Tag: Lane Regional Public Market

Making Local Food Connections

Posted on by Julia Havens

The 8th Annual Local Food Connection Conference

Lane Regional Food Hub Community Planning Workshop Aniko Drlik-MuehleckAt the beginning of February, my Community Planning Workshop (CPW) team and I got a big, tasty, educational treat. Together with several RARE AmeriCorps food systems participants, we headed out for the 8th Annual Local Food Connection conference to enjoy a day packed with scrumptious local food (thank you farmers and LCC culinary students!) and productive discussions surrounding local food production and distribution in Lane County.

While my team’s primary goal is to assess potential consumer demand for a public market and food hub in the Eugene/Springfield area, we also need to gain a complete understanding of our local food’s journey from the farm to your table. Thanks to the insights of the Lane County farmers, food processors, distributors, vendors, and non-profit allies who attended the Local Food Connection, we now have a much deeper appreciation of our county’s vibrant food system. I, for example, had no idea that UO’s dining services purchases approximately 25% of their produce from local producers such as Hay Bayles! Farm and Sweet Leaf Organic Farm in the summer and many more. What a great way to get nutritious and delicious food to our students!

As we observed sessions on topics ranging from food distribution challenges to commercial kitchens and grocery stores to increasing institutions’, everyday shoppers’, and tourists’ demand for local food, several key themes began to emerge:

  • Lane Regional Food Hub Community Planning Workshop Aniko Drlik-MuehleckSupply Challenges – Local producers in Lane County have difficulty competing with conventional food supply because their products are less uniform, only available seasonally, processing facilities are limited, and government regulations are cumbersome. Similarly, local distributors struggle with regulations and sometimes lack the scale required to move food around in a cost effective manner.
  • Consumption Challenges – Many of the suppliers, distributors, and vendors participating in the conference posed a common question: how do we increase consumer demand for local products? Participants cited buyers’ perception of local food as being expensive as a key barrier to increasing consumption.
  • Partnerships might help overcome some of these barriers – By pooling resources, producers and distributors could effectively increase scale and share marketing and educational outreach to consumers.

Could a food hub in Lane County potentially help tackle some of these challenges and provide a venue for some of the solutions conference attendees suggested? Based on our preliminary investigation of the functions other food hubs across the country serve, we certainly think a food hub in Lane County has tremendous potential to support our local food system. As we move forward with our market analysis for the City of Eugene and Lane County, we will draw on the issues raised at the Local Food Connection to guide any recommendations we make.

 

CPW Community Planning Workshop Aniko Drlik-MuehleckAbout the Author: Aniko Drlik-Muehleck, originally from Berkeley, CA, is now a Master of Community and Regional Planning candidate at the University of Oregon and participated in the Community Service Center’s RARE AmeriCorps Program – Resource Assistance for Rural Environments with the City of Pendleton from 2012-2013. She enjoys gardening and chatting with her chickens.

Top 5 Reasons for Loving Local Food Today (and every day) …

Posted on by Julia Havens

Make a Local Food Feast for Valentine’s Day Local Food Eugene Springfield Oregon Lane County Public Market

My Community Planning Workshop (CPW) team at the University of Oregon is collaborating on a project with the City of Eugene and Lane County to support the local food movement here in Lane County. Our project is the “Lane County Year-Round Regional Public Market and Food Hub Market Analysis”. My team is investigating if there are enough people buying or interested in buying local produce in Eugene and Springfield to support a potential year-round public market and food hub. A public market and food hub could boost the availability of local food by supporting small producers and distributors.

So what is a public market and a food hub, you ask? A public market is a permanent location where farmers, ranchers, and artists can directly sell their local and regional products. Public markets can also have additional amenities, such as cooking classes. There are many different models for food hubs and no two are exactly alike. A food hub could include a year-round public market with additional services like warehouse space for small producers and distribution infrastructure.
My team has been studying up on local food, talking to local professionals about local food, cooking and eating local food and we think it’s great! So with Valentine’s Day today, try something new! Try some local produce from one of Eugene and Springfield’s fantastic locations and rustle up a tasty treat!

Here are our top 5 reasons for supporting local food this Valentine’s Day (and every day) …

  1. It’s delicious!
    There’s just nothing like chopping up some fresh veggies that were picked this morning and serving them up for dinner. You won’t believe how much better an Heirloom tomato straight from the farmers’ market tastes!
  2. It’s nutritious!
    Food loses much of its nutritional value as it is transported, frozen or processed. Eating local food helps cut out these steps and gets the taste and the nutrition directly from the farm to your plate.
  3. It supports local jobs!
    Buying local helps create and sustain jobs in your local community. The money you spend in the local economy stays in the local economy. According to Willamette Farm and Food Coalition, a one percent increase in local food purchasing results in $11.7 million staying in our local economy instead of going elsewhere.
  4. It builds community!
    Heading down to the local farmers’ market is often so much more than purchasing some fresh, local produce. You can check out a band, grab some samples and maybe even a cheeky micro-brew. Making food an experience not just a transaction is an important part of building community.
  5. It’s good for the environment!
    In the U.S. today the average carrot, grain or steak that hits your plate has traveled over 1,500 miles to get there. By buying locally you can cut down on the greenhouse gas emissions that are produced by transporting food so far. And local food doesn’t just mean close to home, it means it’s grown in a more sustainable way in general – so less pesticides, less chemical fertilizer and better land management practices.

Local Food Eugene Springfield Oregon Lane County Public Market CSC Community Planning Workshop CPWSo buy local, eat local and love local!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

 

Alexander Robert Bruce Macfarlan CPW Community Planning WorkshopAbout the Author: Alex Macfarlan is a Master of Public Administration candidate at the University of Oregon. He’s originally from Sydney, Australia and has worked for the past two years with a food hub in Guatemala. Alex has a big veggie garden at his home in Eugene and loves growing food.