USDA Roundtable with Under Secretary Moffitt

Russell Shaffer Author

05/24/2023 Added

26 Plays

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Zoom meeting recording of the USDA roundtable discussion with Vice Chancellor Mike Boehm, RPN Director Mary Emery, Under Secretary Jennifer Moffitt, and additional partners of the $25M Regional Food Business Center grant.

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[00:01:38.460]Welcome, who do we have online?
[00:01:47.903]I'm not hearing anybody yet.
[00:01:49.200]Oh, hi, Mary, good morning.
[00:01:50.760]This is Jamie.
[00:01:52.560]Hi, how are you?
[00:01:54.030]Good, how are you? Pretty good.
[00:01:55.350]Good.
[00:01:58.200]Hey Mary, this is Rodney Holcomb from Oklahoma State.
[00:02:01.710]Oh, great to see you.
[00:02:03.090]Sorry about the late notice.
[00:02:05.340]No problem.
[00:02:06.173]It's the thing with reply all, sometimes it,
[00:02:09.030]it's your worst enemy,.
[00:02:10.583]I get that.
[00:02:11.713]Okay.
[00:02:12.546]We can hear you pretty well and sounds like you can hear us.
[00:02:17.543]Yes, yep.
[00:02:19.020]Sounds good.
[00:02:20.550]And David Red of the car center.
[00:02:25.643]We're just kind of doing coffee and welcome right now,
[00:02:29.670]but we're hoping we'll start at 10:30.
[00:02:33.330]Okay.
[00:02:35.693]If you need anything, let us know.
[00:02:37.320]And again,
[00:02:38.370]just a reminder that USDA is concerned about having
[00:02:42.780]so many speakers, so they want us to be brief.
[00:25:14.330](people chattering indistinctly)
[00:27:49.920]So welcome everyone, it's wonderful to see everybody here.
[00:27:53.820]They said, oh, with a short notice,
[00:27:55.920]we're not gonna get that many people
[00:27:57.450]and no, no, no, no (laughs).
[00:27:59.820]So thank you all for coming and I wanna welcome
[00:28:04.501]undersecretary Jenny Moffitt and Deputy undersecretary
[00:28:07.110]Katie zinc to the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
[00:28:11.220]I'm Mary Emory.
[00:28:16.530]I'm Mary Emory,
[00:28:17.363]the director of Rural Prosperity Nebraska.
[00:28:20.433]Rural Prosperity Nebraska's a hub here at IANR
[00:28:23.173]and the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
[00:28:26.220]And we work on bringing the resources of the university to
[00:28:30.360]foster and improve community wellbeing in rural Nebraska.
[00:28:34.980]So we're here today to, because earlier this month,
[00:28:40.110]USDA announced plans to establish 12 regional
[00:28:45.690]food business centers and
[00:28:48.217]we're fortunate to be one of those.
[00:28:50.400]So here at UNL,
[00:28:54.900]we're thrilled to serve as a hub for this important
[00:28:58.290]initiative to strengthen our regional food system,
[00:29:01.260]to create new markets and opportunities for farmers,
[00:29:04.800]and for local and regional food processing businesses
[00:29:08.880]in order to also increase food security,
[00:29:12.330]our Heartland Food Center Business Center
[00:29:18.360]will serve five states,
[00:29:21.223]so it's Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
[00:29:25.590]As you all know, across
[00:29:26.970]the country, food systems are very complex.
[00:29:29.310]They include a number of different players.
[00:29:32.190]Double Up Food Bucks and farmer's markets
[00:29:34.860]and revolving loan funds and all kinds of actors.
[00:29:40.230]All of these with other players in the regional food system
[00:29:44.550]are like puzzle pieces.
[00:29:47.010]The Heartlands Regional Food Business Center will help put
[00:29:50.160]those puzzle pieces together and in this process,
[00:29:54.600]we'll see more clearly where the system is strong,
[00:29:57.863]where there's room for improvement,
[00:30:00.270]and where there are opportunities
[00:30:01.710]to collaborate and try new ways to increase access
[00:30:05.130]to fresh, healthy, local and regional foods.
[00:30:08.190]This is a big undertaking and we're blessed
[00:30:10.740]to have over 33 partners help us in this work.
[00:30:15.240]Many of those partners are here today,
[00:30:16.813]either joining us in person or on Zoom.
[00:30:20.670]And I'm just gonna name them real quickly.
[00:30:24.030]Katie Nixon from New Growth Community Development
[00:30:26.430]Corporation, Rachel McGinnis Milsap
[00:30:29.100]from Kansas City Healthy Kids.
[00:30:32.220]Krista Harsta from Farm Food
[00:30:34.163]and Enterprise at Iowa State University.
[00:30:38.340]Leah Venton from Community Dad Maya.
[00:30:42.960]Thank you (laughs)
[00:30:44.760]Nancy Williams from No More Empty Pods,
[00:30:47.070]Bill McKelvey from University of Missouri Extension.
[00:30:50.220]Bill Crooks from the Food Conservancy
[00:30:52.710]and Meg Jackson from Center for Rural Affairs.
[00:30:55.503]Joining us online we have Tom Bowler from Kansas Rural
[00:30:59.430]Center, Relle Carver from K State Research
[00:31:02.430]and Extension, David Red Hedges
[00:31:04.443]from the K Center for Sustainable Agriculture.
[00:31:07.890]Rodney Holcomb from the Robert M. Kerr Food
[00:31:10.653]and Agricultural Products Center at Ossu.
[00:31:13.853]And Jamie Kindsource from University Missouri Cares.
[00:31:18.540]We also have Derek McLean, Dean
[00:31:21.300]of IANR, Agricultural Research today.
[00:31:25.230]And Mike Bain, Nebraska University Vice Chancellor
[00:31:30.633]for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
[00:31:35.280]And Mike will get us started today, welcome Mike.
[00:31:44.040]I'm gonna sit down and Brian,
[00:31:46.530]would it be possible to actually do a gallery view
[00:31:50.490]so we could see all of our friends, no,
[00:31:52.260]it's not possible to do a gallery view.
[00:31:54.623]This crew got very used to seeing each other on Zoom.
[00:31:58.980]So that's how,
[00:32:00.720]that's how we all got to together in the beginning.
[00:32:03.480]And just Katie, especially Nixon, great to see you here.
[00:32:10.350]Thanks for your leadership.
[00:32:12.210]No question, Chief Visionary Officer,
[00:32:15.600]and you started this journey and really appreciate your
[00:32:20.190]openness to partnering with the Land grant universities
[00:32:23.190]and the University of Nebraska Lincoln in particular.
[00:32:27.030]And we're just proud to be a part of this collaborative.
[00:32:29.760]So welcome everyone, especially undersecretary Moffitt.
[00:32:34.980]Katie, deputy undersecretary.
[00:32:37.380]Thank you very much.
[00:32:39.210]My job is to just share a little bit about the institute.
[00:32:42.720]We really do think about the food, the fuel, the feed,
[00:32:46.230]and the fiber that the world needs and how farmers,
[00:32:50.880]ranchers, processors produce that food every day.,
[00:32:54.600]not only for Nebraska or the region,
[00:32:56.526]the heartland, but really for a growing world.
[00:32:59.910]And we think about the people
[00:33:01.723]who produce that food, who consume that food.
[00:33:05.790]And we think about the interconnectedness
[00:33:08.940]and how complex, as Mary said it is.
[00:33:12.840]We live in a world that's growing from seven and a half,
[00:33:15.960]7.8 billion, projected to 10.5 billion people.
[00:33:21.000]Already one out of every seven individuals,
[00:33:24.090]humans on the planet is water and food insecure,
[00:33:29.073]really in dire straits.
[00:33:31.080]Another billion though, get
[00:33:32.580]the wrong mix of calories, right Vanessa?
[00:33:36.720]So two out of every five,
[00:33:38.460]two out of every seven humans are already
[00:33:40.093]in kind of a tricky spot.
[00:33:43.694]Here in the US especially here,
[00:33:45.390]the states that are represented in this coalition
[00:33:48.030]in the heartland, you know, the US we rough estimate waste
[00:33:52.860]about 40% of the food that is produced.
[00:33:56.610]So when you think about the push that we make
[00:33:59.070]in at the institute in production agriculture,
[00:34:02.220]at land grant universities, that's important.
[00:34:05.370]The science and the engineering
[00:34:06.900]and the business models are all critical.
[00:34:09.030]But really this comes down to humans and it comes down
[00:34:11.730]to people and it's about meeting people where they are.
[00:34:16.050]And it's about doing better with these amazing resources
[00:34:20.430]that we have, and so I think collectively,
[00:34:23.520]the folks that have gathered really think about everything
[00:34:26.190]from production to ensuring people have access to safe
[00:34:30.540]nutritional food and reduce waste so that we ensure
[00:34:36.780]that this planet is here for the next seven generations.
[00:34:39.990]And that's learning from each other so..
[00:34:44.850]Well it's an honor to welcome you
[00:34:47.490]undersecretary Jenny, Lester Moffitt.
[00:34:50.880]I had the privilege of meeting her all
[00:34:52.800]about five minutes in December of 2022, Greg
[00:34:57.150]and Jesse Herman and I were walking into the Whitten
[00:35:01.110]building and undersecretary was walking out and we had a
[00:35:05.310]quick meet and greet.
[00:35:06.453]So it's great to see you here on our home turf.
[00:35:10.740]In addition to serving as USDA undersecretary
[00:35:13.001]for Marketing and Regulatory Programs,
[00:35:16.170]undersecretary Moffitt is a fifth generation California
[00:35:20.340]farmer who's passionate
[00:35:21.423]about supporting and sustaining agriculture,
[00:35:24.213]the environment, food systems and rural communities,
[00:35:27.833]much of what I said about this collaborative,
[00:35:31.920]it feels like we're kindred spirits.
[00:35:34.770]She has over 15 years of experience raising revenue
[00:35:37.650]and allocating resources for strategic initiatives.
[00:35:41.040]She believes in coalition building and active listening to
[00:35:44.370]solve complex problems and has led interagency initiatives
[00:35:48.870]to promote and protect agriculture and the environment.
[00:35:52.620]She also believes in taking care of the land and the people
[00:35:55.380]that farm it and the value that comes in fostering economic
[00:35:59.730]growth and wellbeing, in a word, rural prosperity,
[00:36:04.380]urban prosperity, people prosperity.
[00:36:07.650]She has a strong background in service
[00:36:09.183]to others, including as a proud 4H volunteer,
[00:36:13.590]a graduate of the California
[00:36:15.083]Agricultural Leadership Program.
[00:36:18.450]Would you please join me in providing a warm welcome
[00:36:21.780]to undersecretary Jenny Lester Moffitt.
[00:36:28.080]Well thank you so much Mike and to Katie and to Mary,
[00:36:32.893]thank you for your partnership and your leadership bringing
[00:36:37.140]this group together.
[00:36:39.030]I think as we were doing introductions,
[00:36:40.710]it was clear that people have come from far
[00:36:44.820]and near, but many people have come a long distance.
[00:36:47.610]So I wanna thank you all
[00:36:49.050]for coming, for traveling for the people who are also able
[00:36:53.070]to join online.
[00:36:53.940]Isn't that a great thing that we can now connect
[00:36:57.060]in more ways than we don't always have
[00:36:58.740]to travel, although it's nice to be able to connect
[00:37:01.140]in person, but to be able to also have these touchpoints.
[00:37:03.710]So it's great to be here.
[00:37:05.100]Thank you for the welcome to the campus.
[00:37:08.130]It is really a pleasure to be here on campus
[00:37:10.830]to see and to learn a little bit about the innovation.
[00:37:14.550]I know certainly in some
[00:37:15.780]of the past meetings that we've had,
[00:37:17.250]we've learned a little bit more about what University
[00:37:20.070]of Nebraska Lincoln is really all about and doing.
[00:37:23.490]And this regional food business center that is established
[00:37:26.730]here in the 12 regional food business centers
[00:37:28.573]that are established around the country are really critical
[00:37:32.820]to the work that we're doing
[00:37:34.560]at USDA, transforming the food system.
[00:37:38.520]We saw, all of us saw at the beginning of the pandemic,
[00:37:42.420]just some of the challenges that we have in the food system.
[00:37:44.610]We have an incredible food system
[00:37:47.203]that is efficient when it works,
[00:37:50.250]but when there are challenges and when it breaks down,
[00:37:53.310]we see what happens.
