Many outside Australia would perhaps be surprised that the country’s two big food retailers control 73% of the market. A Guardian story on how Australia’s food industry is shifting as small-scale producers chip away at the domination of major suppliers.
In “The Commons as a Template for Transformation“, David Bollier argues that, in the face of the deep pathologies of neoliberal capitalism, the commons paradigm can help us imagine and implement a transition to new decentralized systems of provisioning and democratic governance.
And finally, in “Neoliberalism and the making of food politics in Eastern Ontario“, authors (and Nourishing Communities researchers) Peter Andrée, Patricia Ballamingie and Brynne Sinclair-Waters argue that, while a ‘neoliberal lens’ helps to illuminate some problematic characteristics of community-based food initiatives in Eastern Ontario, “this lens underestimates those aspects of community-based food initiatives that may appear commensurate with neoliberal rationalities but which also push in more progressive directions.”
Thursday, May 16
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Pacific / 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Baltimore offers an important example of a city that has successfully implemented an inter-governmental initiative to increase access to healthy and affordable foods in underserved neighborhoods.
This webinar offers an in-depth exploration of Baltimore’s healthy food retail programs and accomplishments including its virtual supermarket program, the financing of two recent healthy food markets, and a just released study mapping food quality in Baltimore food markets.
Presenters Include:
Laura Fox, Director, Baltimore Office of Chronic Disease Prevention
Amanda Behren’s, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future Maryland – Food System Mapping Project
Dana Johnson, Market Leader Baltimore, The Reinvestment Fund
Patricia Smith, Senior Policy Advisory, The Reinvestment Fund
Food hubs hold great promise for a myriad of positive community impacts – economic development and job creation, farmland preservation, environmental sustainability… the list goes on.
But how do you start a food hub?
This webinar brings together the stories of the formation and first year of three different, successful food hubs. Our presenters are all founders of their hubs. They will share some of the best decisions they made … and some of the worst. What types of contacts did they feel really helped their business to thrive? How much money did they need, and how did they get it? Why did they choose their incorporation status? And more…
Panelists:
Sandi Kronick – Eastern Carolina Organics
Chris Hartman – Good Food Collective-Head Water Foods, Inc
Jim Crawford – Tuscarora Organic Growers Cooperative
The Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems and the Union of Concerned Scientists cordially invite you to a public webinar
Monday, May 20th – from 3:00 to 4:30 pm EST
Brief Summary – To address the current state and future direction of economic analysis with regard to local and regional food systems, Michigan State University’s Center for Regional Food Systems and the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Food & Environment Program convened a meeting of a group of economists and local food researchers on January 31 and February 1, 2013. This webinar will provide a brief synopsis of the meeting outcomes, with a focus on questions one should consider when conducting or commissioning a study on the economic impacts of local and regional food systems. There will be adequate opportunity for participants to weigh in with comments and questions to continue to inform the discussion on future economic impact studies of local and regional food commerce.
This webinar will provide an overview of the “Find Money” section of the Healthy Food Retail Portal and provide examples of specific federal, state, and local resources that can be tapped to create or expand healthy food retail opportunities in underserved communities.
