Grobrix founder Mathew Howe tells Food Tank that both Scandinavian principles, and the concept of Lego blocks, inspired the design. Anyone can install a Grobrix garden–in workplaces, hotels, or private homes. The only requirements are electricity, water, and enough space for the vertical wall unit.

Customers pay a one-time installation fee, and a monthly service fee, and leave the rest to Grobrix. Each plant “plug” starts in their nursery, and upon installation benefits from a special light blend that supports optimal plant growth. The hydroponic system operates as a closed loop, which means access to a water main is not necessary.

“Everything is automated,” Howe says. This makes a smooth farming experience for customers, even without previous farming knowledge.  “We think everyone should be an urban farmer, if only for one hour a week,” he tells Food Tank.

Customers can choose their level of involvement. Grobrix staff can provide workshops on urban farming, farm to table meals, and herbal tea and infusions from the harvest.

Green City Growers (GCG), based in the U.S., has been supporting urban farm development since 2008. Operating with a similar philosophy as Grobrix, GCG designs, installs, and maintains urban gardens for clients in the Boston area, reaching everyone from school-age children to seniors. The company’s educational team encourages engagement through wellness programming, K-12 educational programming, and pop-up events.

“Successful gardens are the best tool for educating the next generation of environmentalists,” GCG President Christopher Grallert tells Food Tank.

The GCG team offers a wide array of urban garden models from raised beds to rooftops. And they are now partnering with Grobrix as an indoor growing option. Grallert says that Grobrix’s practical approach drew his attention. “In farming, as in many businesses, complexity is the enemy.” The simplicity of Grobrix “underpins its success,” he tells Food Tank.

GCG works in more than 50 Boston Public Schools and according to Grallert the “accessible and functional” hydroponic systems that Grobrix provides allows them to “deliver objective, realistic, and engaging programs that promote food system literacy.”

Both organizations share a vision for “a localized, participatory food system,” Grallert says. And adds Howe, “communities should have a closer relationship with the source of their food.”

And Howe says that food is a powerful connector, stating that “food has this unique way of bringing people together and we believe it can create communities where people can come together and learn.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Grobrix

The post The Future of Farming Is on the Wall—And in Your Office appeared first on Food Tank.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture cites numerous benefits of a strong local and regional food system, from reducing food waste to improving the health of both people and the environment. And regional food systems planning that engages community members can increase health equity and strengthen community character, according to the American Planning Association.

Coalition partners also hope that a food plan will help commit more resources towards a 2012 Dane County resolution, which declared that food is a human right.  “This community has determined that food is a human right, and our long-term plan should be ensuring that is an actual reality,” Noah Bloedorn, Food Plan Manager at REAP Food Group—a Madison nonprofit leading the plan’s coordination—tells Food Tank.

A literature review was the first step in the planning process, to “get a baseline understanding of what we know about our local food system,” Bloedorn says. And due to the large number of partners on the project, he adds that “this whole first year was really about internally understanding how we were going to work together.”

From there, the coalition began a community engagement process, what Bloedorn calls the “meat” of the project. “We’re viewing it as a way to understand both what the community’s needs, vision and values are, but also engage the community and empower them to start making change that they want to see in the food system,” he explains.

Abha Thakkar, the Owner of Mosaic LLC and lead on the consumer engagement process, tells Food Tank that the group is lucky to have “an abundance of resources,” when it comes to gathering community recommendations. “The model that we are embracing in this is really to decentralize feedback, so we’re using our resources…to support partners who already work [within] communities and have deep relationships and trust,” Thakkar explains.

While the plan and its policy recommendations are the main result of the project, Bloedorn says that food systems planning really works to “bring people together at a table towards a shared vision.”

Thakkar also emphasizes the power of the planning process itself: “For me, this is about breaking down silos in the food system, helping people meet each other across the different sectors,” she says.