[00:37:54.450]We see that farmers lost places to bring their product to
[00:37:57.780]market, at the same time, food banks had incredible demand.
[00:38:02.340]I was at the State Department of Agriculture
[00:38:04.110]when that happened and we were really working on trying
[00:38:06.153]to help connect those dots just like USDA was as well.
[00:38:10.380]And so many State Departments Of Agriculture work.
[00:38:13.050]And what we saw is the opportunity
[00:38:16.260]to really to add a yes and,
[00:38:18.990]to say we need to really build, yes we need
[00:38:21.570]this incredibly efficient food system that is feeding our
[00:38:24.690]nation, feeding our world.
[00:38:26.250]We also need a really strong local and regional food system.
[00:38:30.270]One that is bringing and adding more economic value
[00:38:34.260]to farmers and ranchers in our communities.
[00:38:36.780]It's also making sure that,
[00:38:38.490]as you've mentioned also that we're providing great
[00:38:41.130]nutritious food to our own communities,
[00:38:44.400]is strengthening our local and regional markets.
[00:38:47.370]It's also making sure that we're strengthening our rural
[00:38:50.373]communities by bringing in driving jobs
[00:38:53.400]into communities across the country.
[00:38:56.430]And certainly here in the heartland region is no exception.
[00:38:59.760]So there's so many different components
[00:39:02.730]and reasons why local and regional food systems are
[00:39:05.970]so important to all of us here in the room
[00:39:08.123]and to all of us across the fabric of America.
[00:39:12.330]And we've invested our,
[00:39:14.370]the funds from the American Rescue Plan
[00:39:16.860]and a bunch of different programs across USDA
[00:39:19.770]that I think that you mentioned some,
[00:39:21.840]I've talked to some folks here who've been involved
[00:39:23.790]in others as well, they're all very important.
[00:39:27.690]The regional food business centers is really the cornerstone
[00:39:31.590]of that effort, it is, what I'll say is it's,
[00:39:34.440]it is the place that may, that people can come to be able
[00:39:37.920]to access those resources, to know about those resources.
[00:39:41.760]But really it's about connecting the dots because
[00:39:43.830]the food supply chain is a chain and it's a complex chain
[00:39:47.243]as you mentioned, it's a very complicated chain.
[00:39:50.370]I know coming from agriculture,
[00:39:51.990]coming from someone who tried to find new markets
[00:39:54.870]for our product,
[00:39:56.220]that it can be very complicated very quickly if you don't
[00:39:59.100]have someone who can partner with you
[00:40:02.040]to navigate that and to birddog the different issues
[00:40:04.883]or things that you don't even know what come up.
[00:40:07.980]And so that is what you all are here to do is to serve as
[00:40:12.750]that connector, to serve as the partners across this region.
[00:40:17.940]And then also to partner with other regions
[00:40:19.950]as well as we identify as issues, I was, yesterday, I was
[00:40:24.000]in Michigan and Michigan State University is
[00:40:26.940]the lead for the Great Lakes Regional Food Business Center.
[00:40:30.960]And they were talking about, oh we're, you know,
[00:40:33.060]we're looking at commercial kitchens
[00:40:34.560]and design of commercial kitchens, I bet you all are too.
[00:40:38.130]And so there's an opportunity as well
[00:40:40.013]to connect the dots there, and so I think there's,
[00:40:44.160]I'm looking forward to hearing what you have
[00:40:45.690]to say here, but we're very excited
[00:40:48.090]about these regional food business centers.
[00:40:50.220]We're really excited about the partners on the ground.
[00:40:53.220]I believe very strongly in locally led solutions
[00:40:56.520]that we do more when people who are trusted
[00:40:59.463]in the region, who know
[00:41:01.050]the region, who already have the partnerships in
[00:41:02.727]the region are empowered and have the funding to be able
[00:41:07.530]to come together and to overcome complex challenges
[00:41:11.310]and really find creative solutions,
[00:41:16.033]so congratulations on a successful application.
[00:41:19.140]We're really excited to partner
[00:41:20.213]with you and we're really excited to really advance,
[00:41:24.840]I think the regional food business centers across
[00:41:27.060]the country together in a way that we really transform
[00:41:30.383]and we have lasting change in the food system.
[00:41:33.450]So I'll stop here and I'd love
[00:41:34.943]to hear from the folks around the table,
[00:41:37.650]or Mary, do you have a, do you want me to just pass it
[00:41:41.580]around or what do we wanna do?
[00:41:48.660]I'm sorry.
[00:41:49.860]Of course, and then of course you mentioned Mike,
[00:41:51.953]that we have Katie Zinc here, but I, you know, without,
[00:41:55.740]and Katie, I dunno if you wanna say a few words,
[00:41:57.450]but Katie Zinc is our deputy undersecretary
[00:41:59.843]for marketing and regulatory programs, she hails
[00:42:02.700]from Minnesota and so, you know,
[00:42:06.210]but certainly has incredible background and has been a great
[00:42:11.100]partner in building out in all of the different programs
[00:42:14.490]that we've been have doing through the transforming
[00:42:17.363]the food system as well, so Katie.
[00:42:21.248]I'll just add very briefly that one,
[00:42:22.860]it's always great to be back in the Midwest
[00:42:26.520]and also just the, just wanna note the partnership
[00:42:30.030]across a variety of universities that were listed here.
[00:42:33.463]Love being here at UNL but also knowing just the reach
[00:42:40.423]that group of universities has across
[00:42:42.960]the region feels like a really special and important thing.
[00:42:45.900]So just really wanna acknowledge that partnership.
[00:42:49.290]And I will be go UNL up until we get to football season
[00:42:55.320]and I've got three other big 10 teams
[00:42:58.023]that I've unfortunately paid tuition toward.
[00:43:00.630]But you all can be number four, you can be number four.
[00:43:04.740]So all right, I'll pass this by.
[00:43:06.843]Maybe Katie Nixon, do you mind kicking us off?
[00:43:10.650]That would be terrific.
[00:43:12.060]And then I'll give Nancy the mic after Kate.
[00:43:14.940]All right, thanks for hosting this.
[00:43:18.390]I know it's a big feat and thank you to all the staff
[00:43:21.653]that I'm sure put in a lot of time to try to pull this off.
[00:43:24.113]Really appreciate that, the last minute.
[00:43:27.270]And I spent a nice five hour drive,
[00:43:29.790]three of which was with my colleagues.
[00:43:30.737]It was fantastic to talk to them on the way up here.
[00:43:34.200]And I'm with New Growth Development Corporation,
[00:43:37.200]we saw the call for proposals and we're like, okay,
[00:43:42.840]how are our states gonna be represented?
[00:43:44.940]We want our farmers to be supported and you know,
[00:43:48.990]that's who I'm in the game for, is for the farmers.
[00:43:51.420]I'm a farmer myself,
[00:43:52.530]but I also see how hard all the other farmers around me are
[00:43:55.230]working and struggling and trying to get access to those
[00:43:58.380]markets that are sometimes elusive and hard to catch.
[00:44:01.530]And so we really believe strongly
[00:44:03.090]in helping to develop that supply value chain
[00:44:05.203]'cause it's not just about supply and demand,
[00:44:07.860]it's also about the value and the ability for the farmers to
[00:44:11.490]have dignity in the work and for the consumers to feel like
[00:44:14.303]they're also contributing to a healthy food system.
[00:44:17.520]So that's why I'm here and I'm really excited
[00:44:20.280]to be a co-director for the center along with Mary.
[00:44:23.640]Our job will be to really sort of help coordinate how we
[00:44:27.210]work across 'cause it's one thing to just say, oh yeah,
[00:44:29.520]let's all work together,
[00:44:30.390]but like what does that look like and how are we gonna talk
[00:44:33.270]to each other and how are these business builder grants
[00:44:35.400]going to work because
[00:44:36.360]that is what the farmers wanna know immediately.
[00:44:39.150]So we're tr gonna try to figure all that stuff out and it'll
[00:44:41.760]be sort of my role to help lead up those conversations.
[00:44:45.570]So that's where our organization fits.
[00:44:47.353]We also have a women's business center and we help people,
[00:44:50.910]not only women but men too get access to being bankable.
[00:44:55.350]So helping build their credit,
[00:44:56.760]helping understand what it means to have a business plan
[00:44:59.220]and do micro loans as well.
[00:45:01.290]So we'll have business TA as in addition to the food value
[00:45:04.500]chain work, so that's kind of how we're working.
[00:45:06.313]And I know we have a limited time here,
[00:45:08.130]so I'm gonna stop there and we'll pass it back
[00:45:10.410]over to Nancy.
[00:45:11.243]Okay, got it.
[00:45:12.150]Thank it's, then we'll go.
[00:45:12.983]Thank you very much.
[00:45:14.460]My name is Nancy Williams.
[00:45:15.660]I serve as co-founder and CEO for No More Empty Pots.
[00:45:18.720]We are a nonprofit organization in Omaha, Nebraska.
[00:45:21.690]Our mission is to connect individuals
[00:45:23.610]and groups to improve self-sufficiency,
[00:45:26.250]regional food security and economic resilience in both urban
[00:45:30.000]and rural communities through advocacy and action.
[00:45:32.490]So I'm absolutely thrilled to be a part of this right now.
[00:45:36.030]Our core values are education,
[00:45:37.950]stewardship and sustainability.
[00:45:39.780]And our core focus is to remove structural inequities.
[00:45:43.200]And when Katie asked if we would be a part
[00:45:47.160]of this, I said yes without hesitation because
[00:45:50.670]from the time that I have known her,
[00:45:52.500]she has had this unwavering focus towards supporting farmers
[00:45:58.230]and ensuring that everybody that was a part of,
[00:46:01.003]could be treated with dignity and respect.
[00:46:03.063]So thank you for the invitation and for helping us
[00:46:05.850]to more fully realize this vision by being here.
[00:46:09.120]I will say that we do work throughout the food system
[00:46:13.140]because our intention is that we help folks connect to where
[00:46:18.180]they are as vice chancellor Bain said that we try to meet
[00:46:21.563]people where they are but also connect them to resources
[00:46:24.570]so that they can realize their dreams for themselves
[00:46:28.590]and their families on their own terms and they know what's
[00:46:31.320]possible for them.
[00:46:33.480]I will say that our space that we built finished in 2019 to
[00:46:38.280]help realize this vision, when you walk in to the food hub,
[00:46:42.300]you can see production process and distribution,
[00:46:45.120]consumption and recycling all in one place.
[00:46:48.330]It's like our mini place to test and figure out how do we
[00:46:52.830]extract waste and reintroduce it as a value added product
[00:46:56.670]in the system, so I'm thrilled to be here.
[00:46:58.753]There's way more to learn and I'm excited
[00:47:00.913]to be on this journey with you.
[00:47:05.340]Hi everybody, my name is Bill McKelvey,
[00:47:07.170]I'm with University of Missouri Extension,
[00:47:09.618]very honored to be a part of this project.
[00:47:12.460]In terms of thinking about MU extension
[00:47:14.520]and some initiatives we have ongoing
[00:47:16.253]that match up really well with this,
[00:47:19.230]I'm thinking about some
[00:47:20.280]of our value added production initiatives.
[00:47:23.280]We have some things going on
[00:47:24.660]with urban agriculture, community development,
[00:47:28.710]entrepreneurship in general.
[00:47:32.230]So I think it's a really great opportunity.
[00:47:35.520]Good morning everyone, my name is Krista Harsta.
[00:47:38.040]I manage the Farm Food and Enterprise Development unit
[00:47:41.940]at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
[00:47:45.120]As the name might suggest,
[00:47:47.280]we take producers from the farm into a local food business
[00:47:52.620]and then really scaling that to a business level enterprise.
[00:47:56.730]So we try to meet them where they are at
[00:47:58.620]in the system and then guide them to that next level.
[00:48:02.070]Super excited to be part
[00:48:03.540]of this initiative and this outreach.
[00:48:06.480]Like others in the Midwest,
[00:48:09.180]we are seeing an increase in food deserts in Iowa and food
[00:48:13.830]that is available isn't always necessarily healthy.
[00:48:17.820]So we are trying to really build
[00:48:19.590]that infrastructure and that supply chain for our producers
[00:48:22.583]to meet everyone throughout the system.
[00:48:28.110]My name is Bill Crooks and I'm here
[00:48:30.413]with the Food Conservancy, I'm a board member.
[00:48:33.810]I'm going to try to speak for Diana,
[00:48:35.700]but those of you know Diana is, I can't do her justice.
