Most of us don’t eat our vegetables.
Not only do most Nebraskans not eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, we don’t know where our vegetables are grown. And we don’t know how they are grown.
But a new local group would like to help change that appetite and ignorance by encouraging more local production of fruits and vegetables by both local gardeners and urban farms.
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Food Policy Council -- a group of farmers, gardeners, organizations and individuals who care about improving the local food system in and around Lincoln -- has put together an initial report, a snapshot of what the local food system looks like today and what possibilities the group can explore to make the food system better.
“This report tells a story about who we are now, what we’ve accomplished and the great potential we have if we continue to innovate,†said Megan McGuffey, coordinator for the all-volunteer policy council.
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In its early stages the group intends to focus on three areas:
* Assessing zoning and land use for urban farming.
* A social media campaign to encourage gardening.
* Promoting food assessment while encouraging future research.
The group, which grew out of the local Foodshed Working Group that began in 2012, hopes to raise awareness of the food system in the community and to use this information “as a starting point to learn more about what we are doing well and where we can improve,†she said.
In a survey of 22 local farmers who sell food products in Lincoln and the county, the policy council found these farmers still face many barriers to expansion including access to land, cost of land and navigating public policies from all levels of government, said McGuffey.
Having good food, fresh food, is part of the benefits of locally grown produce. But there is a sense of place that develops when you eat things raised in the local area, said Jerry Cornett, who owns and operates Lakehouse Farms and Prairie Plate Restaurant near Waverly.
In an initial report, the policy council has provided a snapshot of the local food system.
* Though the state has a fairly steady number of acres in farmland (about 45.3 million in 2012) , there are just 26,000 acres in vegetable production -- and just 130 acres in Lancaster County. However the number of acres in the state devoted to vegetables has increased from about 2,901 in 1954.
* Community Crops, a Lincoln nonprofit, now has 12 garden sites in Lincoln, a total of 1.5 acres, where around 250 families grow their own vegetables. Sixty people have started farming after training through Community Crops Growing Farmers Training Program and 40 farmers have gone on to farm at the Prairie Pines incubator program.
* There are at least seven active farmers markets in the city. And 29 percent of Open Harvest Grocery Co-Op’s sales were locally grown, with a growing number of grocery outlets purchasing some local food.
* Over $1 million is made each year in Lancaster County on direct from farmers-to-consumer sales.
* Several food deserts, areas with a high percentage of low-income residents without a nearby grocery store, exist in Lincoln.
* About 16 percent of waste entering the local landfill is food waste. Privately owned commercial food waste conversion facilities are operating in Lincoln but there are no requirements to divert food waste from the landfill.
* Lancaster County residents purchased $691 million of food each year, $409 million to eat at home. Just $68.5 million of that goes for fruits and vegetables.
Voting members of the council are Jerry Cornett, Dave Dingman, Gary Fehr, Megan Jackson, Ben McShane-Jewell, Rosina Paolini, Jeremiah Picard, Tim Rinne, Mike Shambaugh-Miller, Larry Weixelman and Anna Wishart.