“Sometimes it’s more valuable than money:” using stories and local knowledge to document impacts of wild harvesting

Self-procurement strategies such as gardening, hunting, and wild harvesting are often overlooked in the development of local and regional food systems because the informal exchanges of these foods do not contribute to traditional financial impacts (McEntee 2011). Research conducted between 2017-2018 in the Missouri Ozarks partnered with wild harvesters and used narrative inquiry and critical reflection to explore the practice of wild harvesting, motivations for food access strategies, and the comprehensive wealth impacts of wild harvesting in the region. Comprehensive wealth, a USDA –Economic Research Service framework, provides a tool for economic development that considers multiple forms of capital and allows for evaluating a wider range of social, cultural, and other non-financial costs and benefits of local food systems investments within a local place. While the research was conducted in a rural area of Missouri, the results support a growing body of research that recognizes the need for strategies that strengthen both market and informal opportunities to participate in a local food system, whether urban or rural. This presentation will share results and comprehensive wealth indicators developed that could be used to evaluate impacts of wild harvesting activities in urban and rural communities. This project will also highlight the methodology of narrative inquiry to value local knowledge and participation in local food systems research