As social distancing measures continue to keep our operations virtual, strengthening our food system remains as important as ever, and we have been offering monthly webinars on a variety of vital food systems topics.
Indiana Uplands Food Network Webinar Series
Interested in being a part of the Network? Sign up for our mailing list to stay up to date with future events and webinars, and join the Indiana Uplands Food Network Facebook group to connect with other food system stakeholders in the region.
2021-22 Webinar Series
Partners IN Food and Farming—Liz Brownlee from Partners IN Food and Farming leads a discussion with food councils on the type of support they need from statewide efforts. Food councils noted that they are already supporting farmers and working toward more equitable food systems and network development. Food Councils are interested in regional gatherings as well as a statewide in-person meetings for technical assistance or food system 101 and 201 tracks for learning and sharing. Food councils need more support for advocacy strategies and equitable food system development and want to see more government agency and buyer support for food councils and farmers.
Naima Gardner-Rice from the Indiana Department of Health dives into the food charter development history and plan for Indiana and the Trauma Informed Learning Collaboratives and Community Food System workshops evolving over the next three years as part of the Regional Food Systems Partnership Grant: PartnersIN Food. Recording May 10, 2022.
Finding Success for Your Food Council with a Regional Focus—Anne Massie and Virginia Pleasant from the NWI Food Council deliver why a regional approach for your food council can be advantageous. Recorded 4.12.22. Watch the recording.
Leveraging Livestock for Local, State and Regional Agriculture Transitions
Pete Huff, co-Director of the Wallace Center and IU O’Neill School alum, shared about the Pasture Project work in the Mississippi watershed, including the Blue River watershed in Indiana. Learn more about how regenerative or adaptive grazing and grass-fed beef production can be a part of sustainable land and food solutions by checking out the recording of this webinar.
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 Watch the recording
Food is Medicine - exploring new leverage points for community health and wellness
Sarah Wilson of Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana lead a discussion around how limited access to nutritious foods and poor health outcomes intersect and how healthcare professionals can play a role in effective intervention in both spaces. Wilson, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) and Nutrition Manager at Gleaners, helps run their Food is Medicine project, a collaboration with Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis. She also leads monthly seminars for healthcare professionals and students on the topic of food as medicine and how they can use their positions to put that concept into practice. Learn more about Gleaners' Food is Medicine Project in this video, and visit the Gleaners' Nutrition Hub for a wealth of downloadable and online resources relating to food and health.
Tuesday, 19 October 2021 - Watch the webinar recording
Navigating Food Security with Community Compass™: a look at how technology can help connect the dots in your community.
Community Compass™ is a free, quick, and easy way to help people find food assistance in their community. Available as a mobile app, website, and texting service, it is now live in Marion County and surrounding counties, and is soon to be launched statewide! Join us for a presentation by Alexandra Sindorf and Thomas Lageveen of Indy Hunger Network to learn more about what Community Compass is, how it works, and how you can help it be successful in your community.
Tuesday 21 September 2021 - Hear the webinar recording
2020/2021 Webinars
Browse the recordings from past webinars in the video channel below, or explore the descriptions and videos in the text that follows.
Explore recordings and resources from our recent Indiana Uplands Winter Food conference here!
Or explore the schedule and speaker bios on the conference webpage here!
Tuesday, 11 May 2021 - Leveraging Capital to Expand Your Reach - an exploration of the funding landscape and primer on why "not all debt is bad debt." Amandula Anderson, Director of Real Estate Solutions at IFF
- Assessing opportunities and access to capital
- Understanding asset-based community development
- Getting to know the Five Cs of Credit
- Recognizing the times and strategies for taking calculated risks
- Examples of non-profits leveraging loans for long-term success
Tuesday, 13 April 2021 - Through the Looking Glass of Anti-Racism: an interactive workshop using the Decolonizing Wealth Toolkit to help us reimagine our food system - Lauren McCallister
March Grant-Writing Series 2021
This March, our webinar series featured a special 4-part lunch hour grant-writing workshop led by Kris Parker from Purdue Extension. This special feature had limited spaces available, and recordings are not available online.
Tuesday, December 8th, 2020 Growing Christmas Trees in Indiana
James Farmer from Indiana University will present on his research with Indiana Christmas tree growers and consumers, exploring the challenges of an increasingly competitive marketplace as well as the surprising opportunity it presents for local farmers to add Christmas trees as a low maintenance, high value crop to their operations. You can explore the reports generated from this research on the SFSS website.
Tuesday, November 10th, 2020 - Sharing the Labor, Sharing the Love: Strengthening Community from the Ground Up
Karen Mitchell from Purdue University presents about her work with Grow Local, an organization in Lafayette, IN dedicated to strengthening communities and enhancing quality of life through establishing and supporting community-shared gardens. Using cornerstone institutions such as faith-based organizations, social service centers, and others as locations for the gardens helps the program thrive. Watch this short introduction video to learn more!
