CFFPI - Farmland Protection Partnership Program:
Senior Nutrition Local Fruit and Vegetable Purchasing Program
Project Title:
Food Policy Council: Examining Opportunities for
Increasing Agricultural Economic Development, Food Security, and Farmland
Protection through the use of County-, Municipal-, and Rural Water
District-Managed Acreage to Grow Staple Food Crops
This page contains useful information about the Rural
Action Partner Project, Food Policy Council: Examining Opportunities for
Increasing Agricultural Economic Development, Food Security, and Farmland
Protection through the use of County-, Municipal-, and Rural Water
District-Managed Acreage to Grow Staple Food Crops. Included below are a
brief project description, project updates, locator map, and contact information
for the project leader. Please check this page in the future for updates and
further details of the project
Project Description:
In this project, Rural Action will launch the Athens Food
Policy Council (AFPC) to examine how public policy can support access to public
land and water well fields. Athens County, the City of Athens, and local water
districts manage and maintain hundreds of acres of prime farmland, and very
little of this land is currently devoted to agriculture. Project organizers
hope that these lands can eventually be used to grow staple food crops for local
consumption. In turn, this increased production will reinvigorate the farm
economy and reduce food security in Southeastern Ohio. Specific actions to be
undertaken by the AFPC include:
-
Mapping arable city-, county-, and water district-owned
land, researching policies concerning the use of this land, and determining
the steps needed to establish a demonstration program on county-owned land.
-
Assessing the feasibility of developing high-nutrition
cereal bars using locally-grown staple crops.
-
Issuing recommendations for local policy-makers that
advocates for more productive, agriculture-based uses of government-owned
land.
The Food Policy Council project is jointly funded by the
Center for Farmland Policy Innovation and the Ohio Department of Agriculture's
Rural Rehabilitation Grant Program.
Project Leader:
Michelle Ajamian, director
Appalachian Staple Food Collaborative
PO Box 2322
Athens, OH 45701
michelle.ajamian@gmail.com
Locator Map:
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