What is A Foodshed & Why is it Important?
What Is A “Foodshed?”
A foodshed is the geographic location that produces the food for a particular population. The term describes a region where food flows from the area that it is produced to the place where it is consumed, including the land it grows on, the route it travels, the markets it passes through, and the tables it ends up on.
A foodshed is analogous to a watershed in that foodsheds outline the flow of food feeding a particular population, whereas watersheds outline the flow of water draining to a particular location.
(https://foodshedalliance.org/what-is-a-foodshed/)
Why Foodsheds?
Across the modern food system, fewer than 15-cents per “food dollar” is actually paid to the farmers who grow our food. The rest is spent on packaging, marketing, transportation, and retail – concentrating wealth within corporations rather than communities. Within foodsheds producers, farm market groups, communities, and non-profits all work to make local food more accessible, affordable, and sustainable for farmers and ranchers. The hope is that a greater percentage of the “food dollar” is actually paid to the farmer and or local businesses involved in the food production process. This allows a greater part of the wealth of the community to be kept locally.
Who is Ogallala Commons and What Do They Do?
Ogallala Commons, Inc., is a 501(c)3 nonprofit education and leadership organization that reinvigorates commonwealth to build vibrant Great Plains communities.
Ogallala Commons works to reinvigorate the commonwealth that forms the basis of our assets. Simply put, Ogallala Commons helps communities “to do together what no one community can do alone.” Our mission is carried out through a 4-part approach:
Weaving a collaborative network of diverse partners
Building an education outreach through our core programs, workshops, and digital tools
Fostering a sense of place to instill meaning and inspire stewardship
Rebuilding commonwealth communities to sustain our people and lands.
Ark Valley Foodshed
In 2020, Ogallala Commons received a 2-year $200,000 grant from The Colorado Health Foundation for rebuilding the Ark Valley Foodshed in 6 counties of Southeast Colorado: Baca, Prowers, Kiowa, Crowley, Otero, Bent, and Las Animas.
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