Tuesday 13 October 2020 - Country Fresh Stops, Carrie Carson, ACENet
Carrie Carson from ACEnet in Athens, OH presented about a number of local initiatives addressing access to healthy, local, and affordable food in rural, Southeastern Ohio. Topics covered include Country Fresh Stops, a program working with businesses such as corner stores, gas stations, and roadside markets or “pop-up” markets in rural communities to source fresh products and offer them on a consistent basis, as well as the newly launched Veggie Van, Buying Club, and Donation Station projects.
Tuesday 9 June 2020
This June we heard from Orange County's Lost River Market and Deli in Paoli about some new initiatives they rolled out this summer to make healthy, local food accessible to community members accross the socioeconomic spectrum. Strategies include a store-pickup CSA, a community box program, and a produce prescription collaboration with local healthcare providers, as well as offering online cooking classes following the Cooking Matters model.
Tuesday 12 May 2020
This month, we welcomed Josh Gruver, from the Muncie Food Hub Partnership, to talk about the mobile farmers market they have developed to deliver products to partnering neighborhoods and organizations and how they are responding to the COVID-19 crisis. To make healthy and nutritious food more affordable, their market accepts Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant, and Children benefits (WIC), Indiana University Health Bucks, and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP). They also host an annual Local Food Summit that brings together area residents and organizations interested in sustainable food systems and developing strategies to combat food insecurity.
Tuesday 28 April
Kyla Cox Deckard, from IU's Center for Rural Engagement, led us through an overview of social media and other communication strategies to reach customers or other audience bases. We talked about how to communicate new market rules using various communication methods and how to explore the community partners who can help with COVID related messaging for farmers and market shoppers.
Resources shared with attendees included:
Facebook Business Beginner’s Guide to Ads
Free design software for social media
Tuesday 21 April, 2020
This week we discussed best safety practices for Farmers' Markets, whether in-person or online, during this time of concerns around the spread of COVID-19. Michelle Shippy and Kelli Whiting joined us from the Marion County Health Department to share about market restructuring to accommodate social distancing measures. Please see these handouts from Purdue Extension and the Garfield Farmers Market in Indy for information and examples of best practices for opening your market this season.
Tuesday 14 April, 2020
The People’s Market in Bloomington shared their model for an equitable, creative market CSA model they are implementing this season. They discuss farmer, consumer and volunteer safety measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus and operate their weekly market. Consumers pre-select and pay for farm goods and pick up on Saturdays in a structured pick up line. Volunteers help with organizing and distributing food. A discussion of the market's equity values and free food box program is part of this webinar as well as informaton on how they are moving their market to the Local Line platform.
Please note: if you are a food donation resource for your community or a gardener/farmer, the online database, Ample Harvest, is a great way to connect this growing season. Find out who can accept fresh produce and how and when you can donate all that healthy food!
Tuesday 7 April 2020
Jordan van Everdingen presented on Local Line, a web platform for creating virtual farm markets. Your local online marketplace could be up and running by May, where farmers manage their inventory, set prices and tell their stories; and customers can shop from multiple farms with one checkout experience. Our webinar recording is a demonstration of the software and you can visit their website and request a downloadable demo. Local Line has also created a direct to consumer guide for farmers related to the COVID-19 pandemic, to help navigate rapidly shifting markets.
More About US
Indiana University’s Sustainable Food Systems Science (SFSS) and Center for Rural Engagement (CRE) are teaming up to help increase the economic, environmental, and social well-being of the food system in the Indiana Uplands Region.
Regional and local food system development is an emerging strategy for building employment, social capital, and better health in rural places like Southwest Central Indiana. Local and regional food systems continue to evolve and consumer demand for locally grown food is increasingly tied to community resilience, economic development, and the well-being of community members. Communities across Indiana are working to develop intentional plans for change, including: policy, infrastructure, farmer programs, public health programs, and creative distribution solutions to connect more eaters with food grown from Indiana farms.
Indiana Uplands Winter Food Conference 2020
In January 2020 we had more than 100 people from our regional food system attend the Indiana Uplands Winter Food Conference in Bedford, IN, to learn, share, and network. A diverse range of people from farmers, food businesses, chefs, food service directors, economic development officers, technical assistance agencies, elected officials, community organizations, health coalitions, farmers markets, food access organizations, students, and more came to the table to be a part of the conversation. The conference was designed to address issues that were raised during the Local Food Local Good community input meetings, held throughout the region in fall of 2019.
Local Food, Local Good
Our Indiana Uplands Winter Food Conferences, webinar series, and our 2019/2020 community listening tour are just a small part of the work that the CRE and SFSS are doing in the region. For information about some of the many things going on, explore the links below:
Indiana Uplands Local Food Local Good Report - find your county in this 48 page document with primary and secondary data collected during our community meetings and from more than 200 survey respondants to learn more about your local food system, the Indiana Uplands as a whole, and some recommendations for regional efforts!
SFSS Regional Initiatives - a summary of Indiana-based research being conducted by members of the Sustainable Food Systems Science group
CRE Regional Initiatives - learn more about how the Center for Rural Engagement is partnering with community partners to design and implement innovative approaches to enhancing opportunities and addressing the challenges faced by rural Indiana
Senior Food Insecurity Study - this active IU research project is working in Crawford, Orange, Lawrence and Greene county to learn more about the issues our senior community members have accessing food