[00:48:39.090]But anyway, we are in the activities.
[00:48:43.470]I mean we are in the business of creating new markets
[00:48:46.230]and activity for not only farmers
[00:48:48.810]and producers but for healthcare as well.
[00:48:52.740]And we are going to focus on two or three special
[00:48:56.970]initiatives, and Katie, thank you for having us here.
[00:49:00.180]I could go into that a little bit deeper,
[00:49:02.580]but Diana again is the brains behind the operation and I'm
[00:49:07.620]here to thank everybody and to welcome reconnections.
[00:49:12.240]I think I've touched almost everybody in this room
[00:49:14.370]at some point, so anyway, thank you.
[00:49:18.270]Yeah.
[00:49:19.913]Hi everyone, good morning Leah Ventin.
[00:49:22.260]I am the director of strategic partnerships
[00:49:24.630]at (speaking in foreign language)
[00:49:26.430]I'm here with my colleagues Tomi and Lisandra.
[00:49:29.280]I am mostly speaking because of a ease of language,
[00:49:33.660]so I'm honored to represent the Kanahu Maya community.
[00:49:36.900]We are based in South Omaha.
[00:49:40.023](speaking in foreign language) is an organization
[00:49:41.730]that was founded by Khan Hoba Maya,
[00:49:44.040]who migrated to Omaha starting
[00:49:45.663]in the late eighties, early nineties.
[00:49:48.720]It's a very grassroots organization that has experienced a
[00:49:51.180]lot of growth in two years, which we're very excited about.
[00:49:54.660]It's a very focused on the community wellbeing and health
[00:49:57.000]of the community and the implementation of the rights
[00:49:59.640]of indigenous peoples as outlined in the
[00:50:03.333]UN declaration For The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples.
[00:50:06.000]We are very honored to be a part of this project.
[00:50:09.240]Maya people, as you probably know,
[00:50:11.550]have a long history of agriculture being
[00:50:14.563]the people that brought us what we use today
[00:50:17.340]as corn, chocolate, many other products that, you know,
[00:50:21.270]enrich all of our lives and feed us and our economy.
[00:50:25.110]So we're so excited to bring
[00:50:26.803]the perspective of the Maya people to this project.
[00:50:31.590]It's probably not a surprise to anyone,
[00:50:33.270]but there are a lot of Maya underrepresented in Nebraska.
[00:50:37.620]We estimate at least 15,000 Kanahu Maya
[00:50:41.040]live in Nebraska.
[00:50:42.300]A lot of folks are working in meat packing plants
[00:50:45.030]and we would like to give these folks more
[00:50:46.613]of an opportunity to have access
[00:50:48.390]to land, provide them with new farmer programs
[00:50:51.870]and really be that link, there's so many people
[00:50:54.573]that would be farmers, could be farmers, you know,
[00:50:57.450]have that spiritual and cultural connection,
[00:51:00.000]but it's really a lack of access of land capital,
[00:51:03.960]that cultural liaison that we hope to serve.
[00:51:06.690]And so we just are very appreciative.
[00:51:08.357]I know I wanna say Dr. Bain,
[00:51:10.140]we've we're so honored to be partnering
[00:51:12.150]with UNL in so many capacities.
[00:51:14.760]I'll just close by saying that we actually are linking up
[00:51:17.940]with UNL also on a different project that's focused
[00:51:21.203]on financial empowerment and we're launching it in Skyler.
[00:51:25.590]And if anyone's been to Skyler,
[00:51:27.120]I think that's very emblematic
[00:51:28.573]of what's happening in rural Nebraska.
[00:51:31.170]It's 60% Latino,
[00:51:32.640]it has a very significant Maya community and we are excited
[00:51:36.750]to be that voice and be that connection
[00:51:37.963]to services for people, so thank you so much.
[00:51:43.380]Hi, good morning.
[00:51:44.213]My name's Rachel McGinnis Milsap
[00:51:45.450]I work with KCLD Kids and programs and policy.
[00:51:49.350]KCLD Kids connects communities to close health gaps
[00:51:51.690]and we're right on the state line in Kansas and Missouri.
[00:51:54.090]So we're able to work
[00:51:54.923]from a regional perspective, statewide perspective.
[00:51:57.720]And we do this by boosting community driven initiatives
[00:52:01.170]in five focus areas, for this grant, we'll focus
[00:52:03.810]on two, our good food policy and local food programming.
[00:52:07.470]We help farmers grow thriving businesses and teach kids
[00:52:10.320]and families the value of growing their own food
[00:52:12.450]and purchasing local grown food.
[00:52:14.160]We wanna create local food eaters
[00:52:15.673]for life and we wanna create more farmers.
[00:52:17.910]So we really tie into a lot
[00:52:19.193]of the institutions in that messaging.
[00:52:22.020]We connect advocates and decision makers
[00:52:23.910]to promote policies that put healthy food within reach.
[00:52:26.430]We believe that even though there's a difference
[00:52:28.710]in life expectancy from one mile to the other
[00:52:30.673]and some of our communities in Kansas City and Missouri,
[00:52:34.050]that they should have access to healthy food and other
[00:52:36.210]services that make that not as big of a discrepancy.
[00:52:40.380]We teach kids how they're surroundings shape their health
[00:52:42.960]and how to speak out for change.
[00:52:44.700]So not only do we work with, you know,
[00:52:46.710]adult and leadership and teachers
[00:52:48.480]and stakeholders across the institutions,
[00:52:50.550]we're wanting our kids to come right up beside us and keep
[00:52:53.460]advocating for the stuff that we're all advocating for.
[00:52:56.303]We rally advocates to support policies and plans that make
[00:52:59.850]it easier and safer for everybody to live, learn, work,
[00:53:02.970]and play throughout our region.
[00:53:04.830]And since 2005 KCLD Kids has focused on community education,
[00:53:09.090]local and regional advocacy and direct support
[00:53:11.910]that's impacted the lives of thousands
[00:53:13.380]of kids in Kansas City, we're really excited to be here.
[00:53:16.230]Thanks Katie for bringing us all to the table.
[00:53:18.030]We've had multiple projects together,
[00:53:19.740]many familiar faces and we're really,
[00:53:21.840]we're a small but mighty organization
[00:53:23.370]and since we crossed the side of the state line,
[00:53:25.890]we're representing two states and it's good stuff.
[00:53:28.290]So thanks.
[00:53:31.320]It's such good stuff.
[00:53:32.340]This is such a like what a dynamic group to be with folks.
[00:53:35.820]I'm Meg Jackson with the Center for Rule Affairs.
[00:53:39.150]We are celebrating our 50 years 50th anniversary this fall
[00:53:44.790]as an organization working in rural spaces doing food
[00:53:48.930]and farm work.
[00:53:50.100]And we have about a long
[00:53:52.740]of a history, about 30 years in the lending
[00:53:57.210]and food, small business lending, we've been a CDFI.
[00:54:00.263]Also have a women's small business women's center
[00:54:05.550]supporting business training and getting folks credit ready,
[00:54:12.630]accessing financial financing
[00:54:15.750]where that isn't, where it isn't available.
[00:54:19.710]And strengthening food businesses and entrepreneurs
[00:54:25.770]and getting into home ownership.
[00:54:28.320]And then we were also recently awarded one of
[00:54:31.080]the meat and poultry intermediary lending programs.
[00:54:35.670]So we are administering,
[00:54:37.560]we're getting into food financing space in a big way.
[00:54:42.003]And how this can is going to connect in a couple
[00:54:47.670]of years and grow with this initiative is really exciting.
[00:54:52.620]We advise and train rural food businesses
[00:54:55.260]for business and market development,
[00:54:57.623]including Latino and Native American owned businesses.
[00:55:01.800]We've been in this world,
[00:55:07.020]both in Nebraska but regionally and the Midwest.
[00:55:11.010]So that's where our reach is gonna be providing business
[00:55:14.580]training and advising and technical assistance
[00:55:19.113]for this project outreach and such, so thanks.
[00:55:26.100]So we're gonna go to Zoom now, Tom and then y'all.
[00:55:31.113]Hi everybody, glad to be able to join you virtually.
[00:55:34.590]Hopefully you can hear me, my name's Tom Buller.
[00:55:37.110]I'm the executive director
[00:55:38.220]of the Kansas Rural Center, since 1979,
[00:55:42.060]the Rural Center has worked to promote the long-term health
[00:55:44.640]of the land and its people through research, education,
[00:55:47.970]advocacy to promote an economically viable ecologically
[00:55:52.020]sound and socially just food and farming system.
[00:55:55.680]We're really excited to be a partner on the Heartland
[00:55:59.340]Regional Food Business Center and what we're really excited
[00:56:03.180]to work on is something that's personal to me.
[00:56:05.580]I have a small farm,
[00:56:06.900]I guess I'm a first generation farmer and getting
[00:56:10.873]into growing things, you know, I love growing things,
[00:56:13.950]but the business skills were really a challenge for me.
[00:56:17.460]So we're looking forward to helping other people maybe
[00:56:20.580]in that same situation, beginning farmers,
[00:56:22.650]especially across the state of Kansas,
[00:56:25.560]hone their business skills, develop their businesses,
[00:56:28.830]and contribute to the local food and farming system.
[00:56:32.520]So really appreciate the opportunity to be here.
[00:56:35.400]And I guess I'll join in the course of thanking Katie Nixon
[00:56:39.120]for helping get us to the table.
[00:56:46.470]Hey everyone, I'll jump in next.
[00:56:49.110]My name is Relle Carver.
[00:56:51.060]I am the program leader for the Rural Grocery Initiative,
[00:56:54.180]which is a program housed
[00:56:55.650]within K State Research And Extension.
[00:56:58.830]I'm actually joining you today from Phillipsburg, Kansas,
[00:57:02.123]where our office is hosting a business transition workshop
[00:57:07.020]with a focus on cooperatives.
[00:57:12.150]But I'm glad I was able to join this conversation and share
[00:57:16.080]a little bit about how K State Research And Extension
[00:57:19.380]is involved in the Heartland Regional Business
[00:57:22.373]Food Business Center.
[00:57:25.290]We are connected,
[00:57:27.090]I'm connected through my role as a co-leader for K State
[00:57:30.180]Research And Extensions, local foods transdisciplinary team.
[00:57:34.890]And so participating in this project will allow
[00:57:39.360]K State Research And Extension to leverage some
[00:57:41.880]of our existing local and regional food systems efforts,
[00:57:45.930]including the Rural Grocery Initiative,
[00:57:48.930]the Kansas Value Added Foods Lab,
[00:57:51.750]the Kansas Healthy Food Initiative,
[00:57:53.490]a healthy food financing program, Douglas County Core,
[00:57:57.873]which is a pilot extension program
[00:57:59.923]that brings together resources and facilitates connections
[00:58:03.570]for entrepreneurs and much more.
[00:58:07.560]To date, these programs have existed
[00:58:09.903]in kind of disparate parts of our system,
[00:58:13.590]but bringing them together under the Heartland Regional Food
[00:58:16.890]Business Center umbrella,
[00:58:19.170]I think will allow us to elevate our assistance
[00:58:22.710]for food-based entrepreneurs in the state and the region.
[00:58:26.190]So thank you so much for having,
[00:58:28.110]for having us joined by Zoom.
[00:58:30.313]Appreciate the opportunity and I'm really excited
[00:58:32.940]to dig into this project.
[00:58:37.680]And David and Rodney and Jamie.
[00:58:44.610]David Redich, I'm president of the
[00:58:45.783]Care Center for Sustainable Agriculture.
[00:58:47.910]We've been working in Oklahoma under that name since 1984.
[00:58:52.950]Our goal here is we do a lot of education
[00:58:56.193]and outreach with producers, a lot of farm tours.
[00:59:00.150]We have a ranch where we do sustainable ag practices,
[00:59:02.850]both in vegetable crops, fruit crops and livestock.
[00:59:06.960]And we focus on sustainability production,
[00:59:11.280]value added is important.
[00:59:13.650]And then education of various groups.
[00:59:15.870]We have adults that are looking at second careers
[00:59:18.840]in agriculture, kids coming out of college.
[00:59:21.450]And the one I really enjoy is when we get young kids
[00:59:24.360]that are in grade school coming in to see the production
[00:59:27.240]and actually see where their food comes from.
[00:59:29.850]And I think that's an important aspect.
[00:59:31.470]I'm thrilled to be with this project to try and increase
[00:59:35.280]the value added and the local food system within the region.
[00:59:39.630]Thank you.
