Central Louisiana Local Food Update

All Things Local Food
in Central Louisiana

Regional Food Digest: October 27, 2017

The Food Digest aims to increase regional communication and collaboration, while inspiring local food movements throughout central Louisiana. The digest is a part of the Central Louisiana Local Foods Initiative, a community effort aiming to create a vibrant and healthy regional foods economy throughout central Louisiana. Stay tuned for more updates from initiative partners, including the Food Bank of Central Louisiana, the Louisiana Public Health Institute, MarketUmbrella, and the Good Food Project, as well as other Eat Local groups and farmers markets throughout the region.

For updates, follow facebook/cenlalocalfoods or visit freshcentral.org. Contact John Cotton Dean with specific questions at jdean@cenla.org or (318) 441-3424.

The biggest event on Louisiana’s local food calendar is coming up this January. The 6th edition of the annual Foodapalooza is set for Thursday, January 11th and Friday, January 12th. The 2018 Annual Foodapalooza features both a Friday conference and a special Thursday evening panel.

The 2018 Foodapalooza panel, Healthy Places, Healthy Economies, & Vibrant Places, is inspired by, and builds on, the 2017 federal report Harvesting Opportunity: The Power of Regional Food System Investments to Transform Communities. 2018 Foodapalooza conference and panel speakers include:

Foodapalooza is central Louisiana resident’s best opportunity to learn more about the region’s thriving local food movement and to determine how you can get more involved in 2018. Stay updated through this newsletter and at FreshCentral.org to learn more. Registration will open soon!

The Harvesting Opportunity report was published by a partnership between the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s agencies of Rural Development, and the Agricultural Market Services, among many other agencies. This ground-breaking report focuses on regional food systems as a means for enhancing economic opportunity.

All 2018 Foodapalooza activities will be held at the Alexandria Museum of Art in downtown Alexandria. Foodapalooza is a CLEDA-connected event and is funded by a Healthy Behaviors Program Grant from The Rapides Foundation, the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, and Keller Enterprises, LLC.

The next special Happy Hour edition of Maker Mornings is set for Tuesday, November 14, at The Gem in downtown Alexandria, and features a keynote address from a Ville Platte businessman who created a unique app that can be used to help search teams, hunters, and outdoors enthusiasts map their progress. In addition, CLEDA will announce a brand-new partnership that will connect the region’s creative entrepreneurs with a new zero-interest loan program.

Bahia Nightengale, director of CLEDA’s Central Louisiana Local Foods Initiative, will announce the partnership with the microloan nonprofit Kiva. Through this partnership, local entrepreneurs, including farmers, are able to apply for crowd-funded, zero-interest microloans up to $10,000. Kiva loans can be used for a variety of business purposes, such as investing in new equipment, purchasing inventory, hiring staff, expanding product lines, marketing, or advertising.

“Maker Mornings continues to grow, as evidenced by our new Kiva partnership,” said Jim Clinton, CLEDA President and CEO. “We are excited to strengthen partnerships and programs that help our creative businesses prosper, and Maker Mornings has developed another opportunity to do so.”

Following this announcement, Robert Stevens, who owns Robert L. Stevens Land Surveying LLC., will share his story of how he used his skills as a surveyor to come up with the idea for ActiveMapper, a data collection, mapping, and group tracking software application. An LSU graduate and Alexandria native, Stevens started his own surveying company in 2013.

When a client asked if he could plot a 5,000-acre hunting club, Stevens came up with the idea of ActiveMapper, a user-friendly app that combines tracking software and navigation tools. “The uses are only limited to what your brain will allow you to use it for,” Stevens said. “My software is to make all these agencies more efficient.”

Maker Mornings is a quarterly event the Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance (CLEDA) launched in 2015 to bring local makers together to unlock their creative potential. The Happy Hour edition will be held from 4:30-6 p.m. Maker Mornings is free, but registration is encouraged. Register at cenla.org or contact John Cotton Dean, Director of CLEDA’s Rural Prosperity Initiative, at 318-441-3424.

The Alexandria Farmers Market hosted Fall Harvest Day on October 24th to celebrate the changing of the seasons with the Alexandria community. Drawing the largest crowd the market has seen this year, the event introduced brand new customers to the best of Central Louisiana’s agricultural products. New and returning customers alike shopped for seasonal produce (including sweet potatoes, satsumas, persimmons, and a variety of greens), while kids decorated pumpkins, listened to Halloween stories, and tasted freshly-cooked local collard greens. Over 100 children participated in the market’s ‘trick-or-treat with vendors’ activity, which was a scavenger hunt prompting them to ask, taste, and shop.

The free, family-friendly event was sponsored by Healthy Blue Louisiana, and other community organizations came together to provide activities, including the First United Methodist Church-Alexandria, the Rapides Parish Library, TREE House Children’s Museum, and LSU AgCenter.

The success of Fall Harvest Day is an example of how farmers markets serve as community gathering spaces to increase access to local food, support small businesses, and provide educational opportunities for children!