What's Cooking in Your Food System? A Guide to Community Food Assessment

Learn about Community Food Assessments, a creative way to highlight food-related resources and needs, promote collaboration and community participation, and create lasting change. This Guide includes case studies of nine Community Food Assessments; tips for planning and organizing an assessment; guidance on research methods and strategies for promoting community participation; and ideas for translating an assessment into action for change

Massachusetts Avenue Project: Urban Farming and Job Skills for Youth

Massachusetts Avenue Project (“MAP”) seeks to make food systems more local and inclusive. MAP nurtures the growth of a diverse and equitable community food system to promote local economic opportunities, access to affordable and nutritious food, and social-change education. MAP grows fresh produce on its urban farm on the West Side of Buffalo. Annually, MAP employs roughly 50 at-risk youth to transform the community’s food system. The programs reflect the vital role food can have in supporting local economies and building social capital

Developing a strong and sustainable food economy in Kirklees

Executive Summary Kirklees Public Health Directorate commissioned the research on which this report is based. Between October 2014 and July 2015, fifteen interviews were conducted in Kirklees with key actors in the community food sector and the local authority. These interviews were complimented with five more at the national level. The overall aim of the research was to provide evidence of how the current Kirklees food system contributes to the aim of making local people and the economy more resilient. The research had three main objectives: • To explore the potential impact of local food on economic development. • To examine possible frameworks for an independent Kirklees food partnership. • To develop awareness and promote the significance of these issues. A number of key findings emerge. Key findings 1. Many community food enterprises exist in isolation and there is little to bind them together beyond small reciprocal exchanges. 2. The community food sector needs more support and Kirklees should focus on the many good things that are already happening across the borough. 3. Redefining what is meant by ‘local food’ would improve the effectiveness of local supply chains and enable better procurement. 4. Better local procurement and sourcing would enable local producers and entrepreneurs to make a more effective contribution to the local economy. 5. A system of local/ sub regional food hubs is already in place across Kirklees comprised of community retailers, farms shops and schools. 6. There is a wide support for the development of an independent Kirklees food partnership and central food hub to coordinate these initiatives more effectively. 7. The Brighton and Hove partnership provides a good model for Kirklees to follow, but the right people must be involved from the outset if any new approach is to be successful. 8. Any new agenda must ensure that all the diverse communities across Kirklees, deprived as well as affluent benefit from any new ways of working. 9. Better planning and public policies are needed if the joint Kirklees Health/Well-Being and Economic Strategies are to bring about outcomes that cut across different areas of service delivery. 10. More commitment and support for partnership working is needed across all sectors in West Yorkshire. Five recommendations are made. Recommendations 1. Provide more support for the community food sector in Kirklees 2. Initiative better partnership working and collaboration across all sectors in West Yorkshire 3. Link the local food system with local supply chains to enhance local sourcing and procurement 4. Initiative better planning and policy to link the food system to population needs across different areas of service delivery more effectively. 5. Develop a local food partnership and food hub infrastructure to drive the food strategy to the next level

Identifying the community structure of the international food-trade multi network

Achieving international food security requires improved understanding of how international trade networks connect countries around the world through the import-export flows of food commodities. The properties of food trade networks are still poorly documented, especially from a multi-network perspective. In particular, nothing is known about the community structure of food networks, which is key to understanding how major disruptions or 'shocks' would impact the global food system. Here we find that the individual layers of this network have densely connected trading groups, a consistent characteristic over the period 2001 to 2011. We also fit econometric models to identify social, economic and geographic factors explaining the probability that any two countries are co-present in the same community. Our estimates indicate that the probability of country pairs belonging to the same food trade community depends more on geopolitical and economic factors -- such as geographical proximity and trade agreements co-membership -- than on country economic size and/or income. This is in sharp contrast with what we know about bilateral-trade determinants and suggests that food country communities behave in ways that can be very different from their non-food counterparts.Comment: 47 pages, 19 figure

Food System and Food Security Study for the City of Cape Town

Food insecurity is a critical, but poorly understood, challenge for the health and development of Capetonians. Food insecurity is often imagined as hunger, but it is far broader than that. Households are considered food secure when they have “physical and economic access to sufficient and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (WHO/FAO 1996). Health is not merely the absence of disease, but also encompasses good nutrition and healthy lifestyles. Individuals in a food insecure household and/or community are at greater risk due to diets of poor nutritional value, which lowers immunity against diseases. In children, food insecurity is known to stunt growth and development and this places the child in a disadvantaged position from early on in life. Any improvement in the nutritional profile of an individual is beneficial and as the family and community become more food secure, the greater the benefit. It further reduces the demand on health services. In the Cape Town context, food insecurity manifests not just as hunger, but as long term consumption of a limited variety of foods, reduction in meal sizes and choices to eat calorie dense, nutritionally poor foods in an effort to get enough food to get by. Associated with this food insecurity are chronic malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency, particularly among young children, and an increase in obesity, diabetes and other diet related illnesses. Food insecurity is therefore not about food not being available, it is about households not having the economic or physical resources to access enough of the right kind of food. The latest study of food insecurity in Cape Town found that 75 percent of households in sampled low-income areas were food insecure, with 58 percent falling into the severely food insecurity category. Food insecurity is caused by household scale characteristics, such as income poverty, but also by wider structural issues, such as the local food retail environment and the price and availability of healthy relative to less healthy foods. The City of Cape Town therefore commissioned a study based on the following understanding of the food security challenge facing the City. “Food security or the lack thereof is the outcome of complex and multi-dimensional factors comprising a food system. Therefore, food insecurity is the result of failures or inefficiencies in one or more dimensions of the food system. This necessitates a holistic analysis of the food system that than can provide insights into the various components of the system, especially in our context as a developing world city.” The call for a food system study sees the City of Cape Town taking the lead nationally, being the first metropolitan area to seek to engage in the food system in a holistic manner and attempting to understand what role the city needs to play in the food system. The City must work towards a food system that is reliable, sustainable and transparent. Such a system will generate household food security that is less dependent on welfarist responses to the challenge. In this context, reliability is taken to mean stable and consistent prices, the nutritional quality of available and accessible food, and food safety. Sustainability means that the food system does not degrade the environmental, economic and social environment. Finally, transparency refers to the legibility of the system and its control by the state and citizens

