Grassroots Guide to Federal Farm and Food Programs

Overview

Developed by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, this guide offers an overview of federal programs and policies most important to sustainable agriculture and how they can be used by farmers, ranchers, and grassroots organizations nationwide.The guide also contains dozens of competitive grant programs intended to help grassroots organizations better serve communities and farmers.

Marketing for Food Hubs

Overview

This website serves as a resource hub and academic paper on the role of food hubs in marketing to the end-user, including:

  • Customizable marketing flyer templates
  • Best practices for print and social media marketing (with links to other useful resources)
  • Inspirational examples from food hubs doing a great job
  • Academic hybrid paper, with both a) research on the history and future potential of food hubs, and b) actionable recommendations for food hubs to help their customers market products and maintain source-identification to the end-user consumer.

March 2017

Colorado Enterprise Fund: Improving Food System through Healthy Food Financing to Small Businesses

Overview

This profile by Reinvestment Fund highlights Colorado Enterprise Fund’s experience building its healthy food financing portfolio to provide insights for other CDFIs engaged in this work across the nation.

August 2010

Getting to Market: Supermarket Access in Lower Income Areas

Overview

The Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) performed a detailed analysis of supermarket access in 10 metropolitan areas, and the results are discussed in a new video, “Getting to Market.” Results from the analysis encourage users to view the locations of, and generate reports about, low-supermarket-access communities within the 10 metropolitan areas.

Building Success of Food Hubs Through the Cooperative Experience

Overview

This report focuses on the experiences of four cooperatives in New York and Pennsylvania in aggregating, marketing, and distributing produce on behalf of their members.

June 2017

Treasure Coast Food Bank

Overview

Based on market analysis and research provided by Reinvestment Fund, Florida Community Loan Fund developed a strategy described as a “supermarket plus” model of fresh food financing where food retail is a piece of a larger strategy focused on food security and healthy eating. This brief profile is an example of this FCLF strategy in action through a partnership with Treasure Coast Food Bank to expand its ability to distribute and process fresh fruits and vegetables.

June 2017

U.S. Veterans Serve at Home by Combating Food Deserts

Overview

The shuttering of three area Walmart stores forced residents in a 44 square mile swath of southwest Wichita, Kansas to live in a food desert. However through the partnership and support of the CDFI Fund, Enterprise Community Loan Fund and veteran-owned business Honor Capital, low-income families again have access to healthy food options and locally-driven economic opportunity.

June 2017

Regaining Our Future: An Assessment of Risks and Opportunities for Native Communities in the 2018 Farm Bill

Overview

Commissioned by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, this report represents the most comprehensive analysis ever conducted on Farm Bill issues relevant to Indigenous populations in the United States. Regaining Our Future argues that Native communities must be prepared to better advocate for their interests, defend programs on which their most vulnerable members depend, and look for new ways to achieve greater food sovereignty through reform of federal policies.

USDA Resource Guide for American Indians & Alaska Natives

Overview

Developed by Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, this guide aims to support Tribal communities gain a better understanding of the vast USDA programs and funding authorities for support of their visions.

An Introduction to the US Food System: Perspectives from Public Health

Overview

The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future is now offering an updated, on-demand version of our free, online Coursera course. In this short course, we provide a brief introduction to the U.S. food system and how food production practices and what we eat impacts the world in which we live. We discuss some key historical and political factors that have helped shape the current food system and consider alternative approaches from farm to fork.

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