SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS West Valley Community Conversation (Sheridan, Willamina, Grand Ronde)

Gaps:
Labor shortages for harvesting Need technical assistance for farmers Getting access to vacant land: how? Who do you talk to? Need a small farmer network (sharing resources, skills, equipment) No way for small farms to do value-added processing Need warehousing/storage space Regulation can be a big barrier No centralized equipment (its expensive, uses fossil fuel, not everyone has what they need) No shared transportation (its expensive, uses fuel, not everyone has what they need) Local food is exported but not available in local stores Accessibility/awareness: where to get local food Need for some kind of shared branding so consumers recognize whats local Price: local is expensive, organic is expensive Everyones isolated: need to work on connections, networking Need to make connections across the county No local distribution options No local composting options (in West Valley) Need people to put all of this together No clear entity has/is assuming responsibility for coordinating efforts Citizens dont understand regulation/rules/restrictions and affect had on farmers, food prices Local ordinances inhibit efforts General lack of knowledge of government agencies & regulations (inspections, certifications: what do they mean? What do I need for my business?) No local food guide or other user-friendly way to get information about farms & availability of products No farmers market No community garden No food preservation classes (or very few, and not in West Valley), no menu planning/cooking classes No one knows about Certified Naturally Grown (alternative to organic certification) Not enough production (steady, year round); inadequate following (on consumer end) Need access to affordable animal feed Lacking major infrastructure: co-ops, canneries, mills, commercial kitchens, meat processing facilities, ways to handle food waste) Need consumers to understand the value of local/farm to table Need consumer education on what to do with local food: how to cook it, store it, preserve it, and grow it

Solution brainstorming:
Local meat lockers Food co-op with storage and production facilities, education: classes/workshops Physical & online forum for connecting producers and consumers (barter, for sale/trade); base off Food Hub? Local gleaner group Local car service (private) Intercommunity visiting: River Walk?, Swoop the Loop (bring in visitors off 18), use an idle school bus to do runs between the towns? Door-to-door/other inventory of un/underused land o Create organization to: bring in experts to teach better land utilization, manage land database o Becomes a Land Link program? (helping link folks with land with folks who want it) Cooperative feed mill o Shared equipment and a shared label o Source from local farms, do custom/small batch milling, will need local farms to start growing grains. Create centralized compost facility

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS

o o Could the city donate land? Rural maybe? Is there county land available? Could it be a small business? Regulation challenges? Use animals (hogs, worms)?

o Would need to offer education too: proper composting technique, and monitor whats coming in to pull out trash Explore alternatives to organic certification o Technical assistance to farmers: these are your options o Education for consumers: heres what these mean Local food guide o Print and online, quarterly? o Information about whats in season, recipes, where to find it, nutrition info West Valley Workforce office o Help match skills with needs: listing of local jobs, database of folks with skills Traveling food fair: goes between towns handing out information and samples of local foods Commercial kitchen Finding uses for slaughter waste: compost? What are appropriate handling practices? Creating a local food hub to handle distribution and transportationto coast and toward McMinnville Using websites, newspapers, school notices, and city newsletters to share information and announcements about local food happenings Develop school curriculum for teachers (how to integrate gardens into math, science) Youth education should include farming & gardening experience, help kids get skills for future jobs Start a local victory garden movement Need better drop off locations for food bank donations (especially fresh donations) Create a community tool library for home gardeners (so folks dont have to buy tools to get started), include farm equipment also (especially to help out new farmers) Affecting food prices: o Work on collaboration and scale to bring costs down for farmers o Marketing cooperatively/developing a local brand should also help lower costs; internet marketing? o Food swaps/bartering: ways for food to be procured without cash changing hands o Need one central local food retail outlet Adequate supply of local product o Communication between producers and consumers needs to improve/streamline o Capture unused land, wasted food, exported food o Facilitate barter & trade community-based exchange o Networking among farmers/cooperation on production side to ensure regular supply Develop West Valley as a destination for local food and tourism (tie in with local artists, wine)