[00:59:42.673]My name is Rodney Holcomb.
[00:59:43.980]I'm an agricultural economist at Oklahoma State University
[00:59:47.010]and the Economist with the Robert M Kirk
[00:59:49.860]Food and Agricultural Product Center,
[00:59:51.630]which is the building you see
[00:59:53.370]in the background in the picture here.
[00:59:56.070]The Food and Ag Product Center here is a mix of faculty
[00:59:59.640]and staff from a variety of different backgrounds,
[01:00:03.403]so I'm the lone economist,
[01:00:04.860]but working with a business and marketing team.
[01:00:07.560]But we have everyone else
[01:00:08.670]from food microbiologists to food process engineers.
[01:00:12.030]And our goal is to develop value added industries
[01:00:16.303]in the state of Oklahoma.
[01:00:18.600]So we make sure that more than half of our efforts
[01:00:22.380]are focused on small business development.
[01:00:26.130]And in the 26 years the center's been
[01:00:28.560]in operation, we've worked with a variety
[01:00:31.260]of operations, different types of food industry.
[01:00:35.070]And right now we have in the facilities,
[01:00:37.830]we have a USG inspected meat processing plant.
[01:00:41.250]We also have FDa inspected non-meat processing.
[01:00:44.010]We even have a winery
[01:00:45.390]in the building, which is the only door
[01:00:47.100]that's ever, always locked on a university campus.
[01:00:51.210]We, right now some of the programs we do
[01:00:53.083]undersecretary Moffitt mentioned incubator kitchens.
[01:00:57.090]We have some spreadsheet decision aids and equipment lists
[01:01:01.020]and basic designs for incubator kitchens that we've used
[01:01:04.980]for operations around state of Oklahoma, but behind me
[01:01:08.400]in the building right now,
[01:01:09.720]we have a five week program going on for people that wanna
[01:01:12.093]learn how to be meat cutters for small meat business
[01:01:14.970]development since we've had so much effort put
[01:01:17.940]into small meat plants.
[01:01:19.800]So they'll spend five weeks learning how to be Meat Masters
[01:01:23.793]is what we call it.
[01:01:25.410]So we do a little bit
[01:01:26.243]of all of that third party verification,
[01:01:29.790]global food safety initiative training and Food Safety
[01:01:33.060]Modernization Act training so people can get those products
[01:01:35.640]in the retail stores and we work a lot with
[01:01:38.133]the retail outlets, the Oklahoma Grocers Association,
[01:01:39.960]National Grocers Association as well.
[01:01:42.540]So try to do as many things as we can into one room.
[01:01:48.183]Hello, Jamie Klein.
[01:01:50.070]I'm from the Center for Applied Research
[01:01:51.413]and Engagement Systems, part of the University of Missouri.
[01:01:55.560]Our center is a nationally recognized data mapping
[01:01:58.740]and visualization organization.
[01:02:01.170]We've been collecting and mapping environmental,
[01:02:03.630]agriculture, economic and health related data since 1992.
[01:02:08.730]Our vast database hosts
[01:02:10.140]over 30,000 mappable data layers currently.
[01:02:13.530]And our assessment tools really aim to empower communities
[01:02:16.770]and increase the use of data for planning, decision making,
[01:02:20.580]and collective action.
[01:02:22.200]We're very excited to be part of this project and we'll be
[01:02:25.200]working to provide food and business related data
[01:02:28.380]to our partners, facilitating the collection of data
[01:02:31.830]about the food and environment across the Heartland region
[01:02:35.293]and really supporting project evaluation effort.
[01:02:39.060]So thanks so much for having us.
[01:02:43.950]Thank you everyone.
[01:02:48.900]Yeah, thank you, this is such,
[01:02:50.550]I mean you really have pulled together I think a broad
[01:02:54.600]diverse group of folks who have long and this,
[01:02:58.710]as we were talking last year and designing and developing
[01:03:03.090]what we thought would be, you know, the right mix of people.
[01:03:05.880]This is truly the right mix of people that we envisioned.
[01:03:09.570]So congratulations on really pulling that together.
[01:03:12.270]People who have deep roots within the,
[01:03:14.940]your respective communities who have expertise.
[01:03:18.930]And then of course, and then also the capacity to,
[01:03:22.350]and folks have talked about some of the different programs
[01:03:24.600]and funding sources that we have at USDA.
[01:03:29.100]We have meat and poultry processing funds that have already
[01:03:32.610]gone out the door and we've invested in hundreds of projects
[01:03:35.160]around the country and will continue to invest in more.
[01:03:38.550]We also announced at the same time we announced our 12
[01:03:41.280]finalists for the regional food business centers,
[01:03:44.100]we announced 420 million in funding for what we call
[01:03:48.870]for the resilient food system infrastructure,
[01:03:50.850]which is the non-meat and poultry processing component.
[01:03:53.520]And that is gonna be administered
[01:03:54.353]through the State Departments Of Agriculture.
[01:03:56.970]And so that is another a key part of this as well.
[01:04:02.220]And the business builder award that these centers have are
[01:04:05.490]so important, it's something,
[01:04:07.140]as we were designing the program
[01:04:08.430]and listening to stakeholders,
[01:04:10.320]we heard how important that is that sometimes people just
[01:04:13.553]need, you mentioned you've got a list
[01:04:15.233]of equipment for your commercial kitchen.
[01:04:17.100]Sometimes people just need a piece of equipment that's 10,
[01:04:20.073]$15,000 and to apply for a federal loan for something like
[01:04:25.140]that, it's just, it's virtually impossible.
[01:04:27.330]It's, it costs, you know,
[01:04:28.740]a lot of time and money to be able to do that.
[01:04:31.410]So to empower this regional food business center you all to
[01:04:36.870]be able to invest in business builders and if people want
[01:04:39.693]to grow and need more money, then they have,
[01:04:42.300]they can go to their state departments
[01:04:43.440]of agriculture to get additional funding
[01:04:45.570]through the Resilient Food System infrastructure fund.
[01:04:48.330]Really looking at how we bring all these things together,
[01:04:51.113]the revolving loan funds,
[01:04:52.950]all of the different components that we have at USDA
[01:04:57.150]to really make this work value added Producer grant,
[01:05:00.600]the local agricultural marketing program,
[01:05:02.910]but it's the regional Food Business centers and it's you all
[01:05:07.200]together really helping to bring those resources
[01:05:11.663]to life for your own communities.
[01:05:14.550]So we're really excited about what that means.
[01:05:17.970]I don't know how much more time we have, but
[01:05:19.290]I certainly have questions
[01:05:21.510]or Katie, I don't know if you have additional thoughts
[01:05:24.273]that you wanna share too,
[01:05:25.560]but it sounds like as you were pulling together this really
[01:05:30.240]incredible team, you really were, what was the state,
[01:05:33.990]the puzzle pieces like you were really putting together
[01:05:36.510]the puzzle pieces of what makes this a recipe
[01:05:39.393]for success for this region, so I'd love your thinking
[01:05:42.750]on that or we can also just dive into some questions.
[01:05:46.320]Yeah, I'll just say a couple of things about that and well,
[01:05:50.130]you know, I think like I can't ever do anything by myself.
[01:05:56.070]Like I don't wanna go out.
[01:05:57.227]I mean I farm by myself and that's fine, you know,
[01:05:59.850]but I'm never by myself, I look up and the hawks are like,
[01:06:02.160]Hey, what are you doing down there?
[01:06:03.240]Actually they're not paying any attention
[01:06:04.380]to me, but I when the work has
[01:06:07.500]to get done, you have bring people who are doing the work.
[01:06:10.953]And so I really appreciate USDA's approach to trying
[01:06:15.660]to blanket the food system with all of these puzzle pieces
[01:06:18.390]and funding pieces that are not having to be matched.
[01:06:22.920]Cause it's so hard, like all struggle
[01:06:24.856]to get our (indistinct)
[01:06:33.180]I think it's just so important that we can do our work
[01:06:37.890]without having to worry
[01:06:38.723]about where that if everybody was given an
[01:06:42.360]unlimited budget in this room, we
[01:06:44.250]would transform the world I mean, no doubt, right?
[01:06:47.040]Like, (laughs) because they wouldn't sit
[01:06:49.770]around like, oh I got my money, I'm just gonna sit back
[01:06:52.320]and no, these people are all doers.
[01:06:53.933]Which is why I wanted them all in the room.
[01:06:56.790]And there were plenty of other partners
[01:06:57.673]that we couldn't necessarily bring in 'cause you know,
[01:07:01.260]the budget went pretty quickly when we brought all kinds
[01:07:03.540]of partners in the room, you know, so,
[01:07:06.030]but I'm really excited to hear more about the resilient
[01:07:08.430]food systems infrastructure because like we all need
[01:07:11.490]those hard pieces.
[01:07:12.443]Like the food system is incredibly broken for small farmers
[01:07:16.980]and I understand why it's aggregated the way it has
[01:07:19.853]'cause that's what capitalism has driven it towards.
[01:07:22.710]But it left so many people behind and it's
[01:07:25.710]so hard to struggle back up to get anywhere near solvency
[01:07:29.040]as a small business and they really are
[01:07:30.843]the backbone of our rural communities.
[01:07:33.113]And then we need to bridge that with our urban partners too.
[01:07:36.810]I believe we have a really strong urban and rural connection
[01:07:39.840]with all of our partners and I'm really excited to see
[01:07:42.563]where we go with this and how we can all work together.
[01:07:47.940]That's great, and yeah, I mean I think it is, it's
[01:07:53.310]for small and for mid-size businesses,
[01:07:57.878]it can be really challenging to navigate
[01:08:00.313]the system and to be able to know even,
[01:08:03.930]I mean I know when I was at running my family's operation,
[01:08:07.050]I didn't even know some of the resources
[01:08:08.790]that would've been available to me if,
[01:08:12.256]and so I think that's part
[01:08:13.513]of what the Regional Food Business Center is.
[01:08:15.690]It's just to help people know that there are resources
[01:08:18.810]that they can tap into and navigate those resources.
[01:08:22.140]The one-on-one technical assistance
[01:08:24.270]that I imagine all of you are gonna be providing
[01:08:28.233]is so important because it's knowing
[01:08:30.533]the resources, being able to apply
[01:08:32.610]for the resources, get the funding for it,
[01:08:35.190]but then also just all of the pieces along the way.
[01:08:38.580]What does food safety certification look like?
[01:08:40.350]What does labeling look like?
[01:08:42.000]What all of the different questions that people have
[01:08:45.360]I think are really important.
[01:08:46.860]Their resilient food system infrastructure fund
[01:08:49.800]is money that we are partnering
[01:08:51.863]with State Departments Of Agriculture.
[01:08:54.960]So 420 million a across 54 state and territory
[01:08:59.610]Departments Of Agriculture, so, but it is important,
[01:09:03.720]what it will do is the business builders can fund up to a
[01:09:06.990]hundred thousand dollars and then what the Resilient Food
[01:09:10.410]System Infrastructure fund does is it begins at that a
[01:09:12.660]hundred thousand dollars and it can do the projects that are
[01:09:15.390]a hundred thousand to in the multiple million dollar range.
[01:09:18.810]And so that is a very important part because everyone has
[01:09:22.590]different scales in which they're operating.
[01:09:25.020]And so we are making sure that
[01:09:26.940]we're looking at all the different scales
[01:09:29.310]that we can be able to fund.
[01:09:31.800]The technical assistance is really important.
[01:09:35.700]Resources and the infrastructure that you talked
[01:09:38.520]about are really important too.
[01:09:39.660]So this funding for resilient food system infrastructure
[01:09:43.500]funds processing, it also can fund distribution,
[01:09:46.113]it also can fund aggregation and food hubs.
[01:09:49.710]It can fund and
[01:09:51.060]it's flexible enough to be able to fund those linkages
[01:09:54.090]in the middle of the food supply chain
[01:09:56.280]that are needed and identified in a community.
[01:09:58.800]And that's why I think it's really important
[01:10:00.330]that we're partnering with state departments
[01:10:02.173]of agriculture to do it because we know enough,
[01:10:07.080]but the states really know what's happening in their states
[01:10:11.070]to be able to say here's where our identified needs are.
[01:10:14.280]And so that's I think a really key part
[01:10:15.900]of the resilient food system infrastructure fund.
[01:10:19.080]And then of course we have meat
[01:10:20.973]and poultry processing dollars, we have farm to school,
[01:10:23.613]we have all sorts of really incredible programs at USDA
[01:10:29.363]that I think woven together each plays a very unique
[01:10:34.470]need and fills a very unique role.