With the food plan, Thakkar sees a rubric grounded in the vision and values of the entire Dane County community. In that way, Thakkar says “we can be constantly moving towards a world where food is actually a human right and functions that way.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Tim Wildsmith, Unsplash

The post Expanding the Table: How Regional Food Systems Planning Can Drive Lasting Change appeared first on Food Tank.

According to Agrarian Trust, more than 40 percent of U.S. farmland will change hands over the next 15 years.

The average age of the country’s farmers is 58 years old, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports. “A lot of folks are retiring,” Jean Theron Willoughby, Executive Director at Agrarian Trust, tells Food Tank. This, she says, presents an opportunity for worker and community ownership, “rather than just selling to the highest bidder on the speculative market.”

Agrarian Trust supports community-led endeavors to steward this farmland in ways that are sustainable and equitable by partnering with local organizations.

Farmland is most at-risk of being transitioned into a non-agricultural use when it is sold, according to American Farmland Trust. “Farmland is really a national treasure, but it’s not protected that way in the U.S.,” Willoughby tells Food Tank.

Agrarian Trust believes that local farmers can be great stewards of land, which is why they work with local Agrarian Commons to fundraise money to purchase land. The land is then held by the trust, and leased to local farmers at affordable rates.

Cameron Terry of Garden Variety Harvests is one farmer who faced difficulty in finding farmland. He started his business in Roanoke, VA by farming on borrowed spaces of land in other people’s yards.

“I wanted an opportunity to operate a business just like anybody who wants to open up a bakery or a coffee shop or a law firm. You lease a place and run the business there. And that opportunity just does not exist for someone who wants to run a farming business,” Terry tells Food Tank.

A survey from the National Young Farmer Coalition finds that land access is the greatest challenge facing the next generation of farmers. But for the health of our food system, it’s critical that newer farmers can access land, Willoughby explains. “It’s an important time to be involved in building soil, building a farm, to have access when you have the ability to do it,” she says.

Owning a farm and making the investments into the land seemed like an unlikely opportunity for Terry. “I had a few thousand dollars in savings, but nothing where I was going to be able to go buy land to farm…anywhere,” he tells Food Tank.

Terry says he also has “real misgivings” about the concept of private land ownership.  “I think maybe a different path could have been taken that would have yielded much better for our society than the way we deal with private land and exclusion of people now,” he adds.

An elder farmer approached Terry with the idea of passing along his Roanoke property, Lick Run Farms, to another farmer. “It was really hard to nail down what that relationship [would look like]. We didn’t know the shape of the thing we were looking for,” Terry says.

Agrarian Trust was the intermediary that both parties were looking for. Using the national connections of Agrarian Trust, the Southwest Virginia Agrarian Commons –Terry’s local “commons”–raised the money to buy Lick Run Farms. Agrarian Trust is now the deed holder, and will take rent payments from Terry. “[The lease] is basically infinite, and inheritable to whoever I chose to leave it to,” he tells Food Tank.

Terry plans to continue his current level of production, and use his farm to educate others. “I’m going to spend a lot of time sharing what I know, what I’ve learned about how to grow food, to anybody in Roanoke and the nearby region who will listen. And we’ll keep growing our little one-acre market garden,” Terry says.

While other farmers may find themselves in a similar position to Terry, Willoughby believes every case is unique and that the ultimate goal is to “de-commodify” land. “We want to be working together, learning from each other and exploring what the commons can look like,” she says.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Garden Variety Harvests

The post A New Path to Sustainable Farming: An Agrarian Commons Approach appeared first on Food Tank.

“Understanding the main sources of methane from surplus food helps us identify those solutions that can do the most to reduce those sources,” Minnie Ringland, a Climate Analyst with ReFED and a co-author on the report, tells Food Tank.

ReFED finds that solutions to divert food scraps from landfills and sewers, such as organic waste bans, can do the most to reduce methane emissions from surplus food. These strategies “address the largest volume of material,” Ringland explains.

But date label standardization and other strategies that prevent food from being wasted in the first place offer the highest methane reduction potential.

