Local Food, Farming & Fisheries

Zimbabwe

In just two decades, the Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust has transformed six villages in Eastern Zimbabwe from a state of chronic food insecurity and severe environmental degradation to one of food sufficiency, community self-reliance, and ecological regeneration. The organization’s training programs in permaculture have been complemented by other capacity-building initiatives focused on conflict resolution, women’s empowerment, health issues, local education, specialized skill development, and more. Read this article to learn all about it!

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https://sustainableagriculturezimbabwe.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/chikukwa-ecological-land-use-community-trust-celuct/

Tanzania

In 2011, Chololo, a village of 5,500 people in the semi-arid drylands of central Tanzania, created a system for testing best practices for climate adaptation and food security. With guidance from Tanzania’s Institute of Rural Development Planning, farmers organized into groups to pilot more than 20 ecological methods in agriculture, forestry, livestock management, and water conservation, and share successful strategies with other groups. The villagers saw significant improvements in crop yields, nutrition, and food security after just two years, and the program expanded to three more villages in 2015. Read the case study in this report from iPES-Food, and visit the Chololo Ecovillage website to learn more.

Photo by Michael Farrelly

https://chololoecovillage.wordpress.com/

Italy

Ten years ago, the Italian Association for Organic Agriculture created the concept of “bio districts”, in which farmers, governments, and citizens across a geographic area work together to develop economic strategies around organic food production and agroecology. Cilento, the first of Italy’s bio districts, encompasses 37 municipalities with 400 organic farms which work together to enhance land access for young farmers, simplify organic certification, procure local food for nearby hospitals and schools, promote local agroecological farming traditions, and more…

https://biodistretto.net/bio-distretto-cilento/

USA

Owned and operated by longstanding African American residents of Seattle’s Central District, Clean Greens was founded to supply fresh, sustainably grown produce at affordable prices to low-income families in the area. The Clean Greens farm also creates green jobs and provides people — in particular, inner-city children — with the opportunity to spend time growing food, learning about ecosystems and water cycles, and reconnecting with the earth and the soil that feeds them. To learn more, visit Clean Greens’ website. And be sure to watch Growing Hope in the Urban Center.

https://www.cleangreensfarm.net

USA

Grains are often thought of as part and parcel of the monocultural global food economy – so much so that, even within local food movements, local wheat and other staple crops are rarely discussed. The Common Grain Alliance, an association of more than 30 farmers, millers, and bakers in and around Virginia, is working to change that by building an integrated regional economy and raising the profile of local grains. It’s no easy feat…

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https://commongrainalliance.org/

USA

Cook County, in the greater Chicago area, adopted the Good Food Purchasing Program as its policy in June 2018, becoming the third and largest municipality in the USA to do so. The Good Food Purchasing Program provides a framework for municipalities to create food procurement policies that align with the core values of sustainable, equitable food systems: local sourcing, nutrition, environmental sustainability, workers’ rights, and animal welfare. Cook County’s implementation of the program includes policies that favor purchasing food from businesses that employ former inmates and people in low- and middle-income areas, and the resolution also increases access to county land for minority farmers. For more information, read about Cook County Resolution #18-1650, and about the frameworks of the Good Food Purchasing Program.

https://goodfoodpurchasing.org/program-overview/

USA

For years, four farm workers and labor union organizers endured exposure to pesticides, low pay, and abusive situations while working on an industrial berry farm in Washington State. To remedy this situation, they decided to form an agricultural cooperative, enabling them to own their own land and to determine their own working conditions. With the support of the nonprofit Community to Community, they now own 22 acres of land on which they cultivate blueberries and strawberries that supply local demand for ethically-grown organic fruit. The cooperative’s founders now aim to support the development of other cooperatives in the area and to encourage a local solidarity economy. To learn more about the cooperative, see this August 2018 press release and this Yes Magazine article.

https://ussen.org/2018/08/06/cooperativa-tierra-y-libertad/

USA

Credibles (or “edible credits”) function like community supported agriculture shares, except that they can be bought at all kinds of local food establishments — coffee shops, restaurants, butcher shops, grocery stores. As with CSA shares, when customers buy Credibles they are paying upfront — or investing — in local businesses for future edible returns. The businesses can then use the money for capital and operating expenses, and Credibles customers can pop in at any time to pick up a cup of coffee, a loaf of bread or some fresh veggies — strengthening ties between business owners and their communities. To learn more visit https://credibles.co.

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https://credibles.co

USA

When staff at the Lakenau Medical Center near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania learned that many of their patients had little access to healthy food, they decided to make food access a healthcare priority. In 2015, the hospital partnered with a local food-advocacy nonprofit, Greener Partners, to create a half-acre farm on the medical center’s campus, which has provided more than 4,000 pounds of produce to patients at no cost. Educators lead pop-up markets, cooking demonstrations, and classes on nutrition in waiting rooms and wards throughout the facility, and thousands of students learn about gardening and nutrition at the farm each year. Read more and take a look at this Yes Magazine article about the farm.

https://greenerpartners.org/deaver-wellness-farm/

USA

Dream of Wild Health is an organic farm and seed bank dedicated to helping American Indian people reclaim their physical, spiritual, and mental health by returning to their own foodways. Read Dream of Wild Health’s story in this Medium article.

https://dreamofwildhealth.org