How to Convene a Local Food Council for Positive Impact in Your Community

IMPACT. 1: Miami County residents formed an umbrella group that is creating a virtual farmers market, a shared-use commercial kitchen, a food summit, a locavore dinner, and other marketing materials and directories. -- 2. The Miami County Virtual Market team received a $45,000 USDA grant to hire a manager and launch an online market in 2016 to connect consumers with local foods through technology. -- 3. In September 2015, a Food Summit (82 participants) and a Locavore Farm Dinner (140 persons) highlighted efforts to expand local food production, distribution, consumption; business-to-business connections; and networking for collaborations.OSU PARTNERS: College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; OSU Extension; Glenn College of Public AffairsCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: The Miami County Foundation; Miami County Public Health; Edison State Community College; Miami County Commissioners; University of Dayton; How to Convene a Local Food Council for Positive Impact in Your Community; HowPRIMARY CONTACT: Brian Raison (raison.1@osu.edu)The local food movement is creating jobs and improving health by expanding our "food system" (the growing, processing, distributing, consuming, and composting/recycling of food). Communities are supporting sustainable farming and providing better access to food insecure areas. But how do you bring everyone together to make things happen? One idea is to develop a Local Food Council. This program will help connect citizens, public policymakers, private business leaders and not-for-profit institutions to make an impact