Local Foods Symposium, Oct. 29–31

Event Details

Location: Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center, Room 101
Dates and Times:

• Tuesday, Oct. 29
  • 4:15 p.m. opening presentation
  • 7:30 p.m. panel discussion
• Wednesday, Oct. 30
  • 4:15 p.m. panel discussion
  • 7:30 p.m. panel discussion
• Thursday, Oct. 31
  • 6 p.m. local foods dinner and closing presentation

What can Grinnell College and the Grinnell community do to create a more robust local food system?  Several participants in Grinnell’s local foods movement, bookended by two Grinnell College alumni who live elsewhere and work in the areas of sustainability and food systems, will address this question in a symposium sponsored by the College’s Center for Prairie Studies on October 29, 30, and 31. All events will be held in the Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center, Room 101.

The virtues of eating food produced near where you live are well-known:

• The food is fresher and often tastes better.
• In some cases it is more nutritious.
• It is not shipped long distances, saving energy.
• You know (or at least can easily find out) where your food comes from and how it was produced.
• Your purchase supports farmers in your area and promotes regional economic vitality. 

At the same time, the industrial food system has been critiqued on a number of points: 

• It is controlled by a small number of national and multinational corporations whose main purpose is to make a profit.
• It is subsidized by the government (hence by taxpayers) in various ways.
• It is connected to a host of environmental problems, including great dependence on fossil fuels.
• It has also been linked to a variety of social problems, including unhealthy diets and social justice concerns. 

Many observers believe that the industrial food system as presently constituted is unsustainable.

Despite this balance sheet, shifting toward a more local food system entails significant challenges.  The participants in this symposium will address the current state of the college’s and town’s local food system and the possibilities for creating a more robust local food system in our community, within the context of moving toward a more sustainable way of living on this planet. 

Tuesday, Oct. 29

At 4:15 p.m., Alex Reich ’11 will give the opening presentation, “The Whole World is a Farm: Individual Stewardship Amidst a Global Challenge.”  Reich majored in biology, helped start EcoHouse, and ran cross country and track. After graduating he spent a year in the Arctic on a Watson Fellowship, learning about how Arctic indigenous peoples were adapting to climate change, as seen through food. In 2013, with his brother Henry (’09) and father Peter, he started MinuteEarth, a science/sustainability education YouTube channel that has over 2 million subscribers and 250 million views to date. Reich holds an master’s in natural resources science and management from the University of Minnesota.

At 7:30 p.m. a group of panelists will address the current state of Grinnell’s local food system. The panelists include local farmer Jordan Scheibel ’09, Middle Way Farm; local farmer Ann Brau, Compass Plant CSA; Assistant Director of Dining Services Laura Kaiser; and Harriet Dickey-Chasins ’82, the coordinator of Grinnell Farm-to-Table, an on-line local food marketplace. 

Wednesday, Oct. 30

At 4:15 p.m. a second panel will address the potential for growing the Grinnell local foods system. Panelists include local farmer Andrew Dunham, Grinnell Heritage Farm; local farmer Kerri Olson, Olson Garden Market; Director of Dining Services Jeanette Moser; and Laurel Tuggle Lacina ’13, director of Grinnell Local Foods Connection, a non-profit organization working to increase local food accessibility to families and individuals with limited means.

At 7:30 p.m. a third panel will consider the efforts of various student organizations at Grinnell College to advocate for and promote sustainable agriculture and access to healthy food within the College and community. The groups represented will include Community Meal, Farm House, Food Recovery Network, Grinnell College Garden, Grinnell Intersectional Vegans, and Student Environmental Committee. 

Thursday, October 31

At 6 p.m. a local foods dinner will be catered by Dining Services and several guest chefs. The dinner is free but tickets will be required and are available through the Center for Prairie Studies or at the earlier events in the symposium.

Following the local foods dinner, Brandi Petersen Janssen ’98 will give the closing presentation. Janssen is director of the Iowa Center for Agricultural Safety and Health at the University of Iowa College of Public Health and the author of Making Local Food Work: The Challenges and Opportunities of Today’s Small Farmers (2017, University of Iowa Press).  The title of Janssens’s presentation is “The Goldilocks Challenge: Getting Supply, Demand, and Scale Just Right in Local Food.”