[01:10:37.200]And woven together is a system
[01:10:38.853]of programs that supports the food system.
[01:10:42.540]So I'm really curious in this collective impact model
[01:10:46.530]that you're developing and implementing
[01:10:49.920]how the different players and the folks in this room,
[01:10:53.700]plus I would imagine for each one who's here at the table,
[01:10:57.900]you are working with a handful of other organizations
[01:11:00.863]in your community and in your, whether it's
[01:11:04.050]in your community, in a location, community or whether it's
[01:11:06.593]in your community, in the work in which you're working,
[01:11:10.650]how do you build on
[01:11:13.080]and I'm assuming that's what that collective impact model
[01:11:15.990]is like we're building on each other
[01:11:18.510]to really meet the need, and so I'm curious how you see
[01:11:22.710]that role and maybe we could pass it around
[01:11:24.810]or if someone wants to first start and then we can hear
[01:11:27.330]from you all about how you feel
[01:11:28.863]that role is and that collective impact.
[01:11:33.060]Well the collective impact model
[01:11:35.850]is designed to be data driven.
[01:11:37.680]So that's Jamie's role is that with the asset mapping gap
[01:11:41.460]analysis to create baseline
[01:11:43.680]and then what do we wanna see change on that baseline?
[01:11:48.090]How are we together gonna work closely
[01:11:51.510]and address those gaps to move the needle on new startups,
[01:11:55.500]on bankability, on increasing and expanding existing
[01:12:01.560]businesses and really trying
[01:12:03.270]to strengthen the connection between farming
[01:12:05.923]and processing at the local and regional level.
[01:12:09.480]And then what people tell us is I can figure
[01:12:12.630]that out but then if I'm in western Nebraska,
[01:12:15.810]how do I get it to the market in Omaha?
[01:12:18.000]So that's the another piece
[01:12:19.263]that we'll be working on together.
[01:12:22.560]Any anyone else wanna comment on how you see us working
[01:12:25.680]together on this issue?
[01:12:31.110]There she goes.
[01:12:32.910]I can talk a lot so I'll set a timer so I don't monopolize
[01:12:37.740]the time, but yeah, as Katie said,
[01:12:40.410]none of us does great work alone so it takes a lot
[01:12:44.520]of partners to do what we do.
[01:12:46.863]And for No More Empty Pots,
[01:12:49.140]I would say local foods is the number one thing
[01:12:51.120]that we do in working with over 40 different farmers
[01:12:54.990]in Iowa and Nebraska and we've been doing a year round CSA
[01:12:59.940]since 2019 and it takes a lot to get that done.
[01:13:03.360]But the second thing that we do the most is collaborate.
[01:13:06.493]We've had over a hundred different collaborations
[01:13:10.650]and partnerships since we,
[01:13:13.680]since year three because the system is complex
[01:13:20.503]and no one owns any one thing and nor should we,
[01:13:24.180]but we try to work to our strengths,
[01:13:27.090]recognize where the gaps are, and then find partners
[01:13:30.000]who are also really good at what they do.
[01:13:32.400]And if we are all leaning on each other to do our best work,
[01:13:35.940]then the people that we're serving with get
[01:13:38.400]the best of what's available
[01:13:40.290]and then we can all level up because as you mentioned,
[01:13:42.960]we are learning from each other in the process.
[01:13:46.703]And hopefully as we do that,
[01:13:48.769]we are also setting those goals and outcomes,
[01:13:51.360]we're reaching them and what used to be a problem is no
[01:13:53.940]longer a problem, but then it usually reveals another issue
[01:13:56.763]that we need to work on, but as we continue to do that,
[01:14:00.593]hopefully we're moving further upstream so we have fewer
[01:14:04.680]people who need us in a crisis and that they are able to
[01:14:08.280]realize those goals and dreams for themselves and then we
[01:14:11.760]are providing resources to help them do that in a way
[01:14:16.470]that they can get to that point of self-sufficiency
[01:14:19.560]and economic resilience before they land in a crisis point.
[01:14:23.730]And we know we're not gonna get everybody right away
[01:14:26.190]because we didn't get here instantly.
[01:14:29.070]But what I see from what was proposed and the folks
[01:14:32.183]in this room and doing this work and what's happening
[01:14:35.970]in our communities that we work in with the partners
[01:14:38.203]that we work with, we see glimmers of progress
[01:14:42.480]and things that we should stop doing
[01:14:44.243]and things that we should do more of.
[01:14:46.650]And now it's just to have the courage
[01:14:48.533]and the resources to continue to do those things.
[01:14:59.550]Okay, so quick follow up.
[01:15:00.560]So you said your own CSA,
[01:15:02.370]which is really impressive for this part of the country.
[01:15:05.850]So I'm curious how that works,
[01:15:07.500]but specifically just from a tactical perspective,
[01:15:10.193]but also I'm guessing those are maybe crops
[01:15:12.573]that folks hadn't always grown and
[01:15:15.330]or storage or infrastructure that hasn't always existed.
[01:15:19.440]So I'm just curious how some of that came to be.
[01:15:23.853]Thanks, well one,
[01:15:25.050]we have really good partners and we have a really good
[01:15:29.910]person named Taylor who I,
[01:15:32.670]she's does our logistics and procurement and working across
[01:15:38.910]Nebraska and Iowa with folks who have greenhouses and they
[01:15:42.660]have high tunnels so we can continue to get local greens
[01:15:47.040]throughout the season and then farmers
[01:15:50.070]who have different products available at different times,
[01:15:52.650]which is why it takes about 40 of them to continue
[01:15:56.190]to get the different types of produce that we have.
[01:15:59.730]But we also include pulses, we have,
[01:16:02.310]we grow popcorn and Nebraska so we sometimes include that as
[01:16:06.690]a grain and then we will include things like organic quinoa
[01:16:12.690]or brown rice where we're using a local farm
[01:16:18.060]and I'm blanking but they do grain, somebody help me,
[01:16:20.970]I can't think of.
[01:16:22.969](indistinct)
[01:16:24.133]That's one, but they're farther west.
[01:16:25.795](indistinct)
[01:16:26.840]Thank you grain place.
[01:16:28.080]We get a lot of grains from them that are either sourced
[01:16:32.700]locally because if we can't get it local then we make sure
[01:16:35.550]that it aligns with the values that we have.
[01:16:38.460]But we have over,
[01:16:41.070]since 2019, 85% of our purchases have been sourced
[01:16:46.920]locally, so we have really good producers,
[01:16:50.303]that is how that's done.
[01:16:52.290]And Taylor does a really good job of choosing the right mix
[01:16:56.160]of things over time so that we have fresh things and we have
[01:17:01.020]dry things that also help people learn
[01:17:03.750]how to eat more whole foods
[01:17:06.899]throughout the season and not expect strawberries
[01:17:10.050]in November 'cause that ain't happening.
[01:17:12.420]But when we do get them in June that they get a chance
[01:17:15.960]to get some of those, does that help?
[01:17:21.420]Hi Rachel again with KCLD Kids,
[01:17:23.430]I wanted to speak to the opportunities
[01:17:25.320]within Food Policy Councils with at the state level
[01:17:27.393]and then also at the county level.
[01:17:30.030]We are a nonprofit
[01:17:31.440]and our programmatic stuff is really just around
[01:17:33.510]greater Kansas City but our policy work really is statewide.
[01:17:36.690]And just to give a shout out to one,
[01:17:38.220]I'm just one of the ones from KCLD kids that will be here.
[01:17:41.790]We have amazing staff that work
[01:17:44.460]with policy specific stuff at a statewide partnerships.
[01:17:48.660]There's Food and Farm Council
[01:17:50.490]in Kansas, there's the Kansas Food Action Network and they,
[01:17:53.610]while there mostly is called for action for policy stuff,
[01:17:56.580]it goes both ways with resources that are needed from those
[01:17:58.950]stakeholders in the community, both in rural and urban.
[01:18:02.130]So I know there's over 30 count countywide food policy
[01:18:05.823]councils that connect and amplify their stuff
[01:18:08.310]on the way up on the side of Kansas.
[01:18:10.980]And then in Greater KC there's
[01:18:12.113]within the Food Policy Coalition,
[01:18:14.430]multiple stakeholders and institutions that have been a part
[01:18:16.980]of this work for a long time.
[01:18:18.420]So I really look at that being
[01:18:19.590]as an opportunity, not just in Kansas
[01:18:20.813]and Missouri, which are what we represent,
[01:18:22.680]but looking to those relationships and partnerships
[01:18:26.880]in the other states that maybe aren't coming
[01:18:28.103]to the table with that, but that's a great opportunity.
[01:18:35.220]Yeah, thank you so much for mentioning that.
[01:18:37.080]And I had the opportunity to get out to Kansas slash I
[01:18:41.250]think late summer, early fall as we announced
[01:18:43.613]the local food purchase assistance,
[01:18:45.780]which I is also I think a really important driver
[01:18:48.960]in the work that's being done.
[01:18:50.850]And hopefully the regional food business centers are
[01:18:52.590]connecting there too because this is also
[01:18:54.637]about how do we drive demand to schools and to food banks
[01:18:58.950]from local and regional producers.
[01:19:00.930]And what I heard is just the thriving Food Policy Councils
[01:19:04.380]in Kansas and that was just fantastic to hear.
[01:19:07.440]I mean we hear about them across the country.
[01:19:09.990]To hear about them
[01:19:10.830]in specific regions and specific states is fantastic.
[01:19:15.240]When I was at my family's farm,
[01:19:16.470]I was part of our county one and I know just
[01:19:19.590]how important they can be in really bringing everyone
[01:19:22.410]to the table to identify or try to work through solutions.
[01:19:28.050]It takes a while sometimes,
[01:19:28.883]I think the Food Policy Council I was part
[01:19:30.960]of is just now getting some funding for a food hub a
[01:19:34.693]dozen years later.
[01:19:36.900]But it happens in time, you know, with perseverance.
[01:19:38.833]And so that, thank you for highlighting that.
[01:19:42.030]I am really interested in this collaboration,
[01:19:47.880]right, we have, you have your expertise,
[01:19:50.610]you have your expertise and you have the world
[01:19:52.440]in which you're working and then this whole region,
[01:19:55.320]the Heartland Regional Food Business Center,
[01:19:57.263]we'll be working in collaborating very closely
[01:19:59.723]together as well.
[01:20:01.680]I'm curious to see not only the vision
[01:20:03.783]for how that works, but also I'm really interested in
[01:20:08.550]and certainly we don't need any answers now unless you know
[01:20:12.090]of them, but I'm really interested in like just
[01:20:14.483]what I heard yesterday, oh we have,
[01:20:16.680]we're trying to solve for commercial kitchens
[01:20:18.360]or we're trying to solve for this and how,
[01:20:20.610]where are their opportunities for USDA as you're working
[01:20:25.950]in your region to help connect the dots between regions
[01:20:29.550]as well, are there topical areas or how might that work?
[01:20:34.413]We have Lacey here with AMS who's with our local and
[01:20:38.160]regional food systems group at AMS and we're building out
[01:20:41.970]a team who's really gonna be supporting the regional food
[01:20:45.180]business centers and thinking about and hearing from you
[01:20:49.050]all about where are some challenges that you're facing that
[01:20:52.620]I'm sure other regions are facing as well and how can we
[01:20:56.220]facilitate and foster connecting those dots as well.
[01:20:59.403]Yeah, I'll jump in.
[01:21:00.510]I'll jump in there, just one,
[01:21:01.813]I did want to call out Tiffany Hangmoss in the back.
[01:21:05.970]Tiffany's the dean of our College of Agricultural Sciences
[01:21:08.850]and natural resources, Sherry Jones,
[01:21:10.890]the dean of our College of Education and Human Sciences
[01:21:13.620]couldn't be with us today but that's an important platform
[01:21:17.130]around nutrition and health science.
[01:21:19.440]Charlie Staltino is the dean of Nebraska Extension.
[01:21:23.370]Next to Charlie Terry Howell.
[01:21:26.640]Terry and Rodney, you there should be a meetup there.
[01:21:31.860]Terry is the executive director of our Nebraska Food
[01:21:36.330]Processing Center and there's a lot of partnerships
[01:21:39.930]and a lot of, I think similarity to what Rodney said.
[01:21:42.750]So kind of anchoring the heartland in the north and
[01:21:46.080]the south when the early genesis of the dialogue started.
