“We’re in the midst of a groundswell of global support for sourcing and consuming local food. LocavoreCommunity Food Enterprisewas Oxford Dictionary’s 2007 word of the year. But we still lack clarity about what ‘local food’ really means,” says Michael Shuman, lead author and research director for Community Food Enterprise and Vice-President of Enterprise Development at the Training and Development Corporation.

 “Our Community Food Enterprise case studies help define what local food is – and isn’t – and showcase the incredible diversity of this industry here and abroad. From web-based cooperatives to public shareholder corporations, processing plants to restaurants, sustainable fisheries to unionized organic berry farms – our case studies make clear that there is no one pathway to local food success,” says Shuman. “But these enterprises have much to teach us about replicating what works and identifying untapped opportunities that can strengthen the local food movement.”

Chosen enterprises include:

•    Anna Marie Seafood, Dulac, Louisiana

 

•    Appalachian Sustainable Development’s Appalachian Harvest, Abingdon, Virginia

 

•    Indian Springs Farmers Association, Petal, Mississippi

 

•    Intervale Center, Burlington, Vermont

 

•    Lorentz Meats, Cannon Falls, Minnesota

 

•    Oklahoma Food Coop, Norman, Oklahoma

 

•    Swanton Berry Farm, Davenport, California

 

•    Weaver Street Market, Carrboro, Hillsborough, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina

 

•    White Dog Café, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

•    Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, Ann Arbor, Michigan

 

Two additional domestic enterprises and a range of featured international enterprises will be announced later this summer.

 
Analysis of each enterprise will include a review of its ownership model, business and financial practices, and a variety of sustainability indicators. These detailed case studies will be published as a book this winter, and an accompanying multimedia website will feature additional interviews, data, and analysis—eventually becoming the springboard for a dynamic online database and community of local food enterprises from around the world.

The Wallace Center is also producing a series of podcasts on Community Food Enterprise, the first of which features Shuman discussing the study’s selection criteria and research methodology; the monthly series will also share the stories of several of the chosen enterprises.

A growing body of literature highlights the importance of local ownership for economic development. Compared to non-local businesses, locally-owned enterprises generally produce more community wealth by spending more money at home, build stability by staying put for the long term, contribute to rising labor and environmental standards by adapting to new expectations more readily, and foster greater community resilience by reinforcing political participation and entrepreneurship. Community Food Enterprise will be a key tool in helping practitioners build and strengthen local food enterprises.

“With rising food costs and a new consciousness in our country about the food we eat, community-based food enterprises have the ability to a play a unique role in making healthy, green, fair, affordable food more readily available to consumers,” explains John Fisk, Director of the Wallace Center. “We believe that Community Food Enterprise will provide real world enterprise models that are replicable in communities around the globe.” 

To learn more about Community Food Enterprise, sign up for project updates, or listen to the monthly podcast series, please visit the project website:
Community Food Enterprise

To learn more about the Wallace Center, please visit us on the web at www.wallacecenter.org

If you have questions about the project, please contact Cari Beth Head, Communications Manager for Community Food Enterprise at Wallace Center: CBHead@winrock.org or 703-525-9430 ext. 674.

 

 

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Wallace Center at Winrock International supports entrepreneurs and communities as they build a new, 21st century food system that is healthier for people, the environment, and the economy. The Center builds and strengthens links in the emerging chain of businesses and civic efforts focused on making good food – healthy, green, fair, affordable food – an everyday reality in every community. Winrock International is a nonprofit organization, with main offices in Little Rock, AR and Arlington, VA, which works with people in the United States and around the world to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment.

 

Training & Development Corporation (TDC) is a national not-for-profit think tank, design shop, and management company founded in 1975 to improve the performance of people and institutions in the economy. TDC’s work is animated by two ideas: sustainable employability and global community capitalism. It designs innovative solutions to the problems individuals, families, and communities face as they pursue economic well-being. TDC designs are tested in action every day in urban and rural settings, among people of a wide range of ages, performance capabilities, in residential and non-residential environments, here and abroad. 

 

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

 

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 to “help people help themselves.” Specifically, the organization supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society. Please refer to wkkf.org for more information.