ReFED groups their proposed solutions into three categories: Recycling infrastructure that diverts organic material from landfill and sewer, consumer facing education and intervention, and food business efficiency and utilization.

Accurate emissions measurements are key in creating change, ReFED emphasizes. According to the National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics released by the Biden-Harris Administration, “Data gaps and limitations make it difficult to understand the extent and consequences of food loss and waste, track progress toward the national and international goals, and measure success.”

“What gets measured, gets managed,” Ringland says, adding that business executives find solutions when they see the “sources and volume of food waste in their operations.”

Methane is 86 times more potent than CO2, according to the Global Methane Hub, but it also stays in the atmosphere for 12 years. Because of this short lifespan, Ringland calls methane reduction an “emergency brake” action against climate change. “If we can slash methane emissions today, the warming effect of those molecules in the atmosphere will be dramatically reduced within the next two decades,” she tells Food Tank.

ReFED’s new data adds methane-specific emissions information to the organization’s impact calculator. The calculator provides food businesses, policymakers, advocates, and funders with information on emissions. According to the report, this can allow them to “take decisive action and drive meaningful progress,” equipped with knowledge on the benefits they can gain from reducing emissions.

Consumers and eaters can make a difference too, by “only buying and preparing as much as you really need, storing ingredients to maximize their shelf-life, and finding ways to use every part of the ingredient,” Ringland says. “While many individual actions can often feel powerless in the face of the climate crisis, the food system in particular is highly driven by consumer purchasing power,” she tells Food Tank. “I personally think that collective awareness and behavior change can ultimately lead to systemic positive impact.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The post ReFED Reveals Methane Hotspots and Food Waste Solutions appeared first on Food Tank.

CSAs help consumers to support local farms by buying a share of that year’s harvest before the farmer has planted. During the growing season, the consumer then receives a box of the farm’s produce weekly.

The advance payment gives farmers the money they need to invest in seeds, planting, inputs, tools, etc. But according to Jocelyn Hayward, the Grants Program Manager from Lansing-based MFF, the up-front price can be out of reach for many families who rely on SNAP benefits.

“The rules and regulations around SNAP are that you can’t pay for food in advance, and obviously a lot of families aren’t going to have US$400, US$500, or whatever it is, to pay in one lump sum anyway,” Hayward tells Food Tank.

MF2FCSA removes those barriers by paying farmers the upfront subscription cost at the beginning of the growing season. The program then pays 75 percent of the weekly purchase price of each box. Participants can use their SNAP benefits to pay the remaining 25 percent on the pick-up day.

According to Hayward, access to fresh fruits and vegetables is not the only benefit to program participants. “SNAP shoppers really appreciate the opportunity to connect directly with their local farms,” she says. “I think it really does mean a lot to them as well to be able to support their communities and build these stronger relationships.”

And farmers benefit from the program. “For farmers it definitely has opened up a customer base and allows them to reach people that they might not otherwise have been able to reach,” Hayward tells Food Tank.

Participation in the program does create extra steps for food producers. They must submit invoices to MFF every month for reimbursement and have flexibility with inconsistent shoppers. But Hayward believes that it’s worth the effort for many farmers. “I really do think that [passion] is what drives farmers to participate in this program… and luckily, we can come through for the farmers from our end, the financial side of things that really makes it worth their while,” says Hayward.

MF2FCSA is supported by the U.S Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the State of Michigan, and the Michigan Fitness Foundation. MFF piloted the MF2FCSA program in 2019 with funding from the USDA’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP).

The program started with just one farm, but MF2FCSA now works with 27 different CSAs. Since its inception five years ago, it has been used by nearly 1,800 eaters on SNAP, who have purchased more than 21,000 weekly shares in total.

Nutrition education is a big component of the program. MFF is one of Michigan’s implementing agencies of SNAP-Ed, the statewide program that works to help SNAP participants make healthy food choices on a limited budget. Michigan Farm to Family: CSA Food Navigator program also works with CSA farmers across Michigan to teach consumers about the produce they buy.