[01:21:50.760]One way to amplify through USDA,
[01:21:54.330]certainly the land grant universities and colleges.
[01:21:57.720]So we're blessed in the region not only to have 1860 twos
[01:22:02.550]but 1890s and 1994 tribal serving and Hispanic serving
[01:22:07.950]institutions, so I think through the deans calling them out,
[01:22:13.050]they're all friends with the deans
[01:22:15.323]at the other schools in the region.
[01:22:18.900]But even with that, you know,
[01:22:20.550]we don't talk enough across state lines enough.
[01:22:24.030]So I think the reason that we are here
[01:22:29.073]at the University of Nebraska Lincoln,
[01:22:31.920]the leadership sitting down at that end
[01:22:33.660]of the table and the partners in the room.
[01:22:35.760]But we do some things well and we can do,
[01:22:39.480]we can leverage that and that was really the offer on the
[01:22:42.210]table was to be kind of that structural frame behind
[01:22:46.830]upon which the programming could thrive.
[01:22:50.730]But I do think the Land Grant universities just like USDA
[01:22:55.173]playing across the different parts,
[01:22:57.090]we have a real important role in this and that starts today
[01:23:01.350]and I appreciate my colleagues coming on all levels.
[01:23:04.830]So that's one way we can collaborate
[01:23:06.883]in partnership with USDA.
[01:23:15.720]In the design of the project,
[01:23:17.190]we also talked about the partners having sort of
[01:23:20.643]meetings of the minds so that like, you know,
[01:23:24.120]you're working in this sector, everybody who is part
[01:23:26.460]of the partnership, let's have, you know,
[01:23:28.553]a monthly standing meeting where we can talk
[01:23:30.420]through some of our issues
[01:23:32.583]and really just because we're working on high level,
[01:23:35.790]you know, just looking at it from a higher level,
[01:23:37.680]sometimes it's hard to know like what you don't know.
[01:23:40.587]And so when you can talk to colleagues who are doing similar
[01:23:43.110]work, you can see, oh yeah, I didn't think
[01:23:44.863]about that, but now it makes total sense.
[01:23:47.640]And so when you can work amongst your peers
[01:23:49.830]and have that conversation.
[01:23:50.910]So I think across even the different regional food business
[01:23:54.090]centers, if there's like affinity groups, you know,
[01:23:57.000]within there that you can kind of bring them together
[01:23:59.430]and play that organizing role.
[01:24:01.140]Cause it takes time to figure out when you're gonna meet
[01:24:03.180]and you know somebody to host it
[01:24:04.503]and to prompt questions and stuff.
[01:24:06.270]I think that would be really helpful
[01:24:07.860]to learning about the different issues everybody's facing
[01:24:10.563]and how they're gonna tackle those.
[01:24:15.450]Great, do folks online have anything else to share?
[01:24:20.100]Any answers to some of the questions we had or?
[01:24:26.993]They're all waiting for each other to chime in.
[01:24:32.070]I can't see names this far away, so.
[01:24:40.950]Just a quick comment here locally,
[01:24:42.960]I think one thing that we've really appreciated is like
[01:24:45.840]your increased focus on urban ag and BIPOC communities
[01:24:49.233]at the USDA, we were very excited to be a part of one
[01:24:52.320]of the land access grant funding opportunities.
[01:24:55.560]So I mean that was a historic opportunity
[01:24:57.360]to apply for funding to purchase farmland,
[01:24:59.250]which as we know is a major barrier, and then locally,
[01:25:02.310]honestly the NRCS folks have been really good,
[01:25:05.013]I have them on like speed dial.
[01:25:08.340]We actually hosted an NRCS kind of meet and greet just
[01:25:11.100]on Friday at the Maya Community Center in Omaha.
[01:25:14.070]One of Nancy's team members was there and a bunch
[01:25:16.860]of the Omaha urban ag organizations just to learn more
[01:25:19.830]about really what USDA can offer to urban ag organizations
[01:25:22.923]at a local level.
[01:25:24.633]You know, getting into the nitty gritty about signing up
[01:25:27.120]for an FSA number and just these really tangible things
[01:25:31.043]that beforehand, you know, we wouldn't have even known
[01:25:33.510]were an opportunity for us.
[01:25:35.310]So I think I've been really happy to collaborate
[01:25:38.190]with them and be part of spreading that information
[01:25:41.183]throughout Omaha because I think it's an untapped resource.
[01:25:45.480]So they've been great to work with.
[01:25:51.450]Yeah, and the work that's being done
[01:25:54.240]at NRCS on urban ag and is it truly is remarkable just
[01:25:58.410]to see the work that they're doing
[01:26:00.870]to foster because they're very unique difference.
[01:26:03.870]Like there's very unique is issues.
[01:26:05.700]You talked about getting, you know,
[01:26:07.260]even just like an FSA number.
[01:26:09.450]We had the same thing
[01:26:10.283]when we were, when I was in California, there was yeah,
[01:26:12.290]an urban farmer and they were like,
[01:26:13.560]well I have these different plots and they don't actually
[01:26:15.900]tie to, there's no FSA numbers, so how do I even begin?
[01:26:19.643]That I think is important.
[01:26:21.033]The regional food business centers can also be able
[01:26:24.840]to support, it will support urban agriculture
[01:26:27.043]in many ways, of course in accessing markets,
[01:26:29.850]but also birddogging some of
[01:26:32.430]the issues as well, so, and we talked about this yesterday
[01:26:35.100]when we were in Michigan as well.
[01:26:37.080]Some of the challenges are, you know, urban planning
[01:26:40.380]and you know, best practices for urban planning.
[01:26:42.510]And so that was another one.
[01:26:43.350]And that might be another affinity group
[01:26:44.910]that I know, you know, certainly in Detroit they're thinking
[01:26:47.670]about and probably in Omaha as well.
[01:26:49.887]And so there's an opportunity there of how can the regional
[01:26:52.590]food business centers, you know, look at planning guides,
[01:26:56.850]not advocacy 'cause they can't find that,
[01:26:58.920]but planning guides and other things to be able
[01:27:02.710]to support urban agriculture so we can have
[01:27:05.423]thriving urban farmers.
[01:27:13.080]I had an example I wanted to share with you about,
[01:27:15.930]because you had also asked about year round growing.
[01:27:19.440]The KC Food Hub is also a sub-award under our grant and I'm
[01:27:22.530]also the president of the board, full transparency there.
[01:27:24.750]But we have been working to build our supply chain
[01:27:29.250]to schools and schools wanna buy local food,
[01:27:31.800]but it's doesn't match with our production season,
[01:27:34.973]especially in Nebraska, you guys are even further north.
[01:27:37.980]And so it has taken us almost three years
[01:27:41.280]to get to the point we're at now,
[01:27:43.380]which is pretty good sales with schools in terms of lettuce.
[01:27:47.580]So we had a demand from the schools, they wanted, you know,
[01:27:50.550]600 pounds a week and they thought, oh,
[01:27:51.960]because we can't supply all
[01:27:53.100]of it, then they'll get none of it.
[01:27:54.553]But with through negotiations and conversations
[01:27:57.713]and working with our farmers and going back to the schools
[01:28:00.313]and like, now we're up to 400 pounds a week in the winter,
[01:28:04.080]and that means those farmers invested their high
[01:28:08.280]quality, you know,
[01:28:09.270]highly productive land in their high tunnels and dedicated
[01:28:12.353]to growing that food 'cause they knew that market was gonna
[01:28:15.180]secure and they could actually get a price
[01:28:16.950]that was affordable for them, so that took three years
[01:28:19.380]to develop, you know, that relationship back and forth.
[01:28:21.720]And that was the food value chain coordinator's job.
[01:28:24.900]And that's what we wanna do is create
[01:28:26.760]many more of those market opportunities
[01:28:28.643]and hopefully through local Food for Schools program,
[01:28:32.213]which we're also helping to organize, you know,
[01:28:34.200]the application process for our Missouri schools.
[01:28:36.690]They can get access to those funds to get a start
[01:28:38.610]in buying local food and hopefully they'll continue even
[01:28:40.993]when the money runs out.
[01:28:44.820]Yeah, that's the hope, right?
[01:28:45.960]We solve for the problems and so that they,
[01:28:49.080]the problems are resolved and they can continue even after
[01:28:51.923]the money runs out, and the schools are still,
[01:28:54.510]of course buying food, but now they'll have access
[01:28:56.700]to lettuce year round, and yeah, I mean, talking about,
[01:28:59.580]and this is very much a whole
[01:29:01.230]of USDA, a whole of government approach.
[01:29:04.170]These, the regional food business centers are really
[01:29:05.880]the glue across USDA, so we talked about
[01:29:08.023]of course, NCS urban Ag, we talked about, you know,
[01:29:10.950]NCS and the work they do on funding high tunnels.
[01:29:13.650]Like all of this is important as we pull together
[01:29:16.243]what we need to be able to navigate that.
[01:29:21.540]Kind of a question more than a solution.
[01:29:25.950]Speaking of creating new markets,
[01:29:28.230]if you were going to create new markets and urban
[01:29:32.160]and rural healthcare by sort of breaking down the barriers
[01:29:36.600]between HHS and USDA in terms of Medicaid reimbursement
[01:29:42.090]for programs would be something that I think
[01:29:44.073]that could really stimulate not only in a regional,
[01:29:48.450]but in a national kind of fashion.
[01:29:51.090]So how do we get to the point to where you can break down
[01:29:53.880]those barriers between Medicaid reimbursement,
[01:29:57.390]HHS and USDA?
[01:30:00.960]I know that's a.
[01:30:02.806]No, it's a great question.
[01:30:04.830]And again, (indistinct)
[01:30:08.760]So last fall, the White House hosted a conference
[01:30:12.371](indistinct)
[01:30:16.500]with that, the president put out
[01:30:18.870]a kind of his recommendations on different things
[01:30:21.750]and food as medicine is a key part of that.
[01:30:24.030]And there is a whole initiative that is happening
[01:30:27.330]between USDA and HHS to really identify
[01:30:31.230]and drive food as medicine, identify where, you know,
[01:30:34.410]where are some things that we can,
[01:30:35.910]we can do now through our own administrative process
[01:30:39.480]to be able to drive food as medicine.
[01:30:41.400]And then, you know, there probably are,
[01:30:43.137]and I'm sure there's a lot that, you know,
[01:30:45.060]if Congress wanted to take up
[01:30:46.710]some legislative solutions as well, but really looking
[01:30:49.590]at how we can use our own funds,
[01:30:52.230]our own research dollars to be able
[01:30:54.780]to drive that food as medicine produce prescriptions
[01:30:59.190]for example, is I think one, you know,
[01:31:02.070]one area that there is a whole work group who's looking on,
[01:31:03.907]you know, just what does that look like and how can we,
[01:31:06.960]how can we really start to implement that and drive that.
[01:31:09.690]I think that is really key piece of that.
[01:31:15.270]Three year program just to create the,
[01:31:17.580]I'm sorry, to create the, you know,
[01:31:20.070]the infrastructure to the schools.
[01:31:21.900]So now you have this huge opportunity, a bigger market,
[01:31:26.400]and how do you tackle that, how, what is the question?
[01:31:28.980]So thank you.
[01:31:30.027]And there's the senior farmer's market nutrition program
[01:31:32.460]that we were talking about earlier, right?
[01:31:34.110]And there's the GUSNA program and there's all,
[01:31:36.900]there's in addition to Medicaid and looking at, you know,
[01:31:40.410]produce prescriptions and those sorts
[01:31:42.120]of things, which are absolutely important.
[01:31:44.550]There's also some programs that we have now that
[01:31:47.610]we've been able to do some plus ups with the American Rescue
[01:31:50.640]Plan dollars and then also there's, you know,
[01:31:54.480]the VA system is looking at how they're doing procurement
[01:31:57.413]through their hospitals
[01:31:59.153]and again, utilizing food as medicine techniques
[01:32:03.300]and bringing more fresh or, you know, just more, you know,
[01:32:08.640]vitamin driven food into the system.
[01:32:12.450]Many of the funds that we have through
[01:32:14.130]the local agricultural market program that we have here
[01:32:17.473]at USDA have been able to help foster that as well.