The headlines: Community Goes Whole Hog o Compost brings home the bacon: community members food scraps feed them again. Farmer Joe uses his hogs to
turn the compost piles, sells super local bacon and pork to local shareholders. A percentage of compost sales supports local classes on gardening and animal husbandry; compost is free for community and school gardens. This compost enriches local community soils, and gardens flourish. If you bring your scraps in for composting, get compost at half price! Join the whole hog movement today! Partners: 4H, FFA, Farmer Joe, City of Willamina, City of Sheridan, West Valley Community Campus

West Valley Food Hub Connects Community o Bringing together farmers, eaters, cleaners, preservers, transportation, local chefs and restaurants (and more!) o New online resources tie community together, building local economy and healthy families Wheres the Food? o Who? West Valley. What? Local agricultural goods. Where? Maps and directions. When? Seasonal, see your local
food resource guide!

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS Central Valley Community Conversation (McMinnville, Amity, Dayton, Lafayette)
Gaps:
No cooperative storage or distribution Need to capture more wasted food before its thrown away/composted Dont know where commercial kitchens are, and we need more Insufficient viable meat processing options for small farmers Consumers dont understand the value of local foods/buying local Lack of staple crops grown/sold locally (grains, beans) Nothing is being done with restaurant food wasteends up in landfill (need ecological ways to deal with it) Need a list of government contacts Lack of diversity of thought Lack of access to local product (seasonal, inconvenient, expensive); not accessible to most of the population Lack of knowledge of what to do with local product once you have it Winter gardening/farming: not a lot of it happening Lack of clear community leadership on food issues No/very little locally grown food in schools Lack of gardening knowledge/skills (people would grow own, but dont know how; dont know they can) No nutrition/food/etc. education for kids City government/ordinances a barrier at times School districts a barrier at times Edible gardens/landscapes not on the table for city planners Farmers need marketing assistance: ways to connect to the consumer, to understand consumer decision making Need more access points for local food in the community (year round, daily, convenient hours, central/accessible location, decent prices, accepting SNAP, etc. etc.) No efficient distribution method for fresh produce around county No daily access to local foods Lack of networking among local producers (dont know whos doing what, who they might be able to work with) Lack of awareness about why food is an important issue Unrefined understanding of the differences between branding and marketing Insufficient knowledge of regulations of all kinds No efficient transportation from farm to processor to market Need more local foods in restaurants Not enough consistency, quantity, quality of local product to supply big buyers like schools Little support for small farmers (networking, technical assistance, financing, tools, etc.) Local producers need a space to share information with each other Land use laws: knowledge gap Underutilized/vacant land is untapped and largely unknown Language barriers: need multilingual resources, outreach to Latino community Need local canneries who will do small batch processing for farms So much of what is grown in the county leaves (exported, marketed to Portland): how do we keep it here? Need a mentoring program for beginning farmers Homebound folks dont have easy access to food Need way for neighborhoods to share gardening tools/knowledge/space, etc. Need for day labor on farms Unemployed and homeless folks need work Need local educational events centered around food (like Food Meet in Newberg: meet & greet, samples, speakers) Locals tend to be left out in talking about the value of local food (and wine): for tourists only attitude? No was to access/share/borrow tools for gardening Language barriers: so many terms, so much jargon in food circleneeds to be unpacked for general population Limited Food Bank hours (especially in small towns) No food network/planning for natural disasters No space for community canning

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS

Wasted food in fields: farmers dont have enough workers, could be gleaned Vanilla beans Master list of what is available and where to find it WIC covering local foods Co-ops for people who dont have access to land to grow things

