Source: FRIENDS OF THE FINLAND COMMTY submitted to
RURAL FOOD SYSTEM PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT IN FINLAND, MINNESOTA
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1030670
Grant No.
2023-33800-40363
Cumulative Award Amt.
$35,000.00
Proposal No.
2023-00375
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jul 1, 2023
Project End Date
Jun 30, 2025
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[LN.B]- Community Foods Project Planning
Recipient Organization
FRIENDS OF THE FINLAND COMMTY
6866 CRAMER RD
FINLAND,MN 55603
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The Finland Food Chain (FFC) seeks funds to research and build food systems programming in rural Finland, Minnesota. The FFC has built a coalition of local organizations and businesses including two teaching farms and a local grocery store to research and develop food systems programming that works towards our common goal of building a local food system on the North Shore of Minnesota. Within the project timeline, the team will research and develop programming in four areas of the food system: meat processing, food aggregation and distribution, beginning farmer training, and community-based agriculture classes. The project objectives build on the previous three years of work completed by the Finland Food Chain. Using the assets and skills found amongst community partners and the technical assistance on the Food Chain team, the collaborative group will meet these objectives through research, community planning meetings, identifying community partners, and meeting with stakeholders to gather necessary information for program development. The work of the project will follow community processes that have been used throughout the 13-year history of Friends of Finland's work wherein community members are invited to design, collaborate on and lead various elements of the project. The outcome of the project will be programs that increase food access for local residents, build a self-sufficient food system, and provide the necessary education and training for food producers in the Northeast Minnesota region.
Animal Health Component
42%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
43%
Applied
42%
Developmental
15%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6086050301075%
7045010101025%
Knowledge Area
608 - Community Resource Planning and Development; 704 - Nutrition and Hunger in the Population;

Subject Of Investigation
6050 - Communities, areas, and regions; 5010 - Food;

Field Of Science
1010 - Nutrition and metabolism; 3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
This project has eight objectives cenetering around researching, planing, and programming design around several food system issues. We will explore the following food system issues, working collaboartively with our partner organizations: food aggregationa nd distribution, emerging farmer training, localized meat processing, and boradening community education classes. Our guiding objectives for these goals are:1. Identify community champions and current Friends of Finland staff that would like to lead the reasearch and project devlopment for each issue. Support each project lead with team reasources and skills.2. Host regular community outreach events to inform the public of Food Chain happenings, and provide regular opportunities for local individuals to get involved with projects3. Engage community memebrs and leaders in project research4. Clearly identify current gaps in our food system through community survey data- what are people most concerned about and what issues can the Food Chain address?5. Research and plan all apsects of a food aggregation and distribution center program, working with the Finland Co-op to ensure that the program supports both the business and the public need.6. Explore the idea of a meat processing unit or facility in Finland.7. Research and develop a farmer training program in collaboration with Wolf Ridge ELC.8. Plan food and agriculture classes for the local community in collaboration with the Agroecology Center
Project Methods
The Finland Food Chain team, collaborating organizations, and the local community will work together on the following activities to meet the objectives of this project. The work will follow the structure that the project has used for the previous three years, of building community support and involvement, identifying community champions, and working collaboratively to accomplish shared goals.Objective 1-Identifying Community Champions: Friends of Finland will hire a project coordinator for each subject. This coordinator will be the liaison between FoF and each project collaborator, regularly meeting with the partnering organization and providing updates to the work group (the Food Chain Staff). This work may be divided among two people, depending on who applies or who is interested within the Food Chain team or in the greater community. The Food Chain team will write project descriptions related to each project-based objective, and use these descriptions to write job proposals for the project coordinators needed. If the roles are not internally hired, advertisements for the job will be posted on social media and the newspaper, and a formal hiring process will be completed. Local people will be specifically recruited to lead projects.Objective 2-Outreach and Information Campaign: As projects start, the Food Chain will provide announcements and regular updates through several media outlets including their email newsletter, the website, local newspaper and through word of mouth, which is an effective way of spreading news in our community. Partner organizations will share updates through their websites and newsletters as needed. Further, the Food Chain will host a formal public information meeting and discussion, where current projects will be described, as well as the work of the Food Chain in general. Between four-six events will be held each year where ongoing work will be presented.Objective 3-Community Engagement: As we try to identify and uplift local people in leading our projects, we will continue that ethic by reaching out directly to people in the community and encouraging them to apply for any posted positions. Further, we will invite community members, at our regular outreach events to join, champion or propose food systems projects as they see fit.Objective 4- Surveying and Prioritizing Projects: Several years ago the Food Chain conducted an extensive community survey related to food systems issues. We will review this survey, as much of our staff has changed since then, and develop a strategic plan for our projects based in part on this survey.Objective 5-Food Hub Programming: First, the project coordinator will conduct all necessary research for program development through online, print and interview-based research. Second, the coordinator will develop partnerships with local farmers, regional food hubs, and local businesses to develop programming that fits the needs of each of these stakeholder groups. Lastly the coordinator will provide regular project updates, monthly, to the Food Chain staff and the Friends of Finland Director.Objective 6-Meat Processing Research and Exploration: The coordinator for the meat processing project will focus on research rather than program development, to determine if a program should be developed at all. This coordinator will study other small, rural models of meat processing statewide and nationally. They will also survey the need for small meat processing regionally, determining how many producers would use a meat processing facility and what the impact on the local food system would be. The project lead will also meet regularly with local people and producers to actively engage people in the research process. At the end of the project timeline, the coordinator will have a recommendation on whether to develop a meat processing facility & program or not.Objective 7-Farmer Training Program Development: The project lead, already present on the Food Chain staff, will meet with Wolf Ridge farm manager, Sarah Mayer, to plan a farm apprenticeship training program at the Wolf Ridge Farm site. The two coordinators will develop a curriculum plan, capital campaign, and apprentice recruitment over the next year.Objective 8-Community Education Programming: A number of Food Chain staff, each with varying areas of expertise, will gather the information and personnel necessary to develop and conduct community education classes in collaboration with the North Shore Agroecology Center. The staff will begin the project by sending out a survey through our regular media outlets and newsletters suggesting class topics and also inviting people to suggest or champion classes. This survey will guide the classes that we conduct. The staff will then develop each class by gathering resources and teachers as needed. After the course curriculum is developed, the classes will be advertised at local businesses, on media outlets, through newsletters, and the local newspaper. Registration for the course will be available through our website.

Progress 07/01/23 to 06/30/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this reporting period is, broadly speaking, residents of Northern Lake County, Minnesota. More specifically, the planning projects over the last year have targeted rural residents who homestead and garden for self-sufficiencyor grow food commercially for local markets. Another target audience is local food consumers and emerging farmers seeking farm management training. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Food Chain provides regular community outreach and communication through monthly newsletters. It is connected to regional food systems groups that share information and project updatesin their networks, which is how projects have been primarily spread through communities of interest. Wolf Ridge ElC, a collaborator in planning the Farm Apprenticeship, has also posted several publications and blog posts about the program to interested people. The Nourish the North event also spread the project planning results throughout our town and region through specific press releases. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The next reporting period will focus on goals related to meat processing, community classes, and food aggregation. The team will focus on planning the project's implementation phase in 2026 by analyzing the planning period results and identifying the next steps for implementing the projects in the Finland community. More work must be done relating to food aggregation and local meat processing. The Food Chain will work specifically on planning improvements and actionable steps towards an implementation grant regarding the research that has been done, thus regarding meat processing and food aggregation, which have become the most apparent needs in our food system. The specific goals in the last year of the project are to: 1) Plan a multi-year program for food aggregation in Finland, MN, that would collaborate with local vendors and institutions, increase food security, and fit well into a CFP implementation grant application. 2) Analyze successes and growth areas for poultry-processing mentorship and the impact on marketable meat products in the region. 3) Plan a poultry-processing mentorship program that increases local meat production and processing, food security, and fit well into a CFP implementation grant application.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Under goal one, the Food Chain identified a leader for each objective and sub-project within the grant, except for the food aggregation project, which was collaboratively led. For goals two and three, the Food Chain, in collaboration with the North Shore Agroecology Center, hosted a food systems visioning session that engaged the community in planning and programs related to the grant. The monthly food chain newsletter also encourages the community to bring ideas about food systems planning as needed. For goal four, the food visioning event and a review of previous food chain community surveys allowed the Food Chain to clarify ongoing gaps in the local food system. Additionally, the meat processing project coordinators conducted several surveys to address meat processor concerns and needs in the area. Progress under the food aggregation goal has been incremental, with research into a community root cellar and processing space in collaboration with the Finland Co-op. Site needs and costs were analyzed through the study, and the coordinators successfully applied for several grants to support future work in planning and development. The meat processing coordinators reviewed data on meat processing from regional researchers and survey data from meat producers. They found that a meat processing facility in Finland would likely not be possible shortly without the Finland Co-op expansion in place or additional food aggregation space. As those projects are still several years from completion if they are moved forward, the coordinators shifted planning to explore small-scale meat processing through the poultry exception rule, working with local producers and homesteaders to provide mentorship on raising and processing meat chickens for small, direct-to-consumer markets. This scale of meat processing has proved to be more suitable and scalable for the region rather than a complete facility. The farmer training program was planned with an online curriculum, field days, and mentorship from regional farmers. The program is still piloting but was successfully planned for the 2024 season. Under goal 8, the Food Chain and Agroecology Center has successfully planned and hosted five workshops ranging from winter cooking classes to jam-making and, most importantly, wild rice harvesting and tool preparation.

Publications