FOOD RULES in Southern Illinois!!!

On Tuesday night, March 3, more than 45 folks crowded into the Marion, Illinois Extension Office to learn more about the rules and regulations that dictate how farmers, ranchers and other producers can safely and responsibly sell their value-added products to a marketplace that has shown a demonstrably growing hunger for locally grown and produced goods.

The workshop, called Food Rules, featured a set of six panelists - three from Illinois agencies, including the very colorful (and soon to be retiring) John Rottman, the Williamson/Franklin Bi-County Health Department’s Supervising Sanitarian; Mark Sterrett, Department of Public Health Regional Supervisor (Food, Drugs and Dairies) in Marion; and Rodney Cruise with the Illinois Department of Agriculture. The workshop balanced things out with three other panelists who were growers and producers, including Ernie Duckworth, strawberry grower and Chair of Benton Farmers’ Market; Kitten Lee, caterer and seller of baked goods in Du Quoin and the Benton Farmers’ Market; and Ryne Tharp, Produce Manager at Neighborhood Co-op Grocery in Carbondale and producer of grass-fed beef and sheep.

A very compelling part of the evening featured the agency reps, who helped the audience better understand, from a first-hand perspective, some of the reasons that dictate the seemingly inscrutable state and federal regulations that impede smaller growers and producers from sampling and selling their value-added edible goods at farmers' markets or other retail outlets.

For example, John Rottman, who has had three decades of Illinois Health Department experience in dealing with food sanitation issues, said that there were five areas that create potential “risk factors” for consumers: hygienic practices, food from unsafe sources, inadequate cooking, improper holding temps, and improper equipment.

“There are documented cases of health problems related to home-cooked products,” he said.

Rottman didn’t deny, however, that the health department for which he and his colleagues work was not without fault.

“Is our policy good?," he asked. "No, it’s not good, in my opinion. Some local health departments are doing one thing and some the other and some aren't doing a thing. In a nutshell, there are regulations and all health departments need to talk.”

Mark Sterrett and Rodney Cruise, the other officials at the Food Rules workshop, also represented their positions well at the workshop.

The other three panelists, Ryne Tharp, Ernie Duckworth, and Kitten Lee, brought up issues from the producer end of the spectrum. Tharp, who is also the Produce Manager at Neighborhood Co-op Grocery, explained how his department worked with more than 40 local fruit, nut and vegetable growers and producers. Furthermore, when local beef, bison, salmon and other value-added products were included, Tharp said the Neighborhood Co-op spent more than $105,000 patronizing local and regional producers in 2008.

After the panelists finished their brief presentations, the floor was opened up for a question and answer period. A lot of great questions were asked, and the panelists did their best to address specific situations, but in the end, it seemed like a couple of key issues remained unresolved. Two main points that come to mind are the lack of small meat processing facilities in the state and the difficulties in trying to make artisanal cheeses from cow or goat milk.

At the close of the workshop, however, a rather remarkable phenomenon took place. The room erupted into a din of discourse as folks were eager to share their issues and experiences with each other as well as the panelists. This rather informal epilogue to the workshop emphatically punctuated the necessity for growers, producers, state officials and food advocates to gather and communicate beyond a strictly formal level. Food rules and regulations need to be respected and responsibly followed, of course, but local food and local products should also be allowed to express themselves to the fullest extent possible.

Post script: All of this could not have happened without the The Land Connection and the U of I Extension. Terra Brockman of The Land Connection and Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, an Extension Specialist for Small Farms and Sustainable Agriculture, are to be highly commended. Thanks to Ed Billingsley from the Marion Extension Office as well. The tireless efforts and advocacy of such good folks advance the entrepreneurial efforts of smaller local growers and producers to earn a respectable living - a living that represents so many of the values that we hold near and dear to our hearts our homes (and our stomachs).

In a nutshell, Local Matters.

[Photo caption: Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant (left) and Terra Brockman distribute post-workshop surveys to the Food Rules workshop audience on Tuesday, March 3 at the Marion, Ill. Extension Office]

Food Task Force Plan Unveiled in Springfield

LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM HAS $30B ECONOMIC STIMULUS POTENTIAL FOR ILLINOIS ECONOMY

• Report of Statewide Task Force Reveals Economic Potential of local farm, food, and jobs system

• Legislation filed to advance work to put Illinois-grown food on Illinois tables

SPRINGFIELD, IL— A statewide task force report delivered today to the Illinois General Assembly presents a local farm-and-food development strategy that experts say could trigger $20 to $30 billion in new economic activity every year, creating thousands of new jobs while revitalizing rural communities.

Legislation has been filed in both the House and Senate to get key elements of the plan underway.

Even though Illinois has one of the nation’s largest agricultural economies, only a tiny fraction of Illinoisans’ estimated $48 billion annual food expenditures is spent on products grown in state. The report of the Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force concludes that even small increases in the amount of food grown for local consumption can generate an enormous amount of new economic activity, all of it within the state, for farmers and others in food-related businesses.