Solutions brainstorming:
Chefs in schools o Kids grow & eat the food at school (run a CSA?, learn skills, sell food to school/community) o School competitions (cooking?) get kids excited o Positive peer pressure for teens, enriching education o FFA Building desire to be inclusive (culturally inclusive), building trust among communities o Marketing to Latino audiences o Start with the kids o Partner with Unidos (others?) o Offer multi-cultural cooking & food preservation classes Certified community kitchen o Could coordinate with others around county/community and maximize usage (scheduling) o Offer rental pantry space for producers/households who dont have the room (link to kitchen) o Need to offer education opportunities o Redundancy across the county will lower costs Community-owned spaces in neighborhoods that make resources available at many sites throughout town/city o Link to senior centers, schools (knowledge base, cross-generational sharing) o Spaces would have a kitchen, a shared/rental pantry, offer classes o Link to OSU extension class offerings? (Canners, Gardeners) o Redundancy will lower costs Create local neighborhood food associations o Sharing knowledge, tools, compost, etc. for neighborhood gardens, canning sessions Do an inventory of available land/space o Get a list of owners to approach about using land o Figure out regulations Community tool share o tool pods in neighborhoods (link with food associations?) o Local website listing a library of tools for loan o Mentoring program for new gardeners Daily access to local food via co-op o Farmers out of this (not a booth-oriented set up) o One drop off point o Suppliers cooperatively run space Online network to improved daily access to local foods o Computer bulletin board/forum for listing available goods o Paid employee needed to manage and keep updated o Get the word out: newspaper, word of mouth, kiosk with information, use local existing groups to spread the word (food bank, slow food group, farmers) o Offer subsidies to offset higher cost of local food Edible public lands o City ordinances o Gleaners---> food banks o Knowledgeable landscapers a resource (help choose right varieties) Cooperative distribution/cannery o Warehouse, freezer o Commercial kitchen; one day a week reserved for local residents use (incubator for farmers markets) o Offer menu mapping service for schools/restaurants (help them deal with seasonality)

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS

o Shared ownership, social benefit (charitable) o Bartering system o Tracking needs & gathering data to help build capacity (ie: greenhouse space) Schools becoming growers of food o Challenges of school year timing Mobile canneries to partner with commercial kitchens Fill Your Pantry Event o Show there is a proven market for locally grown grains/beans o Create farm share organization Commercial kitchen network o Organize a network of personal & business kitchens o Grant writing for funds, shared power to secure funds o Improve knowledge of regulations 211 Emergency Harvest Network o Excess food enters network o Rescue Mission workers will help collect extra food, process it if needed, and distribute it to local food banks. o Contributes to emergency preparedness by building stocks of food. Cross-generational information and knowledge sharing Local food truck uppick up and drop off points around city Food hotlines Food co-op: a hub for education, farmer networking, keeping local food here

The headlines: Bulk Up Your Pantry

o Farmers choose grains over grass! Next stop a grain elevator. Started by los amigos de comida local, these casas are a community-owned house that includes a certified kitchen, storage space, garden, a tool share, serve as a composting hub for their neighborhood, offer community meals and classes, and hosts a mentoring program for cooks and gardeners. Funded by a co-op who used grants, Kickstarter, community fundraisers to secure funds. Coordinated by a Food Corps volunteer and run by a steering committee, staffed by students, community volunteers, homeless. Coming up next: apartment transformations! Converted green spaces become gardens for complex, shared commercial kitchen to host classes and more. Cook School revitalized as community food center! Includes: a huge garden, food storage (including cold storage), rental pantry space, processing/canning, classroom space, kitchen, and community meeting rooms. Unprecedented cooperation between diverse community groups made it possible! USDA Rural Development grant used to fund upgrades and staffing. School donates property to project with unanimous vote! 20 working wage jobs have been created! Awareness campaign exceeds expectations! Last year, Nourish launched a multi-platform implementation plan that links consumers to farmers to food processors. Directory of locations: processors, farms School farm program Nourish Yamhill Valley certified We cant believe how successful our plan has been, said Tricia Harrop. People are healthier today because they are eating better, says hospital CEO. This year: Yamhill Valley schools will adopt the Terra Nova model . Better grades have been linked to better nutrition. Sales of local food are up! Nourish has a logo!