“We’ve also worked really hard to provide education around what the participants are getting in their boxes, so they feel like they’re able to really maximize what it is they’re getting and not be intimidated,” Hayward says.

Hayward credits Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow, former Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry for helping to create a political environment that is supportive of local agriculture, and allows programs like MF2FCSA to grow. Other Michigan programs extend this critical food assistance outside of the CSA growing season. Double Up Food Bucks, piloted in Detroit, gives SNAP shoppers a 50 percent discount on produce they buy at local stores and markets year-round. “It’s not as high as what we’re able to do, which of course is 75 percent, but it’s a lot,” Hayward says.

In the future, Hayward hopes to see MFF F2FCSA develop flexible payment models that SNAP shoppers can use, including online payments in advance. She also hopes to see the program expand its reach in Michigan. “There’s a lot of urban farming happening in Detroit, and we’d love to tap into that even more,” she tells Food Tank.

For now, Hayward calls the program a success. “This program really works. We hear from farmers and consumers alike that they really value the program…[It] just sets up a real win-win for everybody involved.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Michigan Fitness Foundation

The post Michigan CSA Program Brings Local Food to SNAP Families appeared first on Food Tank.

Justin Herber, Griffin Barkley, and Justin Schneir started FHF in Ojai, California to support farmers who want to use more sustainable practices, but may not know where to start. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, only 1 percent of farmland in the United States is organic.

Herber tells Food Tank there is a “willingness” among farmers “to go organic, for the sake of the land, their families.” But he explains that yield loss and administrative work can discourage them from transitioning.

“Farmers face a mountain of challenges in transitioning to organic or regenerative practices, from figuring out certification to covering costs,” Barkley tells Food Tank.

Making the switch from conventional farming practices to organic is a three-year process, and comes with a series of steps. Growers must meet the USDA’s Organic Standards, and may need to learn a variety of new farming techniques, according to SARE Outreach.

Farmhand Foundation hopes to provide support to farmers on the front end that can help them navigate the transition. They will launch the first cohort in 2025 with three farms. Barkley says this, “feels like the right size to give each participant personalized support.”

Schneir says that practical skills, like access to mentors, workshops, and tools for regenerative practices are an important part of the work, but not the entire goal.  “More than that, we’re creating a space for [farmers] to connect, share, and feel empowered to carry these sustainable practices forward…We want them to walk away knowing they’re part of a community that’s got their back,” he tells Food Tank.

Before launching the Foundation, Schneir and Barkley started Tractor Beverage Company in 2015. Herber was among Tractor’s first advisors, and came on full time as Chief Brand Officer in 2021.

“We always wanted to do something more with the brand, and we always believed that business could be used as a tool for good,” Herber tells Food Tank. FHF will start with citrus and berry growers in the Ojai area—what Herber calls their own “backyard”—because these are ingredients in Tractor Beverage products.

FHF’s approach is unique, Herber believes. “We’re thinking about it almost as a brand, rather than how a traditional organization might. Really working to promote the need for organic, the meaning of organic,” he tells Food Tank.

Starting Tractor, and creating an organic impact tracker, showcased a need for more consumer education, Herber says. “There’s a huge consumer misconception about what organic means. People weren’t associating organic with lack of chemical exposure,” he tells Food Tank. “So, what we wanted to do [with the tracker] was measure how many pesticides we were actually preventing from going into the food system by sourcing organically.”

While Tractor Beverage and the Farmhand Foundation are distinct operations, the two are working towards the same goals. And the founders say what’s good for one is good for the other. Barkley says that FHF’s efforts can “strengthen Tractor’s supply chain” through relationship building with growers. He tells Food Tank that this helps to ensure quality sourcing. Tractor also participates in 1% for the Planet, using those funds to support FHF. As Herber says, “the better Tractor does, the more impact Farmhand can make and vice versa.”

The Farmhand Foundation hopes to expand. “Once we’re well established with our model in Ojai, we’re planning to expand into other regions…It’s about creating a ripple effect, empowering growers to make a living while stewarding the land,” Herber explains.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Justin Herber. 

