OUTREACH

Ten Rivers Food Web
http://www.tenriversfoodweb.org/

The Ten Rivers Food Web (TRFW) is a diverse group of community members, local farmers and retailers, academics, and emergency food providers whose mission is to provide strategic leadership to build an economically and environmentally sustainable local food system in Benton, Linn and Lincoln Counties.

The Food Systems Coalition has identified five priority areas for work. These are not categorized in order of importance:
› Food Literacy - increasing community awareness of all issues related to food and food production
› Local Farm Coordination - facilitating exchange of ideas and information
› Development of a Community Processing Facility
› Farm to Cafeteria Projects - promoting institutional purchasing and use of locally grown products
› Low-income Projects - linking low-income populations with projects and institutions to facilitate access to and information about healthy food

We envision:
—A diversified local farm economy whose growers and processors are valued by the entire community and whose products are consumed with awareness of their origin.
—A local grower/processor community supplying a higher percentage of the foods eaten by Benton, Linn and Lincoln County residents. (Currently, approximately 2% of food consumed in Benton County is produced here. Larry Lev & Linda Brewer, OSU/Extension.)
—Collaborations among residents, organizations and governmental bodies to create the essential elements of a successful local food system (adequate rural and urban food-producing land, processing facilities, markets, and infrastructure).
—Creative connections between producers and consumers: farmers' markets, farm stands, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, retail food stores, institutional dining facilities, schools, restaurants and congregations.
—Low-income residents having regular access to healthful, locally-produced foods through local distribution networks.
—Anyone wishing to grow food for themselves, or farm for the community, having access to land, and training to grow and preserve food.
—Increases in: knowledge about food, nutritional value of meals provided by schools and institutions, culturally-appropriate foods, local markets for local foods, viable jobs in agriculture and food processing, amounts of locally-produced foods in people's diets, land used for food production.
—Decreases in: hunger and food insecurity, obesity and diabetes, eating disorders, petroleum used for long-distance shipping of food, use of emergency food sources, food and packaging waste.
—A community where people take pleasure in eating together.

Mission Statement
Provide strategic leadership to build an economically and environmentally sustainable local food system in Benton, Linn and Lincoln Counties.

We will:
Assess and design…
—Assess what food is available from Benton, Linn and Lincoln counties (1 year; ongoing)
—Assess potential steady local markets for local farmers, beginning with institutions such as schools, county services, churches, plus grocery stores, restaurants, processors. (2 years; ongoing)
—Assess what infrastructure would be needed to operate a locally-based food system.(2 years; ongoing)
—Conduct regular assessments of community food security indicators (e.g. rising energy prices and global climate fluctuations), then be flexible and creative in maximizing current and future food security for all citizens. (On-going)
—Aid in design and implementation of community-owned food-processing and storage facilities. (6 years)
Educate and empower…
—Educate the public on locally-produced foods in local media (e.g. seasonal diets, designing communities around food, awareness of community food needs & availability, etc.). (3 months; on-going)
—Encourage young people to grow food - for themselves or for a living. (On-going)
—Promote ways for each resident to be able to eat the equivalent of one locally-grown meal each day. (10 years)
Coordinate and facilitate…
—Coordinate and catalyze efforts by city and county governments, public institutions, and private organizations to assess and address economic and other barriers (e.g. transportation, low wages, food costs) to acquiring food from non-emergency sources. (On-going)
—Work with city and county governments to include food production as a primary focus in land-use laws and development requirements. (On-going)
—Facilitate innovative connections between local producers and hunger organizations. (On-going)
—Coordinate connections between those with food-growing and -preserving expertise with those seeking skills. (On-going)
—Facilitate innovative connections between local producers and consumers.(On-going)
—Connect interested land-owners with people wishing to farm. (On-going)

To find out more about Ten Rivers Food Web work, or to get involved, contact the Corvallis Environmental Center at 753-9211 or ecenter<at>peak.org.

The Ten Rivers Food Web (TRFW) meets at 7pm on the third Monday of each month.

The next TRFW presentation is Monday, February 26.
Corvallis Public Library Meeting Room. 7:00 p.m.