Source: FLORIDA CERTIFIED ORGANIC GROWERS AND CONSUMERS, INC. submitted to
GAINESVILLE FOOD SYSTEM PLANNING PROJECT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0217876
Grant No.
2009-33800-19621
Project No.
FLAW-2008-04575
Proposal No.
2008-04575
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
LN.B
Project Start Date
May 15, 2009
Project End Date
May 15, 2011
Grant Year
2009
Project Director
Vargas, M.
Recipient Organization
FLORIDA CERTIFIED ORGANIC GROWERS AND CONSUMERS, INC.
P. O. BOX 12311
GAINESVILLE,FL 32604
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This planning project involves stakeholders and communities in Gainesville Florida, a large town with a 2006 estimated population of 108,143. As the home of the nation's second largest university, the University of Florida and one of the nation's biggest community colleges, Santa Fe Community College, Gainesville is also the county seat of Alachua County. Other than a few pockets of low-income neighborhoods, Gainesville's Westside communities typically boast affluent, upper-middle and middle income neighborhoods, while the Eastside is characterized by a mix of lower-middle and lower income neighborhoods. This planning project intends to bring together a network of all stakeholders to the same table to have a voice in discussions about local food systems planning. Stakeholders include members of low-income communities, neighborhood associations, large property owners, local farmers, restaurants, institutions, markets, food distributors, businesses, local government agencies, non-profit community organizations,and others that want to be involved in local food systems planning. Low income populations are often reliant upon government and private sector food assistance.In 2006, Alachua County Department of Community Support Services Poverty Reduction Program reported that the federal government expended $26,374,850 in Food Stamps in Alachua County. An Alachua County Food and Nutrition Survey distributed to over 33 local food assistance organizations reported that the most frequently observed barrier to food security or self-sufficiency was low/insufficient income (despite working) in 77% of respondents. In addition, this survey reported that 17 food assistance organizations assisted 101,008 individuals per month in 2007. These underserved residents often live far from a full service supermarket that would provide them with adequate access to healthy food. And with lack of adequate transportation, residents often must rely on purchasing highly processed food from nearby convenience stores and fast food joints. Due to this complex mix of factors, people on low incomes have the lowest intakes of fruit and vegetables and are far more likely to suffer from diet-related diseases such as cancer, diabetes, obesity and coronary heart disease. As an immediate outcome of this planning grant, stakeholders will devise an achievable plan for developing our local food system to be socially just and ecologically and economically sustainable. This written plan will help to guide future food system related initiatives, policies, programs,and projects. Through this project, FOG hopes to strengthen networks and relationships with collaborators for future Community Food Projects.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
70450101010100%
Knowledge Area
704 - Nutrition and Hunger in the Population;

Subject Of Investigation
5010 - Food;

