Resources

National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) - Community Gardening Handbook

 

American Planning Association - Planning for Food Access and Community-Based Food Systems: A National Scan and Evaluation of Local Comprehensive and Sustainability Plans

 

Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and Mark Winne Associates State Food Policy Toolkit - Good Laws, Good Food: Putting State Food Policy to Work for Our Communities

 

Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and Mark Winne Associates Local Food Policy Toolkit - Good Laws, Good Food: Putting Local Food Policy to Work for Our Communities

 

Growing Urban Agriculture - Urban Agricultural and Community Gardens Toolkit

 

Hoosier Farmer? Emergent Food Systems in Indiana (2012)
 by Ken Meter, Crossroads Resource Center


Food business clusters have been emerging in Indiana since the mid-1970s.  They are now taking root in farm commodity producing regions. Young members of the Indiana Farm Bureau are positioning themselves for a future of farming that may be very different than the past, knowing that if each Hoosier spent less than $5 per week buying food directly from Indiana farms, this would generate $1.5 billion of new farm income for state farmers—a 20% increase in farm revenue. 
 
Several innovators have launched creative ventures: a cattle farmer who owns the entire supply web from pasture to retail, making a higher financial return than many banks; a hospital that “prescribes” fresh local food for low-income patients; a restaurant that helped create a tourist destination by fostering the growth of several small farms nearby; a deli that smokes exceptional meats from Indiana farms while helping revitalize an urban neighborhood; a new dairy farmer that milks only 25 cows; a thriving network of cooperative grocery stores that now expands into rural towns; a pork producer who taps high-end markets in Chicago; a young farmer who turns vacant hog barns into hydroponic vegetable greenhouses; and more!

NEW REPORT by Ken Meter of Crossroads Resource Center, commissioned by the Indiana State Department of Health, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity is available to download:  
  • Hoosier Farmer?  Emergent Food Systems in Indiana (2012) (Full Report)
  • Hoosier Farmer?   Executive Summary
  • Hoosier Farmer?  Condensed Report
  • Hoosier Farmer?  PowerPoint (Indiana Horticulture Congress, January 18, 2012)