Illinois Food & Farm Resources
These downloadable documents are snapshots of aspects and stages of building a specific local food system in a specific geography — the state of Illinois. All can be adapted to other states and territories of the U.S.
LOCAL FOOD, FARMS & JOBS:
The climate plan for Illinois farmers & eaters (2021)
This is a blogpost responding to a call for a “farm-based” climate plan for Illinois. In fact the plan adopted by the State of Illinois in 2009 is a very serviceable climate plan because it’s all about re-localizing our food system — in a state that can grow almost anything outside of tropical and semi-tropical plants and other farm products.
See ILLINOIS FOOD, FARMS & JOBS ACTS below for more on the 2009 plan.
THE FOOD FILES (1982)
Center for Neighborhood Technology
The Food Files are three separate reports (16 pages total) produced by Center for Neighborhood Technology as documentation of the creeping food insecurity in the Chicago area in the early 1980s. Written by Paige Chapel in 1982.
I re-read these recently, in 2021. If I were an alien, my only thought would be, “Good luck with your civilization.” These are important snapshots that are still meaningful 39 years later. Could be subtitled, “how to destroy a local food system.”
The three separate reports are:
— Complex Forces Shape our Urban Breadbasket (Summer 1982)
— Metro Agriculture: Meeting Local Needs? (Sept. 1982)
— Let Them Eat…What They can Get (Fall 1982)
Note:
— The Metro Chicago area in these reports is six counties (not our current CMAP area of 7 counties — Kendall is not included in The Food Files).
— This PDF is a photocopy of the reports and will not be easy to cut-and-paste from (unless there’s some technology I don’t know about). Unfortunately the last page of the third report is missing.
— Warning: There is a racist illustration on page 15 (second to last page).
ILLINOIS FOOD-&-FARM PLATFORM for 2018 Elections
Regenerating Our Democracy, Our Habitats, Ourselves
A two-page platform for candidates, voters, and media:
— One page contains Illinois-specific goals and strategies
— One page contains systemic policies and programs implementable at the federal level.
ILLINOIS FOOD, FARMS, & JOBS ACTS
2007, 2009
Beginning in 2006, a growing coalition of Illinois food-and-farm activists began meeting with State Rep. Julie Hamos (IL-18th district) about the wide range of food systems problems facing people, businesses, and organizations all over Illinois — the degradation of our health, local and state economies, natural resources, etc. Together, Rep. Hamos and the coalition wrote two bills:
— HB1300 in 2007:
created a 2-year task force to draft a report and a comprehensive food-and-farm plan
— HB3990 in 2009:
adopted the report and plan, providing for implementation of some key goals by 2020
ILLINOIS LOCAL FOOD, FARMS, & JOBS PLAN
Short version (3 pages)
ILFFJ Plan: 2020 Goals + outline of Obstacles & Strategies
Long version (48 pages)
Complete Report: Local Food, Farms, and Jobs: Growing the Illinois Economy
— Report to the Illinois General Assembly (2009)
by the Illinois Local & Organic Food & Farm Task Force
— Report and goals for 2020 adopted by the Illinois General Assembly
Signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn at the 2009 Illinois State Fair
— Goals include the creation of a State of Illinois food policy council (FPC):
Local Food, Farms, & Jobs Council
— The Council’s first meeting was in March 2010.
Fact Sheet (2 pages)
“Building Community through Food” (2009)
Legislation creates:
— a State of Illinois food policy council (FPC)
— a comprehensive Food and Farm Plan as an economic development strategy
UPDATE: December 2020
2020 Status Update: Illinois Local Food, Farms, & Jobs Council
Thanks to Northwestern University student, Samantha Boas, for investigating the status of the ILFFJ Council for a class project. She has given me permission to post this transcript of her podcast. Contents include:
Interviews
–Debbie Hillman, co-founder ILFFJ Council (2006-10)
–Harry Rhodes, ILFFJ Council member (2013-17)
Review of a student project at Yale Law School
—The Illinois Pilot Project: A New Model for State-level Food Procurement Legislation
(Spring 2020, 16 pages)
Authors were a team of five Yale graduate & professional school students in the Climate, Animal, Food & Environmental Law & Policy Lab (CAFE Lab), Law, Ethics, & Animals Program (Yale Law School)
ILLINOIS FOOD SCRAP COMPOSTING
REPORT
Food Scrap Composting Challenges and Solutions in Illinois Report 2015
56 pages plus appendices (total 83 pages)
ILLINOIS COMMUNITY COLLEGES
The Role of Community Colleges in Developing the Local Food System 2011
A Report of the Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN) Local Food Task Force
COOK COUNTY FOOD SYSTEMS STEERING COMMITTEE
2011-12
The Suburban Cook County Food System: An Assessment and Recommendations 2012
A report of the Cook County Food Systems Steering Committee, under the auspices of the Cook County Department of Health.
The original project included the drafting of a model ordinance for a county-wide food policy council. The Committee submitted a draft, but the Department never submitted it to the Cook County Board.
This was probably the most political project that I worked on. So far as I know, the report has never been seriously implemented.