Local/Community Foods History and Projects
Since
1985, the Kerr Center has worked with farmers and communities to
establish viable community foods projects such as farmers’ markets.
In 2002, the center turned its attention to the larger food system,
from farm to table, through its work with the Oklahoma
Food Policy Council.
The Food Policy Council was a joint project of the
Kerr Center and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and
Forestry. The first project of the council was farm-to-school,
and the center and council did much work to lay the groundwork
for this now successful state program.
In 2004, the Kerr Center received a grant from the USDA’s
Community Food Projects Initiative, a national competitive grant
program.
The Kerr Center project “Building
a Foundation for Food Security in Oklahoma” was the
first project in Oklahoma to be funded by this program.
The grant funded an assessment of Oklahoma’s food system,
in which basic information about food, health and agriculture in
the state was compiled in a user-friendly format. The report—Closer
to Home: Healthier Food, Farms and Families in Oklahoma was
published in 2007 as an Oklahoma Centennial Report. The report
identified:
- The greatest threats to health and food security
within Oklahoma.
- The extent that Oklahoma can increase its food
self-reliance, and the potential economic and social benefits
of doing so.
- Policy recommendations to address specific problems and
opportunities identified in the assessment.
The grant, which ran through June ’07, also enabled the
Kerr Center and the Oklahoma Food Policy Council to work with diverse
groups to “craft comprehensive responses to pressing food,
farm and nutrition issues” in Oklahoma. One result of this
work was the establishment of a legislative task force to explore
hunger and food insecurity in Oklahoma and recommend positive actions.
The grant also funded a variety of farm-to-school activities,
including seminars, information packets, and work with educators,
policymakers and advocacy groups to raise awareness of childhood
obesity and how serving farm-fresh
foods in school cafeterias could help address this problem. The
result was establishment of the Oklahoma
Farm-to-School program.
In 2008, a second CSREES grant was awarded to Sustainable Green
Country to support a Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign in northeastern
Oklahoma, and to support school gardens. The Kerr Center brought
Buy Fresh Buy Local to Oklahoma and has provided staff and web
support to the campaign.
Contact: Doug Walton, Community Foods Coordinator
Maura McDermott, Communications Director
Community Foods: Projects
Oklahoma Food Policy
Council
Oklahoma Farm-to-School Project
Farm-to-School Articles
Oklahoma Food Security Project
*Closer
to Home: Healthier Food, Farms, and Families in Oklahoma
by
Maura McDermott, Wylie Harris, Doug Walton, and Mary Penick
* Oklahoma Community Food Security Project by Doug Walton and
Maura McDermott (Field Notes, winter 2005)
*Articles may be reprinted online or in other media if editor is
first notified at mailbox@kerrcenter.com.
 This
project is supported by the Community Food Projects Program of
the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service,
grant #2004-33800-15141
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