By Lynnae Marty Hentzen
This week’s show is focused on food and the impact of our food systems. Our guest is Bre Miller, Program Coordinator on the Food Systems Team for Iowa State Extension and Outreach’s Farm, Food and Enterprise Development area. They are hosting their annual Community Food Systems event this week.
It is important to understand the complete life cycle of our food systems and the various impacts each segment has on all aspects of sustainability—our environment, our economy, and our social & community networks. It is easy to lose track of the path our food takes when we get it at a grocery store. We can learn a lot about ways to improve our food systems when we bring all the stakeholders together for open discussions; which is exactly what happens at ISU’s Community Food System’s event.
On a global level, the UN hosted a Food Systems Summit – A New Deal for People, Planet, and Prosperity on September 23, 2021 in New York. “The summit was the first of its kind to take on the incredible complexity of food production with climate action, affordable food with healthy diets, and stable food supplies with fair and open trade.”
Tune into this week’s podcast to learn more about Iowa State University’s efforts to support positive, collaborative changes to our food systems, or better yet, attend the event in person!
Key takeaways from our discussion:
- It is important to understand how all the pieces of the food system inter-connect in order to help communities develop more sustainable and resilient food systems going forward
- ISU Extension and Outreach provides 3 different areas of practice: technical assistance, research, and certifications
- The two certifications available are: Local Food Leader and Community Food Systems
- These areas of assistance enable collaborative learning and sharing of ideas and initiatives
- Various stakeholders include public health professionals, educators, policy makers, farmers, and other local food leaders
- Community food systems programs focus on food access, consumption and processing
- Coming together in person provides a positive energy for discussions
- It is important to support your local businesses and engage in your community by learning more about where your food comes from and what local foods are available
- Local food is fresher and healthier
- Try to become more aware of the food that you eat; you don’t have to be an expert!
“The shorter the chain between raw food and fork,
The fresher it is and the more transparent the system is.”
~ Joel Salatin
“Local and regional food systems are about opportunity”
~ Tom Vilsack
Thank you for checking out today’s discussion.
Let’s continue the conversation and learn from each other.