Field Of Science
1010 - Nutrition and metabolism;
Goals / Objectives
Goals: The ultimate goal of this Planning Project is to discover which aspects of Gainesville's local food system should be focused on for future efforts through an inclusive and collaborative planning process with a specific focus on community food security for low income residents. This process will be open-ended depending on the decisions of stakeholders at meetings facilitated by a FOG and a professional facilitator. Stakeholders that will be involved in collaborative planning include members of low-income communities, neighborhood associations, large property owners, local farmers,restaurants, institutions, markets, food distributors, businesses, local government agencies, non-profit community organizations, and others that want to be involved in local food systems planning. Objectives necessary to achieve the aforementioned goal include: To engage stakeholders in discussions about planning for local food system development. To focus on food security for low-income residents for food systems planning activities. To open initial meetings up to all members of the general public. Because of the collaborative process, the components of local food systems planning will be open-ended until further defined by stakeholders. To initiate a community-based decision making process about how to best plan to integrate assets of Gainesville's low-income communities into food systems planning. To form Food Systems Planning Committees based on involvement with individual components of food systems planning. To form a Local Food Systems Working Group comprised of members from each focused committee. To devise a Local Food Systems Action Plan based on input of stakeholders at committee meetings. To assure that all stakeholders have a voice in authoring the Local Food Systems Action Plan. As an immediate outcome, stakeholders will devise an achievable plan for developing our local food system to be socially just and ecologically and economically sustainable. This written plan will help to guide future food system related initiatives, policies, programs, and projects. Through this project, FOG hopes to strengthen networks and relationships with collaborators for future Community Food Projects. Long-term planning strategies and future Community Food Projects are intended to produce in the following results: 1. Improved access for all community members to an adequate, affordable, nutritious diet. 2. Better marketing channels and processing facilities that create more direct links between farmers and consumers. 3. Increased public participation in food and agriculture related activities and policies. 4. More opportunities for better health, reduced risk of diet-related chronic diseases, and increased enjoyment of locally-produced food among community members. 5. Increased economic stability for small and family farms.
Project Methods
A one-year collaborative planning process will be employed to achieve goals and intended outcomes in four interrelated phases including Community Food Surveys, Public Meetings, Food Systems Planning Committees, and Food Systems Working Group and Action Plan: PHASE 1: Community Food Surveys - FOG will work with the City of Gainesville's Neighborhood Planning Division to distribute Community Food Surveys to neighborhood associations and the larger community. FOG will use the information gleaned from these surveys as one measure of community food security to further develop comprehensive community food systems planning strategies. PHASE 2: Public Meetings - A public meeting will be held to gain the support of community members and bring all interested parties to the table. At the public meeting, stakeholders, low-income community members, partners and collaborators will discuss which aspects of local food system development are most important to them and establish priorities for further focused planning. At least one follow-up public meeting will be held to reach out more to community members who wish to be involved, refine local food systems development initiatives, and break up into Food Systems Planning Committees for focused planning. PHASE 3: Food Systems Planning Committees - Each focused Food Systems Planning Committee will focus on initiatives and community assets that need further planning for adequate food systems development projects and policies. A professional facilitator will be hired to help guide the process. Each committee will hold at least three meetings to discuss outcome-based goals and objectives for their specific focus. FOG has already identified several community assets, initiatives, and programs that stakeholders are already involved in. These possible committees include the Gainesville Blueberry Farm, Loften High School's Agricultural program, Gainesville Initiative for Tasty Gardens (GIFT Gardens), Policy, and Nutrition Education. These may or may not be the subject of focused planning committees depending on the decisions of stakeholders' expressed interests in surveys and at the open-ended public meetings. Each committee will present their plans to the Local Food Systems Planning Working Group. All members of each Food Systems Planning Committee will have a voice in authoring the resulting Local Food Systems Action Plan. PHASE 4: Local Food Systems Working Group and Action Plan - A Local Food Systems Planning Working Group will be comprised of members from each Food Systems Planning Committee. After each committee presents their plans to the group, the group will continue to meet until arriving at a Local Food Systems Action Plan. This written plan will essentially be a comprehensive compilation of each focused committee's plans in a whole systems design. The plan will guide further stakeholder actions for future food systems work. This resulting document will be provided to all stakeholders, published on FOG's high traffic website, and be the subject of future important discussions about local food systems development.