Neighborhood Celebrates Opening of First Casa de Comida!

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Good Things are Cooking at Cook School

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Community Committed to Eating Local

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SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS

Lot to Plot a Success
o Local high school farm project teaches nutrition, business skills, appreciation for local agriculture. Next step: composting toilets! No more mystery meat for lunch. Local school district uses local lunch fare to educate children and parents about health and nutrition. Local farmers and community mentors help build tasty meals. Children are experiencing, many for the first time, what it means to eat local. In a local, sustainable environment of community, we now harvest, cook/prepare, eat, and cycle the seasons. Local farms now provide 90% of the whole foods in our school lunches.

Schools Finally Eat Fresh and Local

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Yamhill County Solving Hunger Through Neighborhood Food Associations

o A new look for land use, community building, and education.

Additional thoughts & ideas from notecards:

Check out: www.oregongrowers.com (farm direct specialty foods, OR growers and shippers) Understanding new food warehousing regulations (Dept of Ag) An information booth at both the Farmers Market and Saturday market that provides information on access, awareness, and availability to locally produce foods and products Vouchers for transportation to the markets, soup kitchens, food pantries for those without transportation Cooperate with the groups who are expanding the Granary area and developing the Gateway district. Develop a community garden on the old Cook School property providing food for the local neighbors. RE: farmer drop points --- many products are no legally allowed off of the farm (ex: raw milk). Could we change this? Get the word out about resources through phone tree type networking. Promote a method of spreading word into Latino communities. A representative at the Nourish meetings to help find their food needs and programs needed to give them access. Schools---senior centers---truck routes: this will happen when these connections happen.

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS East Valley Community Conversation (Newberg & Dundee)
Gaps:
No SNAP accessibility at Farmers Market No enough availability/accessibility of licensed kitchens Home economics and agricultural education in schools and communities Lack of diversity in agricultural community New farmers need connections for land Need more CSAs and more information out in community about them Lack of intercommunity connections Limited outlets for local aglocations and convenience Transportation: inefficient, expensive Lack of connections between farmers and grocers Difficulty accessing USDA butchers in Yamhill County Need support for promoting/marketing local farms (non-wine) No central information center about farms or printed media: need a clearinghouse No local farmers association Lack of small/cooperative processors and copackers in county No access to a mobile processing option No small farm assistance (a la OSU Extension): technical assistance, consulting Shortage of large animal/livestock vets No small business training/development for farmers Underutilized farm land, people who want to farm---> need help making the connection Need more education and technical assistance for farmers on unique cropping, intercropping, companion cropping Shortage of farm labor Need easier ways to transport excess production on farms to food banks Lack of local ingredient eateries that are for locals Lack of significant 12 month/year round production of local foods Farmers market hours are only during the workday on weekdays, only open seasonally Lack of availability of local grains (for livestock & people) Lack of licensed kitchens for processing value-added foods No availability of tools/equipment to rent (eg: cider presses) No educational center for local, nutritious, sustainable food: all of it available in one place, that one place doesnt exist Lack of hands on mentoring for low income people, on their properties, to help them get raised beds, fruit trees, chickens, up and running No farm to school programs Lack of locally grown food in schools Fruit trees and wasted fruit all over, while people are buying canned fruit Need for volunteers, able bodies Distribution to people in need (more of it, more efficientmobile options?) Lack of diversity of voices (in the room, in the movement) Lack of work on energy efficiency Nowhere to take household food scraps for composting/other uses Lack of education infrastructure on local foods (ie: curriculum, equipment to teach) Lack of good water distribution infrastructure/cost of irrigation Lack of value-added training for farmers No local food distribution system What to do with unsold product or unsalable product (esp. produce) Need more peer-to-peer mentoring Education about technology, cultural expectations High energy costs Helping people bridge the gap between whats possible and whats happening now More diversity & inclusivity

