Message from the OCFSN Chair
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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
As members of OCFSN, we are committed to a vision of all Oregonians thriving with healthy affordable foods from an environmentally and economically resilient regional food system.
Our resilience is being tested now by COVID-19.
The work that all of you do to advance food sovereignty, support local farmers and ranchers, and address barriers to food access for vulnerable populations is critically important – now more than ever.
A number of organizations have started to post information and resources for people and organizations grappling with the COVID-19 challenge. We’ve linked to some of those below. Please send any additional links you think would be valuable to share through our network.
As a network, I hope we can continue to be a resource for each other, communicate, consult and problem-solve together. Tell us what you are experiencing and the needs you see in your communities. Tell us how you are coping, adapting and reprioritizing. Tell us how we can support you personally and professionally.
Strength,
Nora Frank-Buckner
Nora Frank-Buckner, MPH (Nez Perce/Klamath)
WEAVE-NW Food Sovereignty Project Manager
Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board
You can reach me at nfrank@npaihb.org or 503-416-3253.
Or you can reach Matthew Buck, our Network Coordinator, at matt@foodalliance.org or 503-267-4667.
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Youth Leadership in Food Justice
Hello OCFSN members, are you interested in having more youth represented within our network? If so, we have sketched out some ideas (below) for starting a working group centering youth around food justice.
The Issue: In 2016, Oregon was the first state in the country to implement automatic voter registration. With hundreds of thousands of new voters under the age of 40 it’s both critical and appropriate that we welcome young people into our network and create pathways for them to engage on the issues that impact them most. According to the Wisconsin Hope Lab’s “Hungry and Homeless in College,” Goldrick-Rab, Richardson and Hernandez reported that 45% of nearly 86,000 student respondents were food insecure in the prior 30 days. OCFSN is positioned to support youth leaders in Oregon as they work to increase access to healthy affordable foods from an environmentally and economically resilient regional food system.
What this team does: Initially focusing on outreach to institutions of higher education in the state of Oregon to invite student leaders active on food justice issues to connect with each other through member mapping and participation in the annual convening, as well as collectively identifying any potential avenues for further action.
Please let us know if you or your member agency are interested in joining!
Contacts:
Miriam Latzer, Learning Garden Coordinator at Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus, miriam.latzer@pcc.edu
Venus Barnes, SNAP Outreach Coordinator at Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, venus@oregonhunger.org
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Changing Hands Conversations:
The Future of Intergenerational Farm Transfers is Non-Traditional
Rogue Farms Corps has published a new report that looks at the challenges and opportunities of farm land access and succession in Oregon. This report all of ours to read, share, talk about and add to.
“Changing Hands Conversations: The Future of Intergenerational Farm Transfers in Oregon is Non-Traditional” is a unique holistic, intergenerational look into how we build better bridges to make sure our farms and food system successfully transfer to the next generation.
This report is a result of conversations with over fifty people engaged in farming and farm transfers across Oregon, including farm transfer experts in other states. At the core, interviewees said loud and clear that we need to: 1) better hold up farming as a possible, and valued, vocation and find ways of making farming more financially viable. And, 2) we must create a future food system that is more equitable and just.
You can also check out the Changing Hands Story Series published in the Capital Press on the Rogue Farms Corps website here.
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High Desert Food and Farm Alliance
A preliminary analysis of HDFFA's 2019 Veggie Rx season has found that the program:
• Benefited 148 participants and their families impacting a total of 260 Central Oregonians.
• Reached a wide age range of participants most of whom have a household income of less than $15,000/year and utilize SNAP and other nutritional programs.
• Increased participants' fresh produce consumption and their ability to cook with fresh food.
• Benefited 23 local farms and directly contributed $14,642 to the local food economy.
A full 64-page Central Oregon Pilot Project report is available, which identifies program challenges and recommendations for further program development.
Organizations managing or considering Veggie Rx programs can also download participant resources from the HDFFA website, including guides on shopping, food storage, cooking skills, and general nutrition. |
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Webinar: Racial Equity in the Food System: Perceptions, Reality, and the Road Ahead
April 15 // 3-4pm EST
In this webinar sponsored by the Racial Equity in the Food System (REFS) workgroup, you'll learn provocative findings from a national survey of REFS webinar registrants that will ground a thoughtful discussion on if food system educators are making progress in reaching equity goals and how to overcome limitations in utilizing an equity lens in your work. Register here.
Join the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge
March 30 to April 19
Sign up for Food Solutions New England's (FSNE) annual 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge starting on March 30th! In its sixth year, the Challenge is a great way to learn about the history and impacts of racism on our current food system while inspiring participants with resources and tools to build racial equity in their work and lives. People from all over the country participate in the Challenge with the goal of raising awareness, shifting attitudes and changing outcomes. This year a Discussion Guide will be available for groups who want to do the Challenge together. Visit the FSNE Challenge website to learn more and register.
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Increasing Access to Healthy Food is a Challenge.