The post Farmhand Foundation: Cultivating Organic Change in Southern California appeared first on Food Tank.

Cornell worked with Rooted, a Madison, WI based nonprofit, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to create the courses. They also draw on the research conduct for the University’s report, The Promise of Urban Agriculture.

“There was interest in trying to figure out how to take all that research and put it into action,” Molly Riordan, Chair of the Food Systems Planning Division of the American Planning Association and co-author of the report, tells Food Tank. The courses provide an opportunity for growers to learn from their peers, says Riordan. “This isn’t academic best practices. This is what people have been doing in other cities and this is what we can learn from it,” she says.

Marcia Caton Campbell, former Executive Director at Rooted, says that growers’ expertise drives the content. “One of the things we were committed to in the courses was making sure that practitioners had a large voice,” she tells Food Tank.

The first two courses—Deciding Where to Grow in the City and Urban Farm Planning and Management—target urban growers who are curious about expanding their operations. “The goal is that people who have a little bit of farming knowledge and experience are finding opportunities in the grower’s courses to figure out how to scale up, and the real nuts and bolts of what it takes to do that,” Riordan says.

The third course, Urban Farming by Community Nonprofits, supports people curious about moving into the nonprofit sphere. In addition, it helps current organization staff who want to incorporate urban agriculture into their work.

The fourth course, Urban Agriculture Skills for Planners, is for urban planners, policymakers, and extension staff at universities. The planners course aims “to help them better understand the context in which urban agriculture takes place. And it helps planners identify and eliminate the barriers to urban agriculture,” Caton Campbell tells Food Tank.

Riordan sees urban farming as a gateway. “[It’s] a kind of starting point for a lot of different people’s journey into understanding food systems, understanding social justice, and thinking about how they can use their own assets, talents, skills, resources, to work toward a food future that values the wellbeing of people and animals and the planet,” she tells Food Tank.

Riordan and Caton Campbell agree that the benefits of urban agriculture are difficult to quantify. “Community gardening is as much about the social gathering and community connection as it is about food production,” Caton Campbell says.

The courses are free to pique people’s curiosity. “We’ve just been really excited to share this information, and we want more people to be exposed to it,” says Riordan. “Even if they don’t go through the whole course, but they glean a couple of really good things, that feels like a win for us.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Kemper, Unsplash

The post Cornell Urban Agriculture Courses Turn Research into Action for Cities appeared first on Food Tank.

Bans on organic waste, or food waste, offer a tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “In requiring food scraps to go somewhere other than landfills, waste bans help to avoid the methane that typically comes from food rotting in landfills,” Dana Gunders, President of ReFED, tells Food Tank. The study reports that compared with landfilling food, composting generates 38 percent to 84 percent less methane.

But of the five states with organic waste bans analyzed, only Massachusetts shows a statistically significant reduction in waste. Key factors for success may include clarity of the law, investment in composting infrastructure, and policy enforcement.

“It was surprising to find that several of these laws do not seem to be working. But if we look at it a little bit more optimistically, it’s also surprising how well one of them worked,” Fiorentia Anglou, PhD Candidate at the University of Texas and co-author of the study, tells Food Tank.

Anglou and her research team estimate that if a state’s ban is working, they can expect to see between a 10 to 15 percent reduction in landfilled waste. Massachusetts was exactly on target with an estimated waste reduction of 13.2 percent. In California, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont however, researchers find no significant waste reduction.

According to Anglou, “[Massachusetts has] a very simple law that people can understand, it doesn’t change often, it doesn’t have any exemptions.” This clarity may be helping the policy to have its intended effect.

Massachusetts first implemented an organic waste ban in 2014. The original regulation banned large businesses from disposing of organic waste in the landfill. The ban initially applied to companies that generated over 1 ton of organic material weekly. A 2022 revision lowered that threshold to a half ton weekly.