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS

Solutions brainstorming:
Ideas for the Cultural Center (try one, see how it goes, move on if it doesnt work) o Link: skills/toolsexcess foodinterested consumers o Info-sharing, surplus-sharing o Low income education: cooking, nutrition, o Information for teachers (align to curriculum/state standards): Culinary arts (expand beyond) o Micro-enterprise space: retail/production, grants, other assistance o Utilize cultural ties o Dont reinvent the wheel: talk with other folks, look at other cities for models o Connect with master gardeners Growing connections between farmers and grocers o Understand contracts and how to get them (Dave Brown=a resource) o May be limited to certain products/seasonal o Link farmers who want land with folks with land to lease o Farm Bureauexemption to inheritance tax o Accessibility example: organic shelf at Rays (maybe do a local shelf?) o Need a go-between professional marketing representative to connect farmers, grocers o Grocer concerns=quality, reliability, volume o Need consumer education on why to buy local products o Need to fit into existing corporate structures o Labor costs a challenge o Add to the diversity of outlets for farm products Local production of carbs: need to create a local market, educate customers on how to use, create distribution network Diversity of voices: o Include Corrections service workers as part of community food systems o Involve food pantry clients in community gardens o Involve Hispanic community in teaching cooking of unprocessed foods o Age diversity: encourage involvement of BSA & GS in food projects, other youth groups (4H, FFA) o Make internships on farms available to young people o At-risk youth involved in farms and food systems An information clearing house: o Website Forum to connect people with each other Identify where local produce is sold Stores identify produce sources (also labeling in house) o Also in a printed format o Local storefront to sell local products Create market for local products Energy efficiency o Create water and energy co-ops for farmers Create cooperative energy strategy for county o Solar panels, centralized wind farm o Stahlbush Farms model: use wastes to create energy (waste energy generation co-ops?) o Work on farm equipment efficiency (convert to hybrid/electric options) o Bioreactors: potential of biomass for fuel production (methane) o Algae as fuel sources, to clean water (mitigation opportunities) o Better crop production with composted waste o Humanure and other innovative fertilizers? (big in PDX right now, lots of regulation?) o Better utilization of wastes generally (hogs, dairy waste, etc.) Creating small-scale value-added processing opportunities o We know value-added can help small farms make some more money for their products o We have farmers who do an awesome job of growing raw products for consumption (ex: CSAs) o Dayton: working on a food biz incubator/education center o Incubator program could use Winemakers Studio model o We lack a lot of critical infrastructure that we had here in the past

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS

Ex: grain mills (Zack Christensen can help with this. Do we need one or more? Capacity?) Do we need more USDA slaughter, or just better connections? Railway seems like an opportunity: have it, can we use it?, what improvements are needed? Need an agile, responsive (food) system that can integrate new products/producers What about mobile small scale processing? Signature Bottling model Create a tool exchange/swap; exchange services (ex: tilling) Create a co-op or year-round farmers market to improve accessibility of local foods Work with Soil & Water Conservation District on technical assistance for farmers Work with local Farm Bureau and commodities groups on getting new farmers land Better utilizing unsold produce o Create community food preservation days/networks o Maybe create incentives for local farmers/hunters to donate surplus A USDA Mobile Slaughter truck o Use successful model from Puget Sound area as a model o There is high demand for locally raised meats o This service would support local growersallowing them to sell to markets, restaurants, and more (not just directto-consumer) o Would make cuts of meat more accessible to community (vs. whole animals or halves which are intimidating and difficult to store) Grocery store committed to local products o Centralized marketing and distribution point Eases pressures on farmers (more time to farm, less time pounding the pavement) Improves access for consumers (good hours, offer education and information, classes even?) o Outlet for local goods open year round Winter farmers market in Newberg o Year-round access for consumers, and a year-round market for farmers o Use old feed mill/Farmgrow (talk to Lonni Parrish) o Stone church owned by NW Fresh Seafood guy? Train distribution of Yamhill County goods to market o Connection to PDX o Mill has a spur line o Link to wine tourism? (has been talk about a wine tour train in the past) Resource guide o Listing of certified kitchens, farms, outlets to buy local food, etc. Start a small batch custom cannery-glassery to serve local farmers o Shared branding? (wholesale opportunities) o Also do custom labeling and recipes so farms can sell own product Hazelnut wastes for hog feed: both shelled and left over from processing o o o o

