March 23 HFSC Meeting Minutes

March 23 HFSC Meeting Minutes

The Headwaters Food Sovereignty Council will provide a foundation for food sovereignty and security by developing leadership in the 10 county/three Reservation food shed, to build partnerships and connections between local growers, businesses, and consumers with an emphasis on sustainable food production, improving local economies, increasing access to underserved and at-risk communities, and creating a healthy and just food system for everyone within the Headwaters Food Shed Region.

Agenda:

Welcome and Introductions (10 minutes);

Last Meeting Minutes (5 minutes);

Report on Growing Power Presentation and where to go with the information (10 minutes);

Request for high tunnels through RC&D program- possible stimulus funds use (20 minutes);

Report from Intern (10 minutes);

Resources: Home Grown Economy ITV meeting; Farm to School toolkit; any others? (20 minutes);

Working group reports including Pine Point tour next week; any assistance needed, etc. (20 minutes);

Planning for May strategic planning meeting; what do we need to do prior to the meeting? (15 minutes).

Present:

Wally and Cathy Peck – MasterGardenersBeltramiCounty

Shannon Murray – Community Member and Activist

Linda Kingery – Regional Partnerships

Dawn Plumer – Intern w/ CAP program

Greg Wierschke – farmer in Kelliher

Diana Kuklinski – Community Member and Local Foods Advocate

Terry Nennich – U of M Extension

Susanne Rabel – U of MN Extension NEP

Intern Report: (Dawn Plummer)

*Farm to school information;

*Looking into institutional procurement policies and work with flexibilities;

*Income and Health component: Health disparity and health literacy: where are the disparities coming from? Preventable behavior risks (tobacco use; lifestyle choices); Environmental and Genetic Factors; Income Factors. AMA reports that: Poor health literacy is a stronger predictor of a persons health than age, employment, race, income, etc.

*Collected data on health disparities including income, race, and age. (Diabetes: 7% diabetes nationally; growing at 9% per year. White Earth has about a 21% diabetes rate.)

*Income data for 10 counties in food shed including household income, EBT information, WIC, etc:

Action: send out to list-serve as attachment for HFSC to look at as resource. Dawn will put information into a variety of spreadsheets to be made available to the HFSC. Dawn will continue to look into specifically where the EBT dollars are spent. (Grocery stores, Schwantz, Co-ops, Farmers Markets, etc.)

*Discussion: 2.7 million in EBT/month is a huge opportunity for local foods. Discuss the need to put EBT machines at Farmers Markets (in addition to the WIC vouchers now available at our local Farmers Market). WIC Vouchers were redeemed at a rate of 61% this past season at our local Farmers Market.

97% on Senior Vouchers.

*WIC requirements: Federal regs and then state regs. Very brand dependent. Need for policy work on getting local foods into WIC program.

Action: Dawn will database all the contacts for the various programs to be made available to HFSC.

Action: Research on why vouchers are not so widely redeemed in region? What are the obstacles?

Discussion: Need for education for WIC, EBT recipients – to be referred to Nutrition Education programs for assistance and resources. (Again, focus on HEALTH LITERACY.)

Action: Get involved w/ SeniorCenter to educate on Senior Vouchers.

Action: Dawn will provide Lisa with all resources and data electronically.

Action: Dawn will present all information at the April 27th meeting prior to the May strategic planning meeting.

Reminder: Any requests or suggestions for Dawn to research specific topics, send to Lisa at .

Growing Power Presentation:

*Shows what works in inner-city food organizing;

*Market Basket program – Milwaukee – takes vouchers now at Farmers Market;

*Focus on local farmers and national farmers, composting, and Market Baskets. (Weekly baskets for 2$ a pound. Greenhouse, local, and nationally grown foods.)

*Not always organic; focus on healthy, non-processed, new foods;

*Kids involved w/ education and growing own food;

*Operations in Chicago;

*Transferable growing methods – program is really catching on nationally;

*Program w/ Milwaukee schools for healthy snacks;

*Potential model for community based agriculture and best practices;

Discussion: 'City as a Park' idea for Bemidji; could we present this as a model for land-use?

Focus on youth development. Bus kids in from rural schools, etc.

Connecting dots: rural animal farms /animal waste, sawdust, leaves, etc. We have the resources; we just need to connect the dots. Very similar to Red Lake Boys and Girls club project.

For more information:

Resource Conservation and Development Program:

(NRCS/ Natural Resources Conservation Service)

*NRCS wanting places to spend stimulus funds if they come to the state. Linda wrote up request for 14 high tunnels ($15,000/tunnel) to be set up throughout area – 2 each per reservation, high schools, U of M, Network for Native Futures, Crookston Sisters CSA, etc. Waiting to hear if we get funded. How exciting!

*Building capacity for self-reliance and micro-enterprise.

Local Resources:

*Home Grown Economy 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. Friday, April 17th BSU, Deputy Hall 111. Local food provisions on the 2008 Farm Bill being discussed. Very many resources.

*Farm to School Toolkit: Mn Institute for Sustainable Ag put together. Posters, worksheets, etc. in toolkit. Go to

Committee Reports:

*High Tunnel Season Extension Workshop, April 14th 6-9 p.m. In Mentor, MN. Register w/ Terry Nennich at .

*Grafting Workshop: PinewoodTown Hall, Saturday April 11th, 8:30- 11:30; and 1 – 3 p.m. Cost is $25. Contact: .

*Pilot Program: talking about having annual local foods feast w/ music, etc.

Strategic Planning Meeting:

May 4th meeting w/ Maggie Adamek – very experienced local foods organizier and facilitator.

What outcomes do we anticipate for that day?

*Five year plan

*Goals and capabilities

*Asset mapping – producers, organizations, etc. Who are all the players?

*Short term; long-term goals – very specific

*Operational/representation structure of HFSC

*Prioritizing areas of focus, communities of focus

*Education and Promotion on all segments of local foods – from home gardening to institutional procurement.

Action: Invite in key players who maybe haven't been involved yet, to the strategic planning meeting. Be sure to give them link to HFSC so they can get a brief background on the organization.

Action: talk to Pioneer and have local foods corner to advertise what events are happening.

Action: Linda will contact Sue Doden from Pioneer

Next HFSC Council Meeting:

**THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MEETING PRIOR TO OUR STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING. PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND!!!!

Monday, April 27th 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

*Asset Mapping exercise to prep for Strategic Planning Meeting;

*Full report from Dawn Plummer/Intern

Looking ahead:

*Strategic Planning:

Monday, May 4th 10 a.m. Location pending.

*July 8th – freezing and canning workshop at Beltrami Electric 1:00-4:30