The report presents a strategy for increasing the amount of money spent on Illinois-grown food to 10 percent of the statewide total by 2020 and to 20 percent by 2030, generating $20 to $30 billion in economic activity and thousands of new jobs in farming and the food industry each year.

“This plan proposes dramatic expansion of the local farm and food networks in Illinois’ already world-renowned agricultural infrastructure. It encourages Illinois farmers to respond directly to consumers’ demand for fresh, tasty, locally-produced foods, and shows how to do it,” said Wes Jarrell, chairman of the 32-member task force that wrote the report “Local Food, Farms, and Jobs: Growing the Illinois Economy.” Jarrell is Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Illinois, and a farmer himself.

“The broadly-based task force met regularly and engaged in vigorous discussion about how best to serve the people and the economy of Illinois. The result of their hard work represents a turning point for the state’s rural economy,” Said Jarrell. He said that a local farm and food system in Illinois will bring jobs and economic opportunity to the urban and suburban areas of the state as well as to the rural economy through expanded food processing systems and the growth of urban agriculture projects.

According to the report: “The business of creating and maintaining all the links in the local supply chain—aggregating, processing, packaging, storing, and transporting products—translates into jobs that cannot be outsourced. Right now, such a system doesn’t exist. There is not enough local food to meet the demand, nor enough farmers growing local food, nor companies in the business of processing local food. But there are too many food marketers disappointing their customers. This void is what is called opportunity.”

“Illinois farms produce commodities that go into products feeding humans and animals all over the world,” said Representative Julie Hamos (D) Evanston, lead sponsor on the legislation that established the task force and enabled its year-long effort. “That perhaps 95 per cent of the fruits, vegetables, and meats that Illinoisans eat are produced in other states or countries is an astonishing imbalance and presents us with an enormous opportunity. This plan represents an important step forward in efforts getting underway in Illinois that will enable farmers in the state to produce and sell fresh food and other farm products, keeping billions of dollars in our communities.”

Based on the report’s findings, Hamos and State Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago) have filed new legislation, which when enacted, will set in motion important elements of an Illinois local farm, food, and jobs economy.

“Illinois is faced with the preponderance of fast food establishments,” said Collins. “This bill will help provide fresh, healthy and easily accessible food in many of the state’s underserved areas while putting Illinoisans to work.”

“The development of a comprehensive, intrastate food production and distribution system has the potential to provide diversified income for farmers and greater economic prosperity for rural communities,” said Tom Jennings, Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Key findings from the report include:

• The market for local food is growing. The number of farmers markets in Illinois grew from 97 in 1999 to 270 in 2008. The number of community-supported agriculture organizations, which allow consumers to “subscribe” to a variety of Illinois-grown food products throughout the season, grew from 14 to 68 in the past eight years. In general, there is far more demand than supply for locally grown food.

• Demand extends into wholesale markets. Illinois colleges and universities, as well as corporate kitchens, schools, hospitals, prisons, restaurants, and grocery stores want to buy farm products from nearby sources. Inadequate local food production and delivery channels pinch supply. Illinois’ predominant farm and food systems is designed to serve distant markets, not link farm production with in-state markets.

• Local food system development is a nationwide phenomenon. Many states are taking steps to satisfy consumer demand to know how food is produced, where, and by whom. State government’s role is to help jumpstart job creation, lending, and investment in the local food system so that entrepreneurs can grow the economy. By participating in this effort, Illinois is helping to create a new form of interstate commerce.


The Task Force is comprised of farmers, distributors, retailers, community organizations, and government representatives from across the state, convened to develop a plan to expand and support a local food system and recommend ways to overcome obstacles farmers face in growing diversified crops and bringing them to local markets. With Jarrell as chair, co-coordinators of the task force are Debbie Hillman of Evanston and Jim Braun of Springfield.

The legislation filed by Hamos and Collins includes the following measures seen as vital in launching a statewide local food system:

The most immediate action would involve creating new policy that directs state agencies to utilize existing staff, resources, and authorities to facilitate community-based farm and food networks.

Other measures include:

□ Establishing the Illinois Food Farms and Jobs Council to serve as a continuing source of coordination, action and information supporting expansion of local food economies.

□ Education and support for existing and future farmers and farm workers through training programs, and the creation of networks linking local food producers to market makers at the local, regional and state levels

□ New food procurement policies that will encourage and facilitate the purchase of local farm and food products by state-funded cafeterias to the maximum extent practical.

□ Streamlining regulatory process and eliminating barriers, making it easier for food producers to navigate tax, zoning, licensing, and other regulations

□ Building public/private partnerships by more fully integrating agriculture into local, regional, state and federal economic development strategy

Report and press materials available at www.foodfarmsjobs.org on March 4, 2009.

Members of the Task Force from Southern Illinois include:
Leslie Duram, School Nutrition Action Committee, Carbondale (Jackson County)
Tom Grant, Neighborhood Services Division, City of Carbondale, (Jackson County)
Chuck Paprocki, Dayempur Farm, Carbondale (Jackson County)