6 percent.
The study’s authors believe the results indicate a need for awareness and prevention measures, as well as additional analysis of the environmental and genetic factors of childhood asthma. The study was published in Environmental Health Perspectives. View it online at:
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2004/7240/7240.pdf
>> The Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) air monitoring studies near large-scale animal feeding operations indicate levels of ammonia that far exceed the health standard of 150 ppb as recommended by a 2002 University of Iowa study.
The Department of Health Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry set a standard of 300 ppb. Records of the DNR study indicate levels reached as high as 1,751 ppb near one Iowa hog operation. A reading from a different hog operation indicated 900 ppb.
The Iowa State Legislature called for the study, but it is unclear if they will enact an ammonia standard.
Contact: Traci Bruckner, tracib@cfra.org
for more information.
New Farmers’ Guide to GMOs Available
A new publication, Farmers’ Guide to GMOs, will help farmers understand genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the many issues associated with them. The guide begins with a statistical review of commercial production of genetically modified (GM) crops by American farmers. Other sections cover federal regulations, legal limits of GMO contracts, farmers’ right to save seed, patent infringement, liability issues, and protection from contamination.
The guide was published by the Farmers’ Legal Action Group (FLAG) and the Rural Advancement Foundation International - USA (RAFI-USA). You can download the guide in PDF format from FLAG’s website,
http://www.flaginc.org or contact David Moeller at 651.223.5400 or
dmoeller@flaginc.org for information.
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Feature
article:
Open Letter to Secretary of Agriculture Designate
Mike Johanns
Dear Governor Johanns,
Congratulations on your appointment. With it, you have the opportunity to leave a proud legacy. You can be the Secretary who stands up for rural people and sets a new direction in federal policy – one that offers genuine economic opportunity and a future for our communities.
Rural people are yearning for change. Most of us want to see vibrant small towns based on strong family farms and small businesses. We want opportunity for our children and grandchildren to earn a decent living and raise families in our communities. We want our churches and schools to survive and thrive.
But current federal policies move things in the opposite direction, which is neither desirable nor necessary. They shower support on mega farms while under investing in programs that offer a future to small communities, rural small business, and family farming and ranching.
Some of these policies come from Congress and some from within USDA. In both cases, you are in a unique position to lead. You have the power to change policies set by USDA. You have the bully pulpit to challenge Congress to set a new path in the next farm bill and to rally rural people behind it.
Rural people voted heavily for the Administration you are joining. Many based their votes on moral values. You have the opportunity to deliver to your supporters by championing fundamental reform. You can demonstrate commitment to moral values by setting new directions at USDA that reflect the Biblical call for fairness, stewardship of the earth, and justice for those being left out of material prosperity.
Cut Smart in the Coming Budget Battle
You can start by providing leadership on the budget. There will almost certainly be cuts at USDA to address the spiraling budget deficit. The key question is where to cut.
The best solution is to cap payments to mega farms, as proposed by Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. The single most effective thing Congress could do to strengthen small and mid-size farms is to stop subsidizing mega farms to drive their smaller neighbors out of business by bidding land away from them.
It is essential if there is to be room in the federal budget to invest in programs that reinvigorate rural America. While Congress and the President have protected payments to mega farms in recent years, they’ve eliminated 90 percent of the new money in the farm bill for rural development.
They’ve slashed funding for broadband access and the Value Added Producer Grant Program that helps family farms develop new markets and capture a fairer share of the profit in the food system. They’ve cut the innovative new Conservation Security Program that pays farmers and ranchers based on the steps they take to protect the environment. That program reverses the implicit bias in federal farm policy against the best environmental stewards.
It will take courageous leadership to take on powerful mega farm interests and redirect USDA spending to create a future for rural America. But courageous leadership is what creates legacies.
Invest in Rural Communities and Entrepreneurship
You can help America by focusing more USDA spending on rural communities and small business development.
As much as we may not like it, we are beyond the point at which agriculture alone can provide the basis for strong rural communities. That reality is not reflected at USDA. The next farm bill provides a great opportunity to correct that. But someone must lead the way.