The headlines: Eat Your City Park

o o This summer you will be able to pick fresh, organic berries in a few of Newbergs Parks! Thanks to the volunteer organizing of Nourish Yamhill Valley, Newbergs zoning laws now allow for edible landscaping in our public spaces. When It Rains, Irrigation Pours George Fox Universitys engineering program developed a prototype in one Newberg Park: a water catchment system. Barrels are located under the gutters of the public restrooms, and these feed into a holding tank. This water is used to irrigate the park and its new edible plants. The prototype was the result of a contest put on by GFU and the Newberg Rotary Club. Students and Rotarians collaborated to create plans. The Newberg City Planners picked the winner. Rotarians found local businesses to donate parts for the building of the catchment prototype. From Incarceration to Invigoration Collaboration between the Yamhill County jail system and the City of Newberg, along with generous grants from local community groups, worked together to place and care for new edible landscaping in three local parks this year.

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS

Yamhill County Businesses and Local NGO Seek Energy Independence
o In 2012 a group of concerned business leaders met to discuss energy efficiency and develop an alternative energy solutions team. The partners are the five largest energy users in the county, and they are working with several agricultural business as well. The Goal is by 2017 to be the most energy efficient county in the US, achieving net zero energy usage. Create agricultural practices are leading the way. Energy Trust, PGE, and McMinnville Water and Light jointly funded the study. Regional solutions call effort a model example. Governor Susan Sokol Blosser says she is proud to call Yamhill County her home. State senator Ted Crawford said they are gearing up for phase 2. This group was an outgrowth of the Nourish Yamhill Valley East Valley conversation and formed in two hours. In partnership with the school district, Future Farmers of America, and local farmers, our community is able to provide healthful meals. FFA identified local farmers who had no resources for their surplus. School helsp by providing students for work experience and community service, this created community investment in youth. FFA educated students on the roles and responsibilities of farming and provided work training on local farms in order to provide local product to the schools. Grand opening of Newbergs year-round public market this Saturday! Vendors offering fresh, local produce, cheeses, meats, and jams (and more!). Local wineries and cideries will be offering tastings; cooking demos and kids activities too! Stop for a bite to eat from our great food carts, and enjoy live music. WIC & SNAP accepted! Open Friday (12-8), Saturday & Sunday (11-5). Other notes: Need: walk in cooler, freezer space antique mall sales model? Co-op? One day? Multiple days? Space? Old mill building? Thanks to a grant and series of local fundraisers, the Chehalem Cultural Centers new kitchen opened to rave reviews. The C3K offers basic and advanced classes on everything from Nutrition On a Budget to Kim-Chee for You & Me. Classes feature local experts, bilingual instructors, daytime & evening sessions, and free on-site childcare.

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Local Farmers Bring Surplus to the Cafeteria!

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Farm to You Year Round

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Cultural Center Serves Up Local Flavor

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Additional thoughts/ideas from notecards:

The National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR): Corvallis is NCGR site for preservation of pears, berries. It is in easy driving distance to Yamhill County. Every year they host an educational open house in which they have field station demonstrations on how to raise honeybees, build hoop houses to grow cherry trees, etc. The NCGR also offers free scion wood to the public so people can propagate and preserve these edible national treasures. Gap: The identification of heirloom foods (fruit trees, vegetables, livestock, etc.) that have won taste tests 100s of years ago, but that are in danger of extinction because of corporate interests [preferring foods that look pretty, travel well, etc., while sacrificing fabulous taste of heirloom foods]. The need for local farmers to grown & raise these heirloom foods and save them from extinction. Nancy Thurstons small farm is working to fill this gap.