Anglou believes that careful implementation is crucial in supporting policy success. Gunders agrees, saying policymakers in other states can learn from Massachusetts’ phased implementation. “By starting with large generators or with longer lead times, [bans] can provide the incentive for infrastructure to develop, while also making sure there’s a place for the food scraps to go once the law is enforced,” she says.

Anglou calls infrastructure a “no-brainer.” She continues, “If you want businesses to comply, you cannot have composting that is ten times as expensive as landfilling. You don’t want to make the businesses in your state suffer. You want to help the environment, help the businesses, and to do that I think you need to invest in infrastructure,” she tells Food Tank.

Massachusetts has the densest composting infrastructure network of all analyzed states, according to the study.

Gunders believes that organic waste bans can provide other states with motivation to invest in more composting facilities. “They establish demand for the development of organics recycling infrastructure, which requires a lot of capital investment and does not always have a business model if waste bans aren’t in place,” she explains.

While a commercial waste ban only targets large businesses and institutions, the resulting expansion in waste disposal infrastructure can benefit smaller organizations too. Guidelines from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) encourage all businesses, regardless of size, to consider diverting organic waste to potentially save money.

Gunders says that waste bans can have a “cascading effect” when it comes to food waste policy. “Commercial food waste bans can be a great initial first step to incentivize and build out organics recycling infrastructure, followed by a residential ban once systems are up and running,” she tells Food Tank.

Food waste bans can also drive economic growth, Gunders says. “Massachusetts found that in two years, the commercial food waste ban created more than 900 new jobs, and US$175 million in economic activity. That, on its own, might interest other policymakers to follow suit,” she tells Food Tank. While some states may not have initially seen the waste reductions policymakers anticipated, Gunders emphasizes the long run importance of this policy mechanism. “More recent reporting from California and  Vermont suggest the bans are indeed working,” she explains.

“These are very very powerful policies,” says Anglou. “I think that other states who want to implement new bans should probably look at the example of Massachusetts and adopt a law that is easy to understand, and seriously invest in enforcement and infrastructure.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

The post Effective Waste Management: Lessons from Massachusetts appeared first on Food Tank.

The conference is designed to facilitate connection, letting participants bring their questions to real people with the expertise and experience to help move them forward.

The FEED initiative comes from the University of Wisconsin (UW), Madison Division of Extension Community Food Systems Program. James Pyecroft, Food Entrepreneurship and Local Market Development Outreach Associate with Extension, tells Food Tank that the statewide FEED Summit aims to bring all resources into one room. This makes entrepreneurs’ needs easy to identify.

“You do not have to figure it all out on your own,” Jessica Jane Spring, Food Entrepreneurship Specialist in the Community Food Systems Program, tells attendees.

Keynote speaker Alesia Miller, Founder of Soul Brew Kombucha in Milwaukee, emphasizes that building a business requires engaging with the community. She highlights the importance of tapping into existing support systems in your city, and finding someone, “who believes in you before you believe in yourself.”

Will Green, Founder of the Madison-based youth empowerment organization Mentoring Positives, echoes Miller’s sentiment: “Nothing is going to get accomplished until you build trusting relationships with people,” he says.

A key partner for the conference is the Milwaukee Food Council, a nonprofit that works to support a locally anchored food system focused on collective action and food justice. Pyecroft tells Food Tank that FEED is excited to work with the Council because, “they’re so incredible with how they think about food systems.”

Jessica Thompson, Community Engagement Manager for the Council, tells Food Tank that, “yes, [people in food systems work] are siloed, but our values are where we come together.” Events like the FEED Summit take the important step of bringing more community members into the room to define those values and discuss how they can drive change. “We need to do something, and we need to do it together,” Thompson says.

The Council’s Executive Director Solana Patterson-Ramos says that food system change requires breaking down those silos. While supporting entrepreneurship is not a pillar of their work, “Milwaukee Food Council was happy to partner with UW Extension on this Summit. Making sure that future food entrepreneurs understand the issues within our food system helps us make the system better together,” Patterson-Ramos tells Food Tank.

