Groups directory

Advance NorthEast Ohio Partners

Casey Hoy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:55:49 -0500

This group is focused on building the Northeast Ohio local and regional economy based on local and regional food systems, renewable energy, distributed manufacturing, enhancing natural capital in the region and sustainable use of the regions resources. The work of this group is expected to contribute significantly to the Advance Northeast Ohio Plan.

Circles of Support Pilot Project

Sara Ward — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:22:36 -0500

Working in urban neighborhoods with low-income households, single parents with young children, etc.:

1.) Provide education about how and why to select and use healthy food products and make healthy choices.

2.) Education on what are the barriers to selecting and using healthy food products.

Consumer-driven production practices, consumer education opportunities, educational needs for the producer

Leah Miller — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:17:43 -0500

Three main areas of emphasis were chosen by this group:

1. Create a website to distribute information on the complete list of
small grains that can be grown in Ohio, their agronomic and nutritional
characteristics, and promote educational activities that support
production and consumption of these crops.

Entrepreneurs in Agriculture

Abbe Turner — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:15:57 -0400

This group will explore diverse and unique attributes of agricultural businesses- seasonality, production modeling, distribution and food safety, and offer a network of support to those interested in everything from marketing to business planning in an effort to grow local food businesses.

Expanding meat processing capabilities to meet the needs of consumers, processors, and diverse cultural preferences

Francis Fluharty — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:26:53 -0500

The meat processing group chose several ways to build infrastructure for local meat processing and value added enterprises:

1. Job creation through public/private partnerships, training,
retraining and building the labor force needed for meat processing
facilities, particularly for smaller scale producers.

2. Document and educate regarding processing procedures that meet the needs of emerging cultural groups in Ohio.

3. Identify and network with processors who may be willing to change and adapt to these emerging needs.

Greener Acres

Steve Bosserman — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:05:39 -0400

To establish an openly collaborative forum wherein participants:

Local Food Systems Computer Modeling, GIS, Data(mining) group

Sam Rose — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:23:25 -0400

This is a meta group to explore, discuss, post blog posts, ideas, and resources about technology applications, best practices, and resources for Computer Simulation, GIS and Datamining of local food systems.

This could be useful, for instance, for people exploring logistics, crunching numbers of all kinds, looking at environmental impacts, modeling or datamining around crop and livestock growth rates and conditions, market explorations, importing open data from public sources and using it, like data from NOAA, US Census, etc

Logistics, particularly transportation for increasing volume of local foods

Trevor Clatterbuck — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:10:52 -0500

Localized hubs for small producers are currently key to consolidating
supplies into commercially viable volumes. Work to develop more such
hubs, and to help producers understand the requirements of larger scale
processors and outlets, could stimulate more movement of locally
produced foods.

Main Group

Casey Hoy — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:57:21 -0500

Welcome to a network of the many people who support local food production and consumption in Ohio!

Ohio has the land, soils, climate, and people needed to produce fresh, affordable and healthy food. We have a growing community of consumers and producers committed to keeping farms on the landscape, promoting energy efficiency, building wealth in our communities, and building health in our families.

Marketing and Education, relative to any foods

Sylvia Zimmerman — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:48:45 -0500

Out of many possibilities, the proposed area of focus is to adopt and
join the national Buy Fresh, Buy Local program for Ohio. The group is
interested in including an educational component for schools and the
general public. This educational effort will help answer the question,
"what is good food", and create a larger and more comprehensive view of
food quality. An important aspect of the educational and marketing
effort is to tell to the consumer the story of the farm and the food.

NEO Food Congress 2008

Matt Russell — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:41:24 -0400

NEO Food Congress 2008

Event Date: Friday and Saturday, November 7-8, 2008

Objectives:

To foster a culture of collaboration between Urban and Rural stakeholders concerning economic development and local food systems
To become a motivating event around which the important and essential process of collaboration can grow

OFPAC - Agricultural Viability

Amalie Lipstreu — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:45:05 -0400

This task force works to address the following mission of the Governor's Exec. Order:
4b) Protect Ohio's valuable farmland and water resources by encouraging the growth of food products in Ohio

Focus:

OFPAC - Food System Assessment

Amalie Lipstreu — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:40:09 -0400

This task force works to address the following mission of the Governor's Exec. Order:
4a) Collect and analyze information on the production and process of foods in Ohio, as well as the patterns of food consumption

Focus:

OFPAC - Healthy Foods Access

Amalie Lipstreu — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:33:52 -0400

This task force works to address the following mission of the Governor's Exec. Order:
4c) Provide those in need with greater access to fresh and nutritious foods

Focus:

OFPAC - Market Connections

Amalie Lipstreu — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:56:12 -0400

This task force works to address the following two missions of the Governor's
Executive Order:
4d) Assist Ohio's farmers and business in marketing their food products inside
and outside of the State
4e) Develop strategies to link producers and consumers in local food systems

Focus:

Ohio Food Policy Advisory Council

Casey Hoy — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:28:01 -0400

The Council is charged with analyzing food production, processing and consumption in Ohio, linking producers and consumers in local food systems and ensuring that citizens in need have greater access to fresh and nutritious food. In addition, the Council will work to encourage the growth of Ohio food products and assist farmers and businesses in effectively marketing their products.

Private Institutional food service as a way to initiate local food systems

Brad Bergefurd — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:37:01 -0500

Local procurement for relatively small institutions, particularly
educational institutions with a commitment to local foods, is a current
opportunity to establish local food systems and position them for
growth into other markets.

5 Steps were proposed to develop local food systems for institutional food service

1) Create network between growers and institutional administrators. (Ohio Private Institution Conference, April 29, Denison)

2) Form a grower cooperative marketing system.

Regional and National Partners

Casey Hoy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:00:08 -0400

The Regional and National Partners working group is specifically for our colleagues from outside of Ohio who are interested in what they can learn from the networking that takes place within Ohio via this site, and the ideas for local food system infrastructure that are applicable in other states.

Small Grains Information Clearing House

Jeannine Snyder — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:27:18 -0500

Create a website to distribute information on the complete list of small grains that can be grown in Ohio, their agronomic and nutritional characteristics, and promote educational activities around these crops.

Value added dairy processing

Brian Schlatter — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:30:20 -0500

This group focused on value added processing for dairy products
suggested three opportunities that would benefit local dairy industry:

1. A gathering of stakeholders to identify needs and resources for value added dairy products.

2. Educational programs on basic topics such as basic cheesemaking,
advanced topics such as cheese storage and packaging, regulatory
compliance and marketing.

3. Establish a dedicated staff person for technical assistance on dairy value-added processing.

Value-added Processing (all foods)

Amalie Lipstreu — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:57:17 -0500

A good inventory and assessment of agricultural resources in Ohio, both
production and processing is an important and needed baseline - what
infrastructure do we currently have in place? People with knowledge of
local and regional value added processing needs and capabilities should
come together to examine needs from local to regional to statewide
scales and from small to medium to large scale facilities. A group on
value added processing could initially share knowledge and information
to identify some of the real opportunities for Ohio - locally