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS North Valley Community Conversation (Yamhill, Carlton, Cove Orchard)
Gaps:
Education of consumers on how to store & prepare produce grown locally (eg: kale, fragile greens, winter squashes) Local grocery stores not carrying locally grown, seasonal produce Lack of USDA mobile slaughter Consumers dont know where/cant find locally grown product or u-pick locations Producer education gap for startup (ex: laws, regulations, finding suppliers, techniques & tips) Lack of access to labor as workload demands Lack of access to tools Lack of small scale processing (eg: commercial kitchen) Poor farm income High prices for customers (especially organic) Organic labels and definitions unclear High fuel and energy costs Lack of community kitchens (none for education or cooperative processing) Excess crops: what to do with them? Excess food from restaurants: how to salvage and distribute, or at least keep it out of the trash State laws, regulations are perplexing and can be major barriers No avenue for purchasing local food Lack of access to/raising of staple crops here locally No gleaning group (way to salvage excess crops) Need young people (able bodies) as volunteers and employees Lack of a Yamhill County based food distribution company (all national, or at least in the metro area) No directories of local farms, farm stands, u-picks, and other resource No farmers market in Yamhill/Carlton Need for local and cheap advertising Lack of farm directory The winter/off season Lack of food education: how to get it, how to cook it, how to can/preserve, meal planning, home composting (the gamut) Challenges of prepared food donations Need to build connections: farmersconsumersexpertskitchensinformation sharing Transportation challenges: farmers (inefficient for everyone to drive own product around all the time), consumers (need it to get to outlets for local food) Need meat lockers/rentable cold storage & dry good storage (more storage spaces) Lack of local feed crop production Challenges of getting good, knowledgeable labor (esp for farms) Challenges of accessing distribution channels Y/C specifically needs a venue for produce sales Farmers/food producers need more business training and business development assistance Missing: awareness among local officials (which means there is no support/resources available) No farm to table restaurants in Y/C Lack of connection between FFA/4H and local farmers Lack of farm to school programs (no food/home-ec education in schools anymore)

Solutions brainstorming:
Expand Berry Noir, Dundee Fruit Company, Fruit Hill Canning (co-pack) to do more small scale processing for local farmers Develop a cooperative commercial kitchen Host canning parties: rent commercial kitchen space? (YCHS/churches?) Access higher income markets (Portland, further) to offset local consumption o Charge higher prices to subsidize local sales with tighter margins o Improve accessibility of local product Improve access to business development assistance & marketing assistance

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS

o Tie to Ford Leadership program? (market better!) Beef up Community Colleges, OSU Extension to offer free mentorship to farmers with business program too Push for self-education, overall food awareness Once a month, project-based timeshare events: come out work on a project, no payment, but next month we do a project at your farm kind of a barter/trade timeshare Utilize rehabilitation programs/organizations for farm work Dude Farming (a la dude ranches: people actually pay to come learn about the experience of farming and to do the work) Maintain able bodies! Educate farmers and farm workers about the importance of proper techniques (deep weed (kneed) bends, ergonomically correct use of tools) Open our own food co-op o Work at the delivery/middle person between farm and consumer o Host farmer events (Meat your farmer) o Should be a group effort (involve: Yamhill Valley Grown, others) Organize a local processing day at a local USDA Processing facility o Would require coordination among farms to bring in the number of birds/animals they require o Might have to figure out standardization of feed, etc. (may not get your exact animal back if they all go down the line at the same time) o ? Create an interactive food systems database (online) o Include: wastes, resources, consumers, farms, distributors, labor o Ex: farmer types in tomatoes, up pops four potential place to sell them, a couple of donation options, a local copacker who could process them, and a consumer who is hosting a canning party and wants 200 pounds of them OR a consumer types in time, and up pops two farms who are hosting work parties, and the local community garden needs help cleaning up beds for winter, and the soup kitchen needs helpers A community bulletin board/forum (online or physical) Farm equipment co-op or rental company o Those who cant buy tools can borrow/rent them Recruit a Food Corps member to develop a model farm-to-school program for the county o Bring in new energy and another body (not a burden on teachers) o FC member could help create a garden, develop curriculum, and teach Interactive learning programs at schools: o Color coded lunch trays for composting o Vermicomposting linked to the garden o Plant things, harvest them, and cook them