This partnership allows the conference to educate a new wave of food entrepreneurs about food justice, Spring says. She tells Food Tank that this is a new focus for the conference, but she hopes to continue it in the future.

Historian Reggie Jackson says that to achieve food justice in Milwaukee, it is necessary to acknowledge the stark racial disparities. He explains during one panel that rates of food insecurity for Black residents in the city are 27 percent, compared with 20 percent for Hispanic residents and under 10 percent for those who are White. “That’s a big problem because it impacts people’s health,” Jackson says. He goes on to explain that the extreme health disparities seen in Milwaukee are due to the lack of access to healthy foods for Black communities.

Patterson-Ramos also notes that, “History must be talked about because all of these injustices are connected. We can’t correct [the issues] if we don’t look back and see what they actually are.”

And Jackson emphasizes the power of connection in moving forward. “Building personal relationships with people from different communities makes stereotypes disappear.”

Pyecroft tells Food Tank he’s hopeful the conference showcases the relationship between people and place. “It’s really about the community and the people that are involved and the ties that they feel with one another. Everyone is tied to the land in some form. And everyone has a place here in the food system.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Abigail Buta

The post FEED Summit Fosters Connections in the Wisconsin Food Entrepreneur Community appeared first on Food Tank.

California’s Assembly Bill 660 helps consumers better understand the shelf-life of their food by allowing just two categories. “Best if used (or frozen) by” will indicate peak food quality, and “use (or freeze) by” will indicate food safety. For smaller products where space is a concern, labels can read “BB” or “UB.” Manufacturers and grocery stores can still use coded “sell by” dates to ensure product rotation on the shelves, but the words “sell by” cannot appear on the label. Additionally, “packed on” dates are allowed if they are accompanied by either a “best if used by” or “use by” date.

Confusion over date labels accounts for around 7 percent of consumer food waste in the United States, according to ReFED. And a study published in Waste Management finds that 84 percent of respondents throw out food that is near its labeled date “at least occasionally”.

“The passage of California’s food date labeling law, which was co-sponsored by NRDC, is an important step toward reducing food waste by promoting simpler and easily recognizable food date labels to help consumers, retailers, and manufacturers safely maximize the lifecycle of their food,” Madeline Keating, Senior Advocate for Food Waste at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), tells Food Tank.

The law, which takes effect on July 1, 2026, consolidates over 50 different terminologies that packaged foods display.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends the use of the “best if used by” and “use by” wording, and California has encouraged the voluntary adoption of these terms since AB 954 passed in 2017. AB 660 changes the suggestion to a mandatory requirement.

While California leads the nation with this policy, it is not a new idea. A 2013 report from the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and NRDC advocates for the elimination of consumer facing “sell by” dates, and for clear, standardized labeling. The federal government is considering bills on date standards for food, but the U.S. remains without federal guidelines.

A number of organizations, including NRDC and the Zero Food Waste Coalition, are calling on Congress to establish national standards by passing the Food Date Labeling Act, but it has not moved forward. “In the House of Representatives there are 41 co-sponsors on a bill to standardize date labels…I think it takes a while on these bigger issues, especially if you’re trying to go through Congress, because there’s a lot of other pressing things they can’t get done,” says Emily Broad Leib, Founding Director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic.

Food waste experts believe that California’s action could provide the momentum the federal government needs. “By being the first in the nation to pass this kind of legislation, California sets a clear precedent for similar legislation at the federal level,” says Keating.

Many countries already employ the simple labeling system that California is implementing. And according to Broad Leib, there is hope for national change. “We’re really an outlier in not taking action on this, but with California right now setting the stage—and they separately passed a resolution calling on Congress to do this too—I feel optimistic.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Shannon VanDenHeuvel, Unsplash

The post California Bans ‘Sell By’ Dates to Simplify Labels and Cut Food Waste appeared first on Food Tank.

The post 23 Fall Food and Agriculture Books to Discover Now appeared first on Food Tank.