Development and validation of the Just Community Gardening Survey: A measure of the social and dietary outcomes of community garden participation

Our aim was to develop and validate a survey measuring outcomes of community gardening related to food system equity. Face validity was assessed by six community gardening experts and resulted in minor changes to the survey. Weighted kappa and Cronbach’s alpha were used to determine test-retest reliability and internal consistency using a sample of community gardeners in New York City (n=38). Weighted kappa analyses revealed almost perfect agreement (mean = 0.981, range 0.498-1, p≤.001). Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for eight scales, most of which had excellent agreement. The resulting 25-item Just Community Gardening Survey consisted of demographic, garden participation, garden activities, social participation, social cohesion, collective efficacy, perceived impact on dietary intake, food access and security, horticultural and environmental knowledge and diet-related health questions. This validated survey not only measures the social and dietary outcomes of community gardening, it incorporates important aspects of food justice not assessed in previous research

Sustainability- considering the pillars of sustainability as a theoretical paradigm

The need for a common theoretical framework and underpinning with regards to the use of the term ‘sustainability’ in connection with food is important. Its current use covers a number of different meanings, ranging through economics and food supply systems to agri-food systems. This paper explores the issue of sustainability using a model developed for WHO. Using this as a tool, the impacts of food security and the global food system can be analysed and audited. Key to this are a critique of the global food system and its emphasis on free trade and consumers, the argument is put forward that global trade needs to be regulated to ensure human and environmental health. Conclusions are drawn for home economic teachers in terms of the role they play in food advocacy. This moves beyond teaching about the food system ‘as-it-is’, to education concerning the background to the food system and how we, as both consumers and citizens, can act and exercise power. The model can be used to both inform teaching practice about sustainability and to frame a response at a school/community level to wider influences in the food system. Education on its own is judged not to be sufficient

Learning our way towards a sustainable agri-food system Three cases from Sweden: Stockholm Farmers market, Ramsjö Community Supported Agriculture and Järna Initiative for Local Production

This research is based on case studies of the Stockholm Farmers Market, Ramsjö Community Supported Agriculture, and Järna Initiative for Local Production. These cases are examples of alternative consumerproducer links in the Swedish agri-food system. An adapted SWOT analysis highlights key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and constraints in each case from the multiple perspectives of producers, consumers, the organization, as well as the environment and society. Diagrams show where learning opportunities exist in the three systems, and how the structure of the consumer-producer link influences learning processes. Implication assessments consider how each link may affect surrounding ecosystems and social aspects of the agri-food system. A framework for assessing a process of development identifies six components that contribute to agri-food system development. Four key issues are discussed in terms of their potential to significantly affect the development of the agri-food system: the length of the food chain linking producers and consumers, the definition of “local”, learning in the system, and what is really being sold – is it food, or values? Critical research questions are highlighted and recommended for future research

Planting Seeds of Change: Strategies for Engaging Asian Pacific Americans in Healthy Eating and Active Living Initiatives

This 23-page report draws on results from an innovative technique called Photovoice involving 28 community members, community-level data of 308 surveys, as well as extensive input from key stakeholders. Planting Seeds of Change highlights the complexity of engaging Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) in healthy eating and active living efforts. It discusses the opportunities and challenges of a community who has a long agrarian history and ties to the food system. It also discusses issues that come with living as an immigrant and resident in a large metropolitan area. The development of community gardens for Asian Pacific Americans was prioritized as a strategy for addressing access to healthy food, physical activity, and public open spaces.Policy recommendations call for increasing initiatives, funding, and trainings that (1) support and integrate cultural competency into community gardens' outreach, planning, and growing, (2) utilize stewardship programs to increase creation of community gardens, and (3) promote community gardens as a model for leadership development programs. Practice recommendations call for incorporating best practices that community gardens can use to increase participation of APAs in healthy food and active living initiatives, such as site assessments, intensive planning sessions with community, workshops on traditional methods and local sustainability, multi-sectoral collaboration, and creation of sustainability plans