The headlines: Grant Paves Way for Yamhill-Carlton Farmers Co-op (YCFC) Barn Raising
o After securing a USDA Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG), and a series of Meat the Farmer fundraiser dinners, the YCFC announced their plan to open a Regional Resource Center (RRC) offering cold storage, a local food storefront, and host a local food pantry. Resource Specialist Beth Satterwhite will be on-site to offer online and offline technical assistance to community members. Office established. Sourcing OSU Extension. Community garden. Labor pool (Chemeketa, State Work Force, Vocational Rehab). Plans for community kitchen, food storage. Tool share. Photo of farmers and students in front of barn. FFA, College, and farmers form mentoring partnerships to develop innovative marketing and business skills. Goals of the project are business strategizing and sustainable implementation on farms. FFA students will experience practical skill development in real world situations. The Cornucopia has been open for two months now, revitalizing (X) old building, creating a vibrant center for local food. Our intuitive online database links farmers, consumers, schools, and beyond. An ODA Grant funded the creation of our brick and mortar location, resource library, and shared retail and storage space.

Yamhill Carlton Community Food Sources Formed: May the Source Be With You
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Farm to Business Mentorship

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The Cornucopia: Its All Local, Its All Here!

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SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS

o o Tweet, call, or come in today! Were bringing technology to the table. Always open (online), M-F, 9-5 at the Cornucopia office.

Next steps for project ideas:

Regional Resource Center/Yamhill-Carlton Farmer Co-op: From Idea to Ideal o ID champions, mavens, connectors o Borrow a grant writer o Steering committee o Staff person o Website/social media o Map of local farms o Directory of resources: farms, products, organizations, businesses, skills list o A good database takes time and money o What do we know about viability? Grants are out there for projects like this Small fundraising: Montessori school did a dinner for 35 families, net $4K in funds That would be 25 dinners, 1 per month for 2+ years?! (to hit 100K) Large fundraising: Susan Sokol Blosser Bounty of the County dinner, net $100K o Who else is doing/has done a similar project? The other groups here (in the room) May the Source Be With You group o How many farmers would be interested in this? What might barriers for farmers be? How can we overcome them? o How to recruit a school as a partner o Build a budget, identify funding o Identify building standards and regulations, as business requirements o Identify venture partners o Visit other successful programs to learn from them o Research so we dont reinvent the wheel o Get resource developer Mentoring group o 1. Talk to FFA and local farmers o 2. Talk to colleges to see if interested in using as internships/credits o 2. Meet at high school or local farmers that want to be involved Cornucopia group o Buildings with potential Granges? Vacant buildings (county/city owned? Private?) o Organize a network of farmers o Use all of WOWs money o What else do we need? Funds Cold storage Retail space Computers A platform for online database Food Hub, Buy Local (existing platforms to check out) One very good programmer An interim office space o Who to talk to Sprout (Springfield, ORJim Vermeer has connections there) Ecotrust/Food Hub (Portland) o START WITH:

SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS

Technology aspect (building database platform, inputing information) Identify one service we could offer to help cover costs/add revenue stream (ex: cold storage? Retail space?)

Additional thoughts/ideas from notecards:

Can food banks become a local community food hub? Involve Grange Hall organizations: established network of experienced local resources Connections to Sprout in Springfield: Jim Vermeer