Regional
Northeast Regional Agriculture and COVID19
Wednesday, April 8
1:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Online
RSVP at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/uJ0tcuihrT8ouZJuXnaDemygSBJUTBFyFQ
Maine Farmland Trust and NESAWG will be hosting a zoom conversation next Wednesday, April 8th, at 1 PM to discuss state-level best practices from around the northeast region and to share strategies for policy responses to COVID-19.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Indicate in the ‘questions and comments’ field if you have a particular area of state policy you’d like to dive into for this conversation. We will be breaking out into topical breakout groups during the call.
Northeast COVID&Ag State Policy resources
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v13JAgDUI-UOYvCMDYBD_MWd_WT2mu61h2k5UIBZIko/edit?usp=drive_web
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Municipal
COVID-19 Municipal food access policies
…the Healthy Food Policy Project’s COVID-19 municipal food access policy index (https://healthyfoodpolicyproject.org/resources/index-of-local-government-policies-for-to-support-food-access-during-the-covid-19-pandemic)… provides examples of policy solutions that keep communities fed and nourished during the pandemic. I hope you find it useful, and encourage you to share it widely.
We will continue to build out the index over the next few weeks. If you have examples of other municipal emergency food access policies (ordinances, resolutions, codified laws, and administrative policies passed by city and county governments) that the Healthy Food Policy Project team should consider including, please submit them through the “suggest a policy” button on the page linked above.
The Healthy Food Policy Project (https://healthyfoodpolicyproject.org) is a collaborative effort by the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School, UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, and the Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. The Project is funded by the National Agricultural Library, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Best,
Molly McDonough (mollyhmcd@gmail.com)
Environmental Communications Specialist
Center for Agriculture and Food Systems
Vermont Law School, 164 Chelsea Street, South Royalton, VT
T: 802-831-1304 | Office: Debevoise 209
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Institutional
Farm to Institution New England [FINE] has been hearing from our institutional stakeholders that there is a need to connect those with surplus food and labor with those who need it in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic.
We created this spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hxTCuFVUCv4ad-_VlOGhOsDcYmwLXMkm5chzRF6wODM/edit#gid=877771653) to match up gaps and surplus in the New England institutional food system. We welcome anyone to add, view or contact others on the list directly.
Examples of listings may include:
Those with a surplus of food that need a home (e.g. meat, seafood, vegetables, dairy, processed foods)
Those looking for local food to serve to displaced constituents
Those with a need for extra hands at their facilities (e.g. milkers, kitchen staff, drivers)
Those looking for job opportunities after their institution has closed or reduced labor
Those with additional storage space for food that needs to be preserved
If you have suggestions on how to make this list more useful, please contact hannah@farmtoinstitution.org.
Farm to Institution Resource Guide for Institutional Food Systems and COVID-19
https://www.farmtoinstitution.org/covid-19#covid-19-resources
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Community and voluntary association
Community gardening and local agriculture googlegroup [Boston area]:
growing-resilience@googlegroups.com is a discussion group established by Boston area community gardeners to figure out how to keep community gardens growing safely in this time of COVID19 and, perhaps, to expand our growing capacity in case we need more local food to make it through quarantine. The example, of course, is the WWII Victory Garden which began in the Spring of 1942 and was producing as much as 40% of the fruits and vegetables the Homefront (not the Homeland) consumed by the Summer of 1945, just three growing seasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIlQJg1kSvk
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A Method and Historical Example
How to Run a Virtual Offers and Needs Market
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjJk8o3pJVM
from Post Growth Institute (https://www.postgrowth.org)
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Production for Use: 1930s End Poverty in California campaign
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2010/09/29/906194/-End-Poverty-in-California
This is incredibly relevant historically contextual information. Thank you!
Tweeted out the link to chefs José Andres and David Chang as they complained that there is no “food czar” to make sure EVERYBODY gets to eat. A drop in the bucket but still a drop.