Promising Community-Based Food System Initiatives (2010)

Looking for inspiration? Here is a concise overview of some of the reasons the community-based food movement must flourish, with selected examples of groundbreaking local foods initiatives across the U.S.

The Potential for Urban Agriculture (2009)

Urban Agriculture holds great potential. Did you know that forty-one percent of all farm commodities are sold from farms in metropolitan counties? And that 55% of the money made from producing farm commodities was made in metro regions?

Proposals for Census of Agriculture 2012 (2009)

What if the 2012 U.S. Census of Agriculture helped communities measure their own health, wealth, connection and capacity, not just farms and commodities? Read these recommendations by Ken Meter of Crossroads Resource Center.

Local Food as Community Economic Development (2008)

Local and state governments now spend $50 billion per year giving incentives to businesses, and often don’t get much in return. Building community-based food systems is a better way to refashion the U.S. economy.

Local Food Systems: Building Health & Wealth in Metro Denver (2008)

Food has become a leading cause of death, rivaling tobacco. Colorado spends $874 million per year to pay for the medical costs of obesity. The Metro Denver Health and Wellness Commission asked Angie Tagtow and Ken Meter to show the potential local foods systems have to reduce public costs for food-related health conditions. Data like this might help your local officials support the local foods cause.

Neighborhood Balance Sheets Assess Local Economies

How does a low-income neighborhood create a regional destination? First, by understanding its local economy, and then by acting together to strengthen existing capacities. See Ken Meter‘s White Paper, written for the American Planning Association (APA) (1998).

Hoosier Farmer? Emerging Food Systems in Indiana

Food business clusters have been emerging in Indiana since the mid-1970s. They are now taking root in farm commodity producing regions. Young members of the Indiana Farm Bureau are positioning themselves for a future of farming that may be very different than the past, knowing that if each Hoosier spent less than $5 per week buying food directly from Indiana farms, this would generate $1.5 billion of new farm income for state farmers—a 20% increase in farm revenue.

Hoosier Farmer? Emerging Food Systems in Indiana (2012)
Commissioned by the Indiana State Department of Health

Ohio’s Food Systems — Farms at the Heart of It All

Clusters of local foods businesses are forming across Ohio, as residents innovate ways to provide healthier food options, and bring farmers into more direct contact with consumers. These business clusters focus their attention on building strong relationships of trust, overcoming a long history of export agriculture. Written by Ken Meter of Crossroads Resource Center for the University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center, with funds from the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Ohio’s Food Systems — Farms at the Heart of It All (2011)

Mapping the Minnesota Food System

A study of Minnesota’s food economy shows relationships are the key to creating the food industry of the future. Read close interviews with food business leaders, and learn a wealth of facts and figures. Mapping the Minnesota Food Industry (2009)

Food With the Farmer’s Face On It: Emerging Community-Based Food Systems (2003)

Emerging in thousands of communities all over the U.S., the community-based foods movement seeks to find “Food With the Farmer’s Face On It.” The W. K. Kellogg Foundation asked Ken Meter to produce a media guide introducing readers to this vital movement.

Generic Scope of Work for Local Economic Analysis

Local foods leaders of 45 regions in 20 states and one Canadian province have asked Ken Meter to study their local farm and food economy. His analysis has played a critical role in animating local foods activity across the continent.

Finding Food in Farm Country (2001)

Launching all of this activity was Ken Meter’s original “Finding Food in Farm Country” study of Southeast Minnesota, commissioned by Community Design Center and the Experiment in Rural Cooperation. This has been used as a reference in at least 12 university programs.

Fifty-Year Vision & Indicators for a Sustainable Minneapolis

The City of Minneapolis won national recognition for its sustainability initiative. Central to that effort was a fifty-year vision for the city’s future, and specific measures of sustainability, devised by city residents. The public process for defining these indicators was coordinated by Ken Meter of Crossroads Resource Center. This is a fundamental document to read if you want to measure sustainability.

Neighborhood Commercial Development for the Long Term

Our position paper shows that building strong neighborhood commercial districts involves building wealth for local residents.