Shaving just 10 percent off the cost of farm programs by capping payments to mega farms could free up funding to double USDA spending on rural development. One of the best places to invest is small business. In the most rural parts of our region, it accounts for most of the new employment. Yet, USDA has very limited funding to support it.
With your leadership, the farm bill could provide the funding to offer training, technical assistance, and loans to worthy small entrepreneurs in every rural community across the nation. It could draw from the bipartisan New Homestead Act to establish matching funds for modest-income rural people to save money to start a business, buy a home, or improve their education.
Champion Beginning Farmers and Ranchers
The future of family farming and ranching depends on creating opportunity for beginners to get started. They need a champion. Most farm groups don’t speak for them, but the Secretary could.
Be innovative. We need the traditional credit programs for beginners, but we also need new approaches. Support efforts to link beginning and retiring farmers. Help develop new incentives for retiring farmers to rent or sell land and other assets to beginners on favorable terms. Focus research, marketing, conservation, and risk management programs on meeting the unique needs of beginning farmers. We can give you ideas on how to do it.
Markets for Family Farms
The most exciting new family farm opportunity is consumers who care where there food comes from.
Most consumers trust family farms more than corporate farms to provide safe food in an environmentally responsible manner. And many are willing to pay premium prices for food produced in ways they support – on small farms using natural and environmentally responsible methods.
That will create opportunity if we can link those consumers with the family farmers and ranchers who can provide what they want. USDA can provide grants to family farmers and ranchers to build new cooperatives and band together to capture those markets. It can provide the research that farmers need to respond. For example, consumers want natural pork raised in bedded systems without antibiotics, but research on production challenges in such systems is scant. USDA can change that.
Many family farmers continue to rely on open commodity markets. You can help there too. Today, when family farmers sell hogs and cattle, they get less than large corporate farms with the economic power to demand volume premiums. That is a violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act, but it’s not being enforced.
You have the legal authority to change that without any further action by Congress. You have only to issue regulations to enforce the anti price discrimination provisions of the 1921 Packers and Stockyards Act. It’s long overdue and you could be the Secretary who makes history by doing it.
Steer USDA Grants to Projects that Will Create Rural Opportunity
Some of the greatest opportunities for leadership are in areas where you can act without going through Congress.
As Secretary, you will administer billions of dollars in research and marketing programs. For the most part, those programs have never achieved their potential to strengthen family farms and rural communities. To the contrary, much federally funded research has led to expensive new technologies that reduce the farm and rural share of profit in the food systems, prompting farm consolidation and rural community decline.
Here is a simple idea that could have a profound impact. Whenever a university or organization applies for a grant from USDA, evaluate the project in part by what it does to strengthen family farms, rural small businesses, and small towns. Reward projects that help. Do the same with in-house USDA research projects. Challenge your staff to help rural people and communities.
There are limits to this approach. Some very basic research cannot be evaluated in this way. And every funded project should be of high quality, regardless of its intentions. But deliberately focusing USDA’s internal funding decisions on rewarding projects that help rural America is only common sense. And it is long overdue.
Conservation-Based Development
We all have a moral obligation to leave the land to the next generation in as least as good of condition as we receive it. Conservation is essential in its own right.
And with some creative approaches, conservation could provide a new basis for rural community revitalization. It can happen with new incentives in USDA programs for landowners to work in partnership with communities. Providing access to restored natural space yields a development edge. It draws young families to live and start businesses. And it can provide the basis for small tourism-based businesses.
The Conservation Partnerships and Cooperation Program grants the Secretary of Agriculture broad authority to adjust conservation program rules to work in partnership with communities. We encourage you to use it.
In Conclusion
Rural people are looking for a better future and a different approach from government.
We encourage you to grasp the opportunity to lead the way and, in the process, create a legacy to be remembered.
Sincerely,
Chuck Hassebrook,
Executive Director
Center for Rural Affairs
Contact: Chuck Hassebrook, chuckh@cfra.org
or 402.687.2100 x 1018 for more information.
