Tonight I, along with local farmers, fellow VISTA volunteers and community members involved in the Grow Food, Grow Hope Garden Initiative, will be attending a dinner presentation at the college about the benefits of building a homegrown, locally sourced food economy.
The speakers for the presentation will be Robert Boggs, Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, and Amalie Lipstreu, Senior Program Manager of Sustainable Agriculture for the state. The agenda for the night looks very interesting; Here are some of the discussion topics:
- The economic advantages of maximizing homegrown and home packaged produce.
- Defining ‘sustainability’ and how it applies to increased local produce production, preservation and farmer marketing.
- Development of a local network to maximize these benefits.
- Recommendations to improve linkage between growers and consumers.
Boggs and Lipstreu will no doubt have some useful insight into local food economics, and I look forward to learning more about these strategies. I’ll post a review of the discussion later tonight or tomorrow, so check back for an update.