[01:32:20.160]So hospitals across the country,
[01:32:22.500]so many hospitals are looking
[01:32:23.943]at this and are advancing in this way
[01:32:27.090]and we're able to be able to fund
[01:32:29.520]some of the community connectivity to really look
[01:32:32.193]at what happened, what does that hospital system need
[01:32:34.783]in their region, and what food sources do they need
[01:32:38.280]and how do we get that food from farm to hospital to be able
[01:32:41.460]to achieve their nutrition goals that they're trying
[01:32:44.880]to do in their hospitals,.
[01:32:46.440]Thank you, I know that was kinda a broad question.
[01:32:49.563]Yeah, it's,
[01:32:50.640]we were on Matt Hammonds who oversees government affairs
[01:32:54.900]federal for the NU System.
[01:32:56.910]We were on a call last Thursday with the medical center
[01:32:59.940]in Omaha and the VA specifically looking at linkages.
[01:33:05.010]And this is the second time
[01:33:06.480]I guess in four days I've heard food is medicine.
[01:33:09.690]So a question, maybe a little bit of definition about that.
[01:33:14.730]My visceral response is that once you start saying medicine,
[01:33:18.360]then FDA comes in, and so,
[01:33:20.153]we tend to talk about food for health
[01:33:23.763]and nutrition and stay away from the medicine word.
[01:33:27.630]I get the concept, but the VA definitely is interested
[01:33:32.790]in food programs,
[01:33:34.830]they're interested in food entrepreneurship programs.
[01:33:38.250]So I think this is Bill, along your line,
[01:33:40.890]an opportunity to look at some of these programs
[01:33:43.620]and blur some lines, and it feels like
[01:33:47.100]the regional food business centers are really
[01:33:51.113]an opportune time, especially in this region where we have
[01:33:55.053]such a significant military presence.
[01:33:57.300]But if you could say something a little bit
[01:33:58.920]about the food for medicine bit,
[01:34:01.290]just so the rest of us are kind of up to speed
[01:34:03.083]on what that is, that'd be great.
[01:34:05.880]Well, I too need to get better up to speed on it. (laughs)
[01:34:10.317]And at this at USDA, this is.
[01:34:12.493]Sorry to put you on the spot.
[01:34:15.633]But this is being driven out of two of our mi two
[01:34:18.620]of our really critical mission areas.
[01:34:20.820]So the research education and economics missionary,
[01:34:23.790]so which you're of course very familiar
[01:34:25.800]with NIPA and ARS and driving what's the research,
[01:34:33.450]the food medicine research
[01:34:34.650]or the nutrition research that needs to be done to,
[01:34:37.980]or that's already out there that we just need
[01:34:40.350]to bring to policy makers and decision makers.
[01:34:43.473]And so that's part of it is on the research component.
[01:34:46.890]And then of course with our colleagues
[01:34:48.810]at Food Nutrition services as well, they work very closely
[01:34:52.890]on nutritional and dietary guidelines
[01:34:56.400]and all of those different things, but then,
[01:34:58.530]but this food is medicine I think even in,
[01:35:00.480]of course extends beyond that, not just dietary guidelines,
[01:35:03.240]but by health guidelines and you know,
[01:35:05.760]and even things like the work
[01:35:07.050]that's being done on Cancer Moonshot,
[01:35:08.790]what are the food components
[01:35:09.633]that really help achieve that too?
[01:35:12.133]My daughter this morning, she,
[01:35:13.593]my daughter had a concussion and this morning she just had a
[01:35:16.830]doctor's appointment and the doctor said she,
[01:35:18.780]to recover, she needs protein, she needs more protein.
[01:35:21.810]And so really just looking at
[01:35:24.553]and that's where I was gonna go too,
[01:35:26.190]especially here with so many different universities
[01:35:30.360]who are training medical students,
[01:35:31.783]there's an opportunity as we're training medical students
[01:35:35.190]also to be able to have doctors and a whole new generation
[01:35:38.940]of doctors and of course the existing doctors have
[01:35:41.640]the resources at their fingertips as well.
[01:35:44.730]So for ex my daughter's example to have the doctor say,
[01:35:48.150]'cause I could try to tell her she needs eat protein,
[01:35:50.130]but you know, have a doctor tell her that she needs
[01:35:54.950]to eat protein, she's gonna start eating protein.
[01:35:57.570]I'm sure she's already eating it at lunch right now, so.
[01:36:00.450]And so many patients are listening to their doctors
[01:36:03.750]as they're thinking about things and it doesn't just need
[01:36:05.820]to be a prescription of medication,
[01:36:08.910]but it can be complimented also by how we're eating.
[01:36:12.900]So I don't have a lot we can dive,
[01:36:14.940]I definitely need to dive into.
[01:36:16.440]Oh that's helpful.
[01:36:18.330]And I think Derek's ears probably perked up
[01:36:20.533]on the research.
[01:36:21.630]Where it gets a little tricky outside
[01:36:24.660]of the labeling and so forth is we have,
[01:36:28.253]we have a food for health center for example,
[01:36:31.410]and that Food for Health center is really focused on the gut
[01:36:34.110]microbiome and that Food for Health platform is working
[01:36:38.670]backwards with the breeders,
[01:36:40.800]looking at contemporary cropping systems,
[01:36:44.880]but also with the ponka tribe,
[01:36:46.380]for example, here in Nebraska, taking a look
[01:36:51.803]at ancient foods and understanding health benefits.
[01:36:56.550]But those kinds of platforms are then connected
[01:36:59.010]to our academic med centers where we're actually looking
[01:37:02.310]at say, inflammatory bowel disorders,
[01:37:04.833]which are partly due to an imbalance
[01:37:08.683]in microbial communities and how does food influence that,
[01:37:12.000]so there's a big tendril there that I think
[01:37:16.170]we are definitely interested in pursuing.
[01:37:18.840]Back over to Katie's question, do you have any firm idea
[01:37:24.053]of how the regional centers will talk with each other?
[01:37:29.460]Will there be a national collaborative
[01:37:32.160]or council, Mary, I didn't ask you this question,
[01:37:34.560]maybe you have all these answers,
[01:37:35.970]but I'd be curious about the crosstalk
[01:37:37.983]and these affinity groups, I really like that term Katie.
[01:37:44.573]Yeah, so we're in the process that's right now
[01:37:47.563]at USDA at hiring, basically we'll have,
[01:37:51.720]we'll have 1 AMS staff person per region
[01:37:55.053]that's gonna be assigned
[01:37:56.520]to the region, and I think the plan or what I'd like
[01:37:59.460]to see the plan is in addition of course to partnering
[01:38:01.710]with the region and whatever support,
[01:38:03.720]it's also hearing from you about what are
[01:38:06.113]some of the issues you're facing and your team,
[01:38:08.727]and the whole team here and the partnership is facing
[01:38:11.580]that likely are others are facing as well.
[01:38:15.240]We did this with the local food purchase assistance program,
[01:38:18.810]a little bit different but similar
[01:38:20.610]where we hosted weekly office hours.
[01:38:23.280]The intent was to be able to make sure that our state
[01:38:26.940]partners had a opportunity every week to be able
[01:38:30.193]to come and ask questions as they were putting
[01:38:32.400]together their application.
[01:38:34.470]But what the secondary intent was
[01:38:37.223]the opportunity and you know, they can call us
[01:38:39.930]at any time, but by having office hours,
[01:38:42.900]everyone was on there or had
[01:38:44.403]the opportunity to be on there together.
[01:38:47.340]And what happened was Wednesday would say, Hey,
[01:38:50.670]we're trying to figure out how to, you know,
[01:38:55.943]establish a food hub through this program and how do we,
[01:38:59.520]how do we pull together 20 different farmer's product to get
[01:39:02.790]to 20 different schools without all 20 farmers having
[01:39:05.220]to go to all 20 schools, right?
[01:39:06.343]You know, so solving for different challenges.
[01:39:08.623]And so those office hours ended up being,
[01:39:11.580]and I think they continue to really be a forum
[01:39:15.533]for everyone to talk together and to drive solutions.
[01:39:20.310]But I think there's,
[01:39:21.150]so we'll have staff people at AMS who will be,
[01:39:24.223]who'll be working with each of the regional food centers and
[01:39:26.970]then we'll have staff and those staff will also be able to,
[01:39:29.790]and they're gonna be a team within there are within AMS
[01:39:32.850]and they will also then be able to say, look, these,
[01:39:36.630]this region's looking at this challenge,
[01:39:38.700]what other regions are looking at this challenge too?
[01:39:41.010]When I was in California for the Southwest Regional Food
[01:39:43.950]Business Center a couple weeks ago,
[01:39:46.033]they're looking at and they, the, I visited a school,
[01:39:50.550]a commercial kitchen for schools and they have really
[01:39:54.153]brought together all these partners to come up with a way
[01:39:56.880]in which they can design their commercial kitchen
[01:39:59.550]so they can process more locally grown food
[01:40:02.100]for the school, the kids in the school system.
[01:40:04.633]That was incredible that I'm sure other school systems also
[01:40:09.480]would love to know where they started, how they began,
[01:40:12.990]you know, what that design looked like as well.
[01:40:14.820]And so there's,
[01:40:15.653]I think there's just so many different topical areas,
[01:40:18.330]affinity groups, topical areas
[01:40:20.773]that there can be cross-sharing and hopefully also not just
[01:40:24.750]by talking through, but then also visiting other, you know,
[01:40:28.320]other great examples throughout the region
[01:40:30.000]and hosting here, great examples as well.
[01:40:34.710]If I can jump onto that just a little bit.
[01:40:38.550]Having real-time feedback on what's,
[01:40:42.003]where there are holes where there's points of coordination
[01:40:44.730]as you shared, but also what's working really well.
[01:40:48.240]What are those opportunities that, you know,
[01:40:50.190]you put a toe in the water to try something and we're blown
[01:40:52.860]away by how well it worked because those are
[01:40:55.693]the kinda lessons learned we wanna share with other places.
[01:40:58.710]But the other thing is this is,
[01:41:00.570]this is kind of a new space for USDA, this is a new,
[01:41:03.900]new framework, a new idea, a new structure.
[01:41:07.590]It's something we're able
[01:41:08.940]to fund for five years at this point.
[01:41:12.240]And so looking at the longevity of this effort,
[01:41:16.680]there's gonna be a lot of opportunity
[01:41:17.753]to think about lessons learned, to think about, you know,
[01:41:21.870]we want as much feedback as we can
[01:41:25.410]on what impact programs are making or where there are gaps
[01:41:28.613]or where there are holes or where there are tweaks
[01:41:31.680]because you know,
[01:41:33.330]not that we're not that we've framed it as a pilot
[01:41:35.910]or called it as a pilot, the firm reality
[01:41:38.700]is we have a five-year window to try this and I think
[01:41:42.180]there's gonna be a lot of interest from folks
[01:41:44.070]to see what do we learn, what do we get from that period.
[01:41:52.903]Yeah.
[01:41:55.080]Questions?
[01:41:59.100]A question about the, oh.
[01:42:00.960]I know there are talkers in the audience.
[01:42:04.200]And over to me.
[01:42:05.400]Hi, I'm Vanessa Linga,
[01:42:06.510]I work for University of Nebraska Lincoln and I am the
[01:42:09.660]state coordinator for our Double Up Food Bucks program.
[01:42:12.150]I'm a registered dietician.
[01:42:13.980]So I guess not really much of a question but more
[01:42:16.680]of a comment when you talk
[01:42:18.013]about food as medicine, this is something that dieticians,
[01:42:20.820]we live in this space always and constantly
[01:42:23.490]and so I just wanna give a little plug for RDs.
[01:42:25.680]Do we need to retrain doctors or do we need
[01:42:28.470]to elevate registered dieticians because we are that link
[01:42:31.140]between research and practice and we're already in a lot
[01:42:34.200]of community spaces and just the fact that a dietician is
[01:42:37.140]running our Double Up Food Bucks program is getting people
[01:42:40.320]out into those retail spaces and we do direct education
[01:42:42.960]on top of the incentives in here in Nebraska.
[01:42:45.450]So just a little plug for RDs.
[01:42:51.090]You know that, yes, thank you.
[01:42:54.240]And absolutely that is such an important thing
[01:42:57.180]and it reminds me,
[01:42:58.440]I'm just thinking back to a lot of our commodity
[01:43:01.320]organizations that we have at AMS have funded incredible
[01:43:04.770]dietary research as well.
[01:43:06.210]And so really making sure that we're bringing
[01:43:09.183]that into the fold as well.
[01:43:11.400]And I know 'cause many of our commodity organizations
[01:43:14.670]have registered dieticians on staff and so yes, absolutely,
[01:43:19.290]I hear you on that, thank you.
