We have some good news for a Monday morning.  The USDA CSREES has awarded a 3-year, $1.1 million Regional Partnerships for Innovation grant to intensify and extend our network!  The overall goal of the project is to support the networking needed for rapid commercialization of innovations emerging in production and marketing of specialty crops in local food systems.  (Click the link below to read more)

To those with an interest in academic research on the topics discussed by members of this group, there has just been published a special edition of the journal "Local Environment" devoted entirely to the topic of "Towards Sustainable Local Food Systems." It includes specific articles/essays on direct marketing, farmers markets, and consumer perceptions, among others. Unfortunately this link may be of little help because it appears that there is no access to the online versions of the articles yet, but for what it's worth I'll send the link anyway.

One of our students sent this article from Dairy Today. You might be interested in following the associated research, particularly with respect to value-added enterprises.

Dairy industry launches sustainability initiative