Local Food Initiatives Earn Accolades

by Katherine Gustafson · 2009-11-04 06:00:00 UTC
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Everyone likes a winner (except, perhaps, the losers), so it is wonderful to see that some local-food efforts have been recognized with prizes in non-food-oriented competitions. The more friends and admirers the local food movement accrues, the more attention local food systems will receive and the more progress we can make in encouraging local consumption and developing the infrastructure to enable it.

I bring news of three exciting victories:

  • Urban Farming, a Detroit-based NGO that commandeers unused urban land to grow food, has received second place in the Drucker Awards for Nonprofit Innovation. This plucky, green-thumbed organization plants things in unlikely places such as rooftops and in vertical gardens on "edible green walls." The group also won a MySpace IMPACT AWARD, and founder Taja Sevelle was named Grand Prize winner in the 2009 Garden Crusaders Awards from Gardener's Supply Company.

  • Tim Will, 61, a retired telecommunications executive from Rutherfordton, North Carolina, was named one of the winners of the 2009 Purpose Prize, which recognizes the efforts of seniors who use the second chapters of their lives to help their communities in inspiring and ambitious ways. Will is honored for establishing a Web-based service that allows local farmers to sell produce directly to the restaurants of Charlotte.

  • Joel Salatin of Omnivore's Dilemma fame has been named a winner of the prestigious Heinz Award in recognition of his success in demonstrating to the nation that sustainable, organic farming practices can be effective and lucrative. His 550-acre Polyface Farm in Virginia employs a complex rotational system involving beef, sheep, chickens, pigs, rabbits, turkeys and, most importantly, grass.

In food-industry-related award news, IGD, a British membership association for the food and grocery industries, has announced its 2009 Food Industry Awards. One of the accolades focuses on improving local food systems; this year the ECR UK Award for Sustainable Distribution goes to Heart of England Fine Foods, which managed to reduce the transport distance logged by two of its accounts over six month by 60,600 miles.

My only question is: what kind of trophy do they all get? I imagine you could make a really nice one out of root vegetables in honor of fall. You could even serve butternut squash soup out of it if the cup at the top was big enough. Anyone want to try their hand at it? Send me a photo of your own veggie-trophy and I'll find someone doing something great to award it to.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

Katherine Gustafson is a freelance writer and editor with a background in international nonprofit organizations.
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