For several decades, Minnesotans have nursed a growing interest in eating locally.
Farmers markets have blossomed, food cooperatives have emphasized produce and meat from local growers, restaurants have started to tout the nearby farms they obtain squash or beef or apples from. Schools are doing likewise, partly in response to concerns about eating healthier.
But this is a movement running into the challenge of scale. Can it become bigger and more efficient by creating sophisticated supply and distribution systems, serving farmers and consumers well but without wrecking the value that many people place on using local food?
Because this is playing out differently in many communities and because it touches people in a variety of ways -- health, money, connection to land -- Ground Level is focusing on how those questions and conversations are playing out in Minnesota.
TOP STORY
Bemidji food co-op adds kitchen to boost local food producers
As Bemidji builds a stronger local foods reputation, a food cooperative hopes a new incubator kitchen can strengthen the network of local food producers.
Immigrant farmers look to move from markets to grocery stores
Immigrant farmers are fixtures at many Minnesota farmers' markets, particularly in the Twin Cities, but they are not nearly as well represented in other parts of the local food scene.
Retail grocers compete for local food
Increasing consumer interest in local food has meant that smaller grocers have to compete with retail giants like Walmart for locally produced food.
Wadena bistro serves up local ingredients
Harvest Thyme Bistro in Wadena has a simple message for its customers: fresh food in season tastes better, and it's healthier.
VIDEO
In Milan, the harvest lasts all year
Carol Ford and Chuck Waibel operate Garden Goddess Greenhouse and sell fresh produce to 20 families all winter. Now they want to expand operations, growing more and acting as a middleman for neighboring farms to reach the growing local food market.
Bemidji and Minnesota's local food map
Harmony Co-op in Bemidji is building an incubator kitchen to help local food producers and entrepreneurs expand into processed food.
Sept. 28, 2011
Ground Level adds Minnesota hunger to coverage
MPR News' Ground Level project has added a topic page on hunger in Minnesota, collecting the reporting of MPR News reporter Julie Siple and adding data and other background material.
June 3, 2011
Are tight school budgets really an obstacle to farm-to-school success?
Minnesota growers said told surveyors they were satisfied with the prices their products fetched when they told them to schools near their farms and orchards, according to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
May 31, 2011
No goats, but Minneapolis moves to allow commercial gardens
Minneapolis' zoning and planning committee has approved a plan that would allow people to use vacant land in the city to grow food commercially.
April 8, 2011
Immigrant farmers try to get beyond farmers markets
Immigrant farmers, long a staple at Minnesota farmers markets, are trying to break down barriers that have prevented them from scaling up and injecting their operations into other parts of the local food movement.
Jan. 7, 2011
IN THE SCHOOLS
Schools work to get local in the cafeteria
Food service directors say local food programs will improve students' health and might lead to better success at school.
INGREDIENTS
Play with food — on a map
Take your meal and map the ingredients to see how local your food really is.
WHITE PAPER
Growing pains: Scaling up local food
For all the enthusiasm around local food, it is a movement challenged by uncertainties and questions. Success varies from one place to another for geographic, population and economic reasons.
UP CLOSE
Local takes on local food
See how cities from Apple Valley to Willmar are working to incorporate local products into their food supply.
What innovative idea have you seen in your community involving local food?
Q & A
Local foods: Why now?
Ground Level's director, Dave Peters, talks with All Things Considered host Tom Crann about why the local food movement is interesting now.
Forum: Would you pay more for a local chicken?
How do you define locally-grown food? Would you pay more to support food grown locally?
Reports
• US Department of Agriculture primer on local food
• Marketing Local Food. A report by Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture on how to market local food
• Mapping the Minnesota Food Industry, by Ken Meter
• Land Stewardship Project farm directory
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Organizations
• Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
• University of Minnesota Extension's Farm to School effort
• University of Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships
• Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
• Minnesota Sustainable Communities Network, a project of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
• Food Alliance, certifier of food production
• Land Stewardship Project
• Minneasota Project
• Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota
• Renewing the Countryside
• Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture
Find Local Food
• U of M Regional Sustainable Development Partnerhips local food page with 770 local food sources
• Minnesota Grown list of more than 800 food sources
• Heartland Food Network's list of restaurants using local food
Other
• Mini-farmers markets start in Minneapolis to serve food deserts
Ground Level is a Minnesota Public Radio News project shedding light where residents are seeking ways to improve the communities they live in.
More about the project »
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