The Healthy Food Policy Project (HFPP) helps those working on food systems and food policy to understand what's happening around the country. HFPP is a multiyear collaboration of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School, the Public Health Law Center, and the University of Connecticut Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
Our team wants to share our free resources that could be helpful to you and your community, including:
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OCFSN members and allies have posted the following recommendations and resources:
Accessing Food During the Coronavirus Outbreak: Partners for a Hunger-free Oregon
COVID-19 Resources Portal: Oregon Food Bank
Small Farms, Local Food and COVID-19: Oregon State University
Farmers Market COVID-19 Resources: Oregon Farmers Markets Association
COVID-19 Planning for Direct Market Farmers - Online Sales Platforms: Oregon Tilth
Farm Resilience and COVID-19: Washington Young Farmers Coalition
Columbia Gorge COVID-19 Response: Gorge Grown Food Network
Rogue Valley COVID-19 Resources: Rogue Valley Food Systems Network
National Level Archive of Reports, Articles, and Resources on Coronavirus and the Food Systems: Organized by Vanessa Garcia Polanco at Michigan State University
If your organization has additional information or resources you would like to share, please e-mail Matthew Buck at OCFSN and Katy Giombolini at Oregon Food Bank.
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Outbreak May Drive $1B Loss to Local Food
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Politico, March 20, 2020
“The total economic cost of the coronavirus outbreak on local and regional food systems, such as farmers markets, farm-to-school programs, restaurants and food hubs, could total $1.3 billion between March and May of this year, according to a new analysis by researchers at Colorado State University, the University of Missouri, and a former official within USDA’s Local Food Research and Development Division.
Social distancing measures, including the closure of universities, schools, restaurants and farm stands, is already causing significant shifts in where food is sold. The vast majority, or 85 percent, of farms supplying food to local and regional markets are small, while one in four have recently entered the business, USDA data shows. At farmers markets alone, sales could fall between $240 million and $600 million through May. Researchers noted that in many cities, including San Francisco, farmers markets have been deemed essential, along with grocery stores and food banks.
There could be a $27.4 million loss in restaurant and institutional sales. The researchers urged Congress to cover local food and farm businesses under any stimulus package for small businesses, as well as ease restrictions on federal nutrition programs’ ability to purchase food from local and regional suppliers.
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) earlier this week also encouraged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to provide emergency disaster payments to farmers selling fresh and minimally processed foods in local markets who have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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Is it safe to be dependent
on international brands?
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As we consider food supply chain challenges in our communities, it's worth remembering that currently eleven companies own nearly every packaged product in the grocery store.
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Call for a New Green Stimulus
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An open letter to the US Congress addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic recession, the climate emergency, and extreme inequality.
You can read the full text here and sign on if you choose.
The food and agriculture section of the proposal reads:
5. FARMERS, FOOD SYSTEMS, AND RURAL COMMUNITIES
Strengthen organic standards and reform agricultural subsidies so that federal support goes to small producers who make investments in their communities and the environment.
Re-staff and fully fund the USDA and EPA science offices, and the network of agriculture extension offices, to quantify carbon reductions. Support regenerative agriculture and compensate farmers (including regenerative ocean farmers) for carbon reduction practices, such as carbon sequestration in soils, the transition to regional and local farming initiatives, and other practices based on the quantified carbon abatement or sequestration (carbon negative land use) of the practices.
Prevent food shortages and surpluses by establishing supply management programs and a parity pricing system for farmers that both ensures farmers, farm workers, and every worker along the food chain a living wage and ensures consumers a high-quality, stable, and ensures local supply of agricultural goods.
Empower the USDA to track, report, and address instances of “food deserts’’ in low-income and inner-city areas by ensuring that fair market priced goods, including organic foods, are available with similar quality and diversity as in other parts of the country.
Support indigenous farming practices and end biopiracy and contamination of native seeds by fully supporting the work of the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) within the Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations.
Enhance programs for beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers as outlined in the 2018 Farm Bill, to give them fair access to land and resources. Recognize historical crimes and injustices through a commitment to reparations for black farmers and indigenous communities. One such policy is to stand up a federally backed land trust to buy land from retiring farmers that would then be sold interest-free to farmers of color.
Incentivize community and cooperatively owned farmland to support local communities and urban residents, including by expanding USDA’s Local Agriculture Market Program, and funding food hubs and distribution centers.
Make government-owned farmland available as incubator farms for beginning farmers
Pass comprehensive legislation that provides grants and technical assistance to mitigate climate change by transitioning to independent family farming practices that are regenerative, ecologically sound, improve soil health, and sequester carbon in soil.
Create a new USDA program dedicated to research and policy development for ocean-based farming. Support regenerative ocean farming, a burgeoning, low-carbon industry focused on seaweeds and shellfish, including through the USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program and Biomass Crop Assistance Program, as described in the Blue New Deal.
Direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service to issue new guidance and regulations to better prepare fishing industries and communities for the impacts of climate change.
Support the shift towards healthy food consumption, by expanding access to the quality of food available through nutrition support programs such as TANF, SNAP, and WIC and classify Farmers Markets as “essential services.”
Direct the Farm Service Agency to issue no-interest, no-match loans via its land contract guarantee program to ensure failing industrial agricultural land is made available to new and small family farmers whenever possible; and issue no-interest, no-match loans to fund equipment purchases, organic and specialty crop operations, and alternative farming practices.
Secure the rights of migrant and permanent resident workers and their families to healthcare, food, and shelter without prejudice to pathways to future citizenship.
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