Scaling up Local Foods

The Sustainable Community Meeting hosted by the Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERT) in Detroit Lakes proved to be very informative. There were many discussions ranging from long term road development to possible ways to make cities more "green." However, the discussion gravitated mainly on the local foods movement.

With the state percentage of directly purchased local food at under .05%, it was made clear that there is much room for expansion. Some proposed increasing the food to school projects, which would allow local school districts the freedom to purchase from local farms. Others offered that crop share programs were the best way to increase local foods awareness. With near 60 CSA's in MN, they are well on there way to bringing local foods to the people.

With all of these wonderful ideas to increase local foods awareness, the most difficult idea to gain momentum also seems to be the most simple to implement. It was discussed that if each family was able to grow a simple garden on their property, the benefits of eating local foods would be seen at personal level, which, in turn, would bring a broader understanding of the importance of eating locally.