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Sustainable food systems summit planned
BOWLING GREEN, O.—Locally grown food. That’s what area farmers, restaurant owners, food processors, public health officials,
educators and others will be talking about—and tasting—at the inaugural Local Food Works Conference on Saturday, Nov. 12.
To be held in downtown Toledo, the conference will bring together people from every aspect of the food industry to network
and, it is hoped, lay the foundation for a community-wide process for overcoming barriers to a sustainable, regional food
system. Sessions will take place from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the McMaster Family Center in the Lucas County Public Library,
located at 324 N. Michigan St.
Keynoting the program will be former professional basketball player Will Allen, who now is an organic farmer, entrepreneur
in Milwaukee and advocate of local food networks and sustainable local food systems.
The Toledo conference is thought to be the first local effort to bring more locally grown food to the table.
“Food forms the foundation of our regional culture, just as it does cultures around the world. The word ‘culture’ comes from
the Latin root for ‘cultivate,’” points out Michael Szuberla, coordinator of Toledo GROWs. He, Dr. Holly Myers-Jones, director
of environmental programs, and her students at Bowling Green State University, have initiated the conference with a BGSU Partnerships
for Community Action grant.
One survey Myers-Jones and Szuberla cite found that Ohioans spend 13.7 percent of their household budgets on food. “Most of
that (money) doesn’t stay here. Retaining those billions of dollars in the region is an economic development challenge worth
exploring,” Szuberla said.
On the conference agenda will be discussions about new infrastructures to support locally based food systems, opportunities
for farmers to enhance business growth by filling specialized niches, key challenges confronting the food system, agricultural
tourism, and forging networks between “farms and fork.”
“Basically we want to look for avenues to keep farmers on farms and promote the healthy benefits of locally grown foods,”
Myers-Jones said.
“Making our food production more sustainable can lead to economic development and revitalization,” according to the BGSU faculty
member. “Our national food production and distribution systems are linked to many issues that people may not realize are connected,”
she said, adding that “food is water; food is petroleum. There are also food security and agricultural environmental issues
that community-supported agriculture could help to address.”
In addition to BGSU and Toledo GROWS, an outreach program of the Toledo Botanical Garden, conference sponsors include the
Lake Erie West Foodshed Network, a citizens’ group working to influence public policy on agriculture and food issues, and
Innovative Farmers of Ohio, a family-farm network that focuses on sustainable agriculture.
Sign-in at the conference begins at 8:30 a.m. The first in a series of concurrent sessions will be held from 9:30-11 a.m.,
followed at 11:15 a.m. by Allen’s keynote address.
Allen, one of seven children in a Maryland farming family, played professional basketball for a time before accepting a job
in marketing. After 10 years of corporate life, he bought a farm in 1982. The farm now produces more than 100,000 pounds of
chemical-free vegetables. Allen is also co-director of Growing Power, a nonprofit group dedicated to the promotion of fresh,
healthy produce.
More breakout sessions will be held throughout the afternoon. Scheduled speakers include Amy Bodiker, former executive director
of the Chef’s Collaborative, a 1,000-member national network that promotes sustainable cuisine through local, seasonal and
traditional cooking; Todd Wickstrom, a member of the Slow Food International board of directors and co-founder of Heritage
Foods, a business dedicated to helping farmers market artisanal foods, and Ashley Atkinson from The Greening in Detroit.
The program will conclude with a reception from 4:30-8:30 p.m. in downtown Toledo at Diva Restaurant, 329 N. Huron St. The
reception will feature a menu of locally grown foods, such as Amish cheeses, Lake Erie walleye, free-range beer-can chicken
and sweet potato biscuits.
Those interested in attending are encouraged to register in advance. The cost of the conference alone, including lunch, is
$15. The fee to attend both the reception and conference is $35. The fee to attend only the reception is $30.
Students and others may qualify for reduced fees to attend. For more details, see www.lewfn.org or call Szuberla at 419-936-2986.
(Posted November 10, 2005 )
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