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REAP Rural Roundtables Created to Reach More Small Businesses
Pilot program debuts a new model of REAP business organizing and networking to assist entrepreneurs
REAP, the Center’s Rural Enterprise Assistance Project, has launched a pilot program of organizing roundtable groups in rural Nebraska.
Glennis McClure, REAP Women’s Business Center Director explained, “Small businesses can benefit from the networking and ongoing education built into the format of the roundtable meeting. Participants will also have access to all REAP member benefits.”
REAP benefits include lending products, technical assistance, other REAP training opportunities, an online member directory, and the REAP Business Update newsletter. Most importantly according to Glennis, roundtable members can use the expertise of the REAP Business Specialist in their area.
How do the Roundtables work? Every other month, REAP will post a discussion topic on the REAP website and publish it in the Update, REAP’s monthly newsletter.
Generally the topic will provide some background information and suggested discussion questions for use by local roundtable groups. The give and take nature of a roundtable discussion can really add impact and insight to the information.
The roundtable groups will be locally led and driven based on the needs and interest of the members – just like current REAP organizations. REAP’s goal is to pilot at least four roundtable groups in rural Nebraska communities during the next year.
The roundtable networking groups will help REAP increase outreach to small business owners. The staff will evaluate the effectiveness of the roundtable concept and look to implement it fully after the pilot year. Current REAP members will be invited to future advisory meetings to further shape and refine the new approach.
If you are interested in taking part in a REAP Roundtable discussion or for more information, contact Glennis McClure, REAP Women’s Business Center Director at 402.645.3296 or via email at
reapwbc@diodecom.net
Fresh Promises for America’s Rural Places
Presenting strategies and practices that are helping to revitalize rural communities
Sowing the Seeds -- In March of 2003, a small group of rural Nebraska United Methodists, under the auspices of Peace with Justice Ministries formed the Sowing the Seeds Covenant group. It has grown to include representatives from other denominations as well.
The goals of the group are to pray, study, and act for rural Nebraska. The newly formed group decided that the design of a Christian-based adult study could be helpful in fostering healthy discussions about God’s dream for rural people, their communities, and the land.
During the past two months, the project has piloted in various locations throughout the state of Nebraska. It is designed for small groups of 12 for six 60-minute sessions.
The goals for the sessions include:
- Encouraging discussion about trends in rural Nebraska communities.
- Explore biblical understandings of land management.
- Discuss how public policy shapes our future.
- Discuss the pros and cons of policy proposals for a better future.
- Things you can do to help create a better rural future.
Chuck Hayes and Kim Preston, from the Center for Rural Affairs, had the opportunity to participate in one of the “pilot projects” in Lyons, Nebraska. The group consisted of local community residents and pastors of different congregations.
Each week the conversations and ideas came more easily as people began to see the downfall of their own community in another light – what has been driving away our youth, why can’t we hold on to factory-based business, how did the decline of the family farm start, what can I do to better my community and state?
These discussions can’t be answered by a small group of people. This is a snowball-effect project. It starts out small and gradually each snowflake picks up a few more until the snowball is so large it must be dealt with.
The Lyons pastors have agreed to hold more study sessions with their congregations and also to advance the curriculum to their respective church administrations.
Center executive director Chuck Hassebrook helped develop the curriculum for the adult study. For more information on this new project, please contact Peace with Justice Ministries, 3735 No. 39th St, Omaha NE 68111-2621.
Contact: Kim Preston, kimp@cfra.org
for more information or to submit ideas for this column.
Center Yard Signs Available for a Limited Time
We still have a couple of boxes left of our heavy duty, vinyl-coated outdoor signs. They’re a great way for you to show your support for rural America and for the Center. The Center’s name, web address, and logo are prominently featured.
These attractive, durable signs are lightweight and can be quickly mounted by folding them over any post or fence. They make a great statement to neighbors and passers-by that you care about and support rural issues.
To request a sign, call Rita English-Murphy, the friendly live voice on the line when you call our Lyons office at 402.687.2100. You can also send an email to
info@cfra.org with your mailing address.
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