Progress 05/15/09 to 05/15/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Florida Organic Growers (FOG) began a one-year Community Food Planning Project in March 2009 that focused on increasing food security for Gainesville, FL residents with low incomes. As part of this process FOG facilitated several activities outlined below that culminated in the "Local Food Action Plan". A diverse stakeholder group was engaged in helping plan for local food system initiatives and contributed to the final synthesis of recommendations which will be available in print as well as a free PDF download from FOG's website. FOG will present the Local Food Action Plan at the Food Security Summit on November 10, 2010 hosted in Gainesville, FL. FOG will also work with the appropriate agencies to have the plan formally adopted. Three public meetings entitled "Your Community, Your Food" were hosted to gather community support and input. This included a full day kick-off event for food systems planning featuring Tom Stearns, president of Hardwick, Vermont-based High Mowing Organic Seeds and The Center for an Agricultural Economy. A stakeholder breakfast and afternoon workshop provided an opportunity for stakeholder networking. Two additional public meetings were hosted later in the year to further increase public input and identify potential collaborators for subsequent steps of the planning process. A community food assessment survey was administered to the general public to help understand fresh food accessibility, availability and affordability for the greater Gainesville area. Short surveys containing 22 questions were distributed at social service agencies, churches, public meetings, and community events. The survey was also sent to various list-servs and was posted online. A comprehensive review was performed of three existing local government documents containing relevant recommendations on food system development. These comprehensive works helped define and focus the planning process and included the Alachua County Hunger Abatement Plan (HAP), the Energy Conservation Strategies Commission (ECSC) Recommendations for Maximizing Local Food Production and the Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) for Alachua County Comprehensive Plan under development at the time. Four planning committees were assembled based on top ranked concerns from public meetings and the government documents listed above. The planning committees were Farms, Farm to Institution, Education and Gardening and each met up to three times to focus on specific food system issues. Participants helped create a plan of action for their specific issue area which was further synthesized and refined by a single working group, FOG staff and a professional facilitator. A workshop was offered for the general public to inform of two developing online agricultural products database/marketing systems to demonstrate their potential usefulness to growers, consumers, distributors and others. Florida MarketMaker and Gainesville Farm Fresh were demonstrated at this free public workshop. PARTICIPANTS: FOG Project Coordinator Melissa DeSa led the planning project with assistance from FOG Executive Director Marty Mesh, Director of Education & Outreach Christine Hale, Project Coordinators Matt Vargas and Juan Carlos Rodriguez, and intern Carlye Gates from the University of Florida undergraduate University Scholars Program. Two professional facilitators, Peter and Kathy Colverson helped guide the process and provided valuable input along the way. Additional funding was provided through the Lydia B. Stokes Foundation, with in-kind support from various organizations that contributed time to the meetings or waived fees for meeting space. Numerous individuals and representatives from diverse organizations and agencies participated in the planning discussions including farmers, local business owners, public school staff, local government agencies, non-profit organizations, food service providers and distributors and others interested in the future of Gainesville's food system. Among the participants were: Abundant Edible Landscapes, Alachua County (Energy Conservation Strategies Commission, Growth Management Comprehensive Planning Division, Healthy Communities, Poverty Reduction Program, Waste Management), Alachua County Nutrition Alliance, Blue Oven Kitchens, Citizen's Co-op, City of Gainesville, Edible Plant Project, Florida MarketMaker, FreshPoint, Friends of the Gainesville Organic Blueberry Farm, Gainesville Catholic Worker House, Gainesville Farm Fresh, Gainesville Harvest, Hogtown HomeGrown, New North Florida Food Cooperative, Produce Distribution Center, School Board of Alachua County, Santa Fe College, Suwannee River Area Health Education Center and the University of Florida (Organic Garden Cooperative, Office of Sustainability, Gator Dining/Aramark, IFAS Extension and Master Gardeners and Maternal Child Health and Education Research and Data Center). A workshop was offered for the general public to inform of two developing online agricultural products database/marketing systems to demonstrate their potential usefulness to growers, consumers, distributors and others. Florida MarketMaker and Gainesville Farm Fresh were demonstrated at this free public workshop. TARGET AUDIENCES: This project was focused on developing ways in which to increase food security for Gainesville residents with low incomes. A wide variety of stakeholders were included (see above "participants") in the planning process including individuals and representatives from low income communities, farmers, local business owners, public school staff, local government agencies, non-profit organizations, food service providers and distributors and others that helped identify ways in which low income communities could benefit from food systems development. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
Four key recommendations resulting from diverse community stakeholder input provide the foundation for the Local Food Action Plan: 1. Increase food security by increasing food production in Gainesville and surrounding area. 2. Increase availability of fresh and healthy local foods for Gainesville residents by developing an EBT system for local farmers markets. 3. Increase knowledge and awareness of healthy eating through expanded nutrition education and networking. 4. Increase opportunities for local farmers by providing more local products to businesses and institutions through an improved food distribution system. Due to the nature of a short one-year planning project, measurable outcomes are not possible. However, there are some changes in knowledge, action and conditions that may have or will soon become evident as future food systems planning looks for ways to implement the four recommendations listed above. This project helped steer the numerous initiatives and organizations in a common direction, making connections among the various stakeholders and taking project ideas in new and innovative directions. As diverse stakeholders collaborated with one another through activities outlined in the above section "outputs", connections among various food systems components were emphasized, perhaps increasing awareness of other community initiatives that stakeholders were unaware of. FOG continues to ensure the Local Food Action Plan remains active and effective. Grant proposals have been submitted that would help implement some of the recommendations, and continued community stakeholder input is sought from a newly devised Community Food Project Advisory Council to cultivate other ideas and opportunities that would further support recommendations. FOG intends to have the Local Food Action Plan formally adopted by appropriate agencies so that focused efforts remain in place for future food system development. Concurrent with the planning process was the revision of the County's Comprehensive Plan through the Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR). Numerous food systems issues discussed throughout this planning project were included in the EAR, directly applying the community's concerns into policy recommendations pertaining to rural agriculture, urban gardening, local food retention and healthy communities. The EAR Comprehensive Plan update is an impressive movement complementing the Local Food Action Plan that moves the community further towards establishing a framework for food system development in Alachua County.

Publications

  • Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers, Inc. (2010). Community Vision for Food System Development in Gainesville-Alachua County: A Local Food Action Plan. Available at http://www.foginfo.org.