[01:43:25.873]So I'm Matt Hammonds,
[01:43:26.820]I lead our federal relations efforts for the university
[01:43:28.980]system, I just wondered if you could comment a bit more,
[01:43:31.440]Mike mentioned (indistinct) Friday we were told 50%
[01:43:34.993]of veterans are food insecure.
[01:43:37.500]And also thinking about that as a population
[01:43:39.523]that I'm sure many of the folks in the room serve.
[01:43:43.473]I'm curious too about how do we get the data to match
[01:43:47.280]the needs and the producers that we're talking about
[01:43:49.620]with where the need is and there efforts within USDA
[01:43:52.890]to think about kind of that data challenge?
[01:43:55.290]We can start regionally
[01:43:56.340]and locally, but how do we really be able
[01:43:59.670]to address that from an informed perspective with data?
[01:44:06.300]Really great question.
[01:44:08.310]I mean we have data resources at USDA through
[01:44:11.583]that we collect through NA and through crop reports
[01:44:14.400]and all of these different things I don't know about like
[01:44:18.240]food system data collection and that might be something
[01:44:21.330]that I maybe the regional food business centers
[01:44:23.370]are thinking about.
[01:44:25.080]We also have funding and (indistinct)
[01:44:38.149](indistinct) microphone, (laughs).
[01:44:43.920]I like your question and we'll bring it back to the team.
[01:44:47.130]I think that is a really good question
[01:44:49.803]and the question that, you know,
[01:44:51.150]I'd love to see if the region, if you've thought
[01:44:53.160]about too, Mary has thought about it.
[01:44:57.270]Well Jamie can chime in,
[01:44:59.340]but that's been one of the things that we really wanted
[01:45:02.070]to do because one of the things I really am excited about
[01:45:05.700]working with all these partners is all of these partners are
[01:45:09.063]looking at how things are connected
[01:45:12.303]as opposed to we just wanna fix this little problem.
[01:45:15.870]So how do we take all these pieces of understanding of the
[01:45:20.070]system to build out a better understanding of the system
[01:45:24.510]and use the data we collect as baseline along with the
[01:45:29.130]Department of Ag data and some of the other data sources
[01:45:32.910]Jamie has so that we can start really kind of learning more
[01:45:37.980]about how the food system works and what kind of efforts
[01:45:44.640]have impact on making that food system more productive.
[01:45:48.270]So that's definitely part
[01:45:49.980]of the work that we wanna do and
[01:45:53.460]so we're able to answer your report questions effectively.
[01:45:59.910]Yeah, and I'll just chime in real quick
[01:46:01.410]and say that, you know, we're,
[01:46:02.790]we've had some great successes and crowdsourcing data
[01:46:05.670]and feel like as much as we can do that,
[01:46:09.240]especially with a partner network this vast
[01:46:11.910]and reliable, you know, that will be
[01:46:15.300]a great resource for us because we can, like Mary said,
[01:46:18.960]lean on some of the USDA data as that baseline.
[01:46:23.040]But what we have to do is make sure that we're building a
[01:46:25.620]data collection system that is sustainable that hopefully
[01:46:28.470]will last beyond the life of even this project
[01:46:31.560]so we can continue to track
[01:46:33.300]the growth or you know, sometimes retraction right
[01:46:37.080]of the food systems across our states.
[01:46:39.360]And really what we will be able to do is have a more
[01:46:43.260]on-the-ground view of that and I think that's really
[01:46:46.230]important and it's very possible to marry
[01:46:48.763]that with some of the other federally collected data
[01:46:52.800]and identify gaps and identify opportunities.
[01:46:56.400]And so we're really excited about that and do have
[01:46:59.850]some models already that we're using here
[01:47:01.950]in Missouri to collect some of that information.
[01:47:05.713]And I wanna say the other thing
[01:47:07.560]that we've really talked about is there are a lot
[01:47:10.653]of people with data sets.
[01:47:12.780]So do we need one more data set
[01:47:15.480]that people don't keep track of?
[01:47:17.730]No, we don't.
[01:47:18.990]So the advantage of working with Jamie and her group is that
[01:47:22.680]where we collect data that could build into source links
[01:47:26.940]data on, you know, who supplies business services,
[01:47:30.660]then we'll connect those data sets.
[01:47:32.700]So we'll be looking at how to connect data sets,
[01:47:35.580]not build our own little silo of data.
[01:47:43.763]On the data piece,
[01:47:44.850]I know that some of our local and regional food systems team
[01:47:49.080]have identified similar concerns
[01:47:50.463]and have things, those are some things that we've flagged.
[01:47:54.480]We a little over a year ago, time flies,
[01:47:58.590]USDA put out a Supply Chain Vulnerabilities Assessment
[01:48:02.700]and there's a section
[01:48:03.630]about local and regional food systems in there.
[01:48:05.610]And within that section there is actually a commentary
[01:48:08.040]on data and how
[01:48:09.390]it's really tricky because you've got lots of different data
[01:48:12.330]systems with slightly different definitions
[01:48:14.533]or slightly different parameters.
[01:48:17.130]And so I think what might be helpful too for us
[01:48:20.190]is to get even more granular of where are the gaps
[01:48:23.843]or where are the places where there's not coordination.
[01:48:28.020]'Cause I know that you can come at this problem
[01:48:29.940]a whole bunch of different ways,
[01:48:31.530]but I think it might be helpful for us to kind of think
[01:48:33.930]through as you're looking at the work the center's gonna do
[01:48:37.230]or the related work that folks have discussed
[01:48:40.500]today, what are those kind of key urgent gaps
[01:48:44.190]and kind of help us prioritize where some
[01:48:46.233]of those pieces are, cause I know it's a conversation,
[01:48:48.840]we have a few folks who have been having,
[01:48:51.330]and my guess is in the breadth of the department,
[01:48:53.933]there's probably some untapped data sets that exist,
[01:48:57.840]but we just haven't connected the dots necessarily too.
[01:49:01.363]And it looks like we have a comment online, David,
[01:49:04.290]do you wanna go ahead?
[01:49:05.790]Sure.
[01:49:06.623]I wanted to say one thing I like about this project
[01:49:09.000]is the regional nature because I think there's
[01:49:10.920]an opportunity to learn from of each of us successes
[01:49:14.503]and challenges in the various states in the region.
[01:49:17.160]So I like the regional nature of it and one
[01:49:19.913]of the things, I know I'm going back to what you talked
[01:49:22.043]about earlier on food prescriptions,
[01:49:24.390]but one of the things I think about
[01:49:26.880]is that it's great to talk about healthy food,
[01:49:30.300]but one thing that always sells people,
[01:49:31.980]and we can't answer it here, is convenience.
[01:49:35.220]How convenient is it to access that food?
[01:49:37.710]How convenient is to prepare that food?
[01:49:40.680]There's a huge potential there, but I,
[01:49:43.440]that's one of the challenges I think we faced
[01:49:45.600]with something like food prescriptions.
[01:49:50.273]Back on the data piece on with the VA.
[01:49:53.520]The VA is using a very,
[01:49:55.980]the secretary is using a very broad definition
[01:49:59.220]of veteran and military families.
[01:50:02.220]So there's a pretty tight definition for what a veteran is,
[01:50:08.580]but they're using a broader,
[01:50:10.560]so that's gonna, to the point definitions.
[01:50:14.010]But linking into things assets like feeding America
[01:50:18.540]with their visualization tool,
[01:50:20.250]Jamie or kids count the NEE Casey platform,
[01:50:25.440]I don't know Mary's the expert again
[01:50:28.103]on where the data comes from,
[01:50:29.910]but they were thinking more broadly about other platforms,
[01:50:34.320]kind of like you said, don't reinvent the wheel,
[01:50:36.750]leverage assets, so I would just, I guess my question
[01:50:39.750]is are there public-private partnerships with platforms like
[01:50:43.993]Feeding America that have a pretty powerful,
[01:50:47.910]I think tool that might be embellished
[01:50:51.300]by the work of the regional business food business centers.
[01:50:58.080]And opportunity right here
[01:51:00.930]and I, and because I don't remember who it was
[01:51:03.543]that said it, but how do we make sure that, how,
[01:51:06.810]like how can we take this energy here
[01:51:09.240]and the work of the regional food business centers,
[01:51:11.367]the work that's being happened across
[01:51:14.010]to look at how we can make sure all of our data sets are
[01:51:18.720]talking to each other and incorporate that into our data
[01:51:23.760]that we're putting out through USDA long term.
[01:51:27.090]So I would like,
[01:51:28.483]I'm now charging the regional food business centers
[01:51:31.770]along with our partnership at AMS and we will bring in
[01:51:34.770]our, all of our data teams, whether that's NAS or whomever,
[01:51:38.370]I think there's an opportunity to kind of bring together a
[01:51:41.100]task force to identify that and really
[01:51:45.450]hear from you and learn from you and then,
[01:51:48.330]and then see how we can make sure that we can
[01:51:52.603]continue with how USDA is pulling together and combining
[01:51:56.550]and aggregating data so they're all talking to each other.
[01:52:00.270]And so it is, you know,
[01:52:02.820]incorporated into the institution of USDA as well.
[01:52:08.250]We would love to have some of your data taskforce people
[01:52:11.220]in our design session when we get started
[01:52:14.100]for second week in July.
[01:52:17.733](indistinct)
[01:52:23.730]We have to first create this data taskforce.
[01:52:27.180]But I think, yeah, I mean I'm really interested
[01:52:29.070]in this and so we'll go back to the team.
[01:52:32.400]We're just very much,
[01:52:34.590]just like the regional food business centers are
[01:52:36.570]just getting started,
[01:52:37.410]we're also just building out our team as well.
[01:52:39.780]So it might take a little bit more time than July,
[01:52:42.453]but I think it's something that we should definitely,
[01:52:46.980]you know, work, collaborate,
[01:52:49.110]work across the country with all
[01:52:50.700]the regions, with all the partners across the country.
[01:52:53.640]And then of course,
[01:52:54.473]particularly with our colleagues at USDA who do
[01:52:58.140]and gather a lot of data including AMS who gathers a lot
[01:53:01.170]of data as well.
[01:53:03.133](indistinct)
[01:53:11.163]Good. (laughs)
[01:53:18.263](indistinct)
[01:53:34.680]System program (indistinct)
[01:53:39.093]Organizations are gonna get access to that funding
[01:53:41.060]'cause it a really fantastic opportunity,
[01:53:43.333]do you know how the State Department of Ag
[01:53:47.070]are they each gonna do it differently or do they have like a
[01:53:49.290]specific thing they need to do and then they can put things
[01:53:51.420]on top of that in order to get that money out?
[01:53:55.350]Yes, we definitely have specific criteria
[01:53:57.933]for the State Departments Of Agriculture.
[01:53:59.760]That even includes like the range of funding
[01:54:01.890]and then of the types of projects that they could fund
[01:54:06.600]and then the types of crops, although we've,
[01:54:09.960]we follow more of an ex, it's very broad.
[01:54:12.240]So we say not meat and poultry because we're already funding
[01:54:15.000]processing through meat and poultry.
[01:54:17.133]So yes, we do have a lot of information we can make sure
[01:54:20.190]and that we get that out to all of our partners
[01:54:23.040]in the regional food business centers.
[01:54:24.960]We have sent information to the states.
[01:54:27.600]This is new for states, they just,
[01:54:28.943]I found out about this two weeks ago, so they're.
[01:54:33.313]They will need time there right now looking
[01:54:37.770]at the program criteria and you know,
[01:54:40.423]and sorting that all out and we'll get their proposals
[01:54:43.680]to us, I think we asked for them in, you know,
[01:54:48.180]I think it's July or August,
[01:54:51.120]so I think it's August that we asked
[01:54:52.233]for that back from them, so it's gonna take a little bit
[01:54:56.213]of time, but we'll we can,
[01:54:57.780]we can certainly get some information to you all so you have
[01:55:00.960]that and then we're still even working on gathering the
[01:55:04.200]point of contacts for states as well, so it takes some time.
[01:55:09.300]So maybe just to bring this home first congratulations
[01:55:12.450]to the team.
[01:55:14.160]Job well done.
[01:55:18.900]And thanks undersecretary Moffitt for making the trip,
[01:55:22.650]deputy undersecretary Katie for making the trip out.
[01:55:26.790]And with that we'll conclude and transfer over
[01:55:31.063]to the media who are eager to visit with you and lunch.

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USDA Roundtable with Under Secretary Moffitt

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