Heartland Regional Foods Business Center - Holt Boyd Extension Podcast

Heartland Regional Foods Business Center - Holt Boyd Extension Podcast - June 22, 2023 - Jordan Rasmussen, Extension Educator - Rural Prosperity

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• [0:04] The University of Nebraska–Lincoln has received a $25 million
• [0:07] cooperative agreement award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the
• [0:11] creation of the Heartland Regional Foods Business Center.
• [0:14] This award is among the largest ever received by the university.
• [0:18] The Heartland Regional Foods Business Center is among 12 such national centers
• [0:22] the USDA will establish to serve all areas of the country.
• [0:26] The Heartland center will serve Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Iowa.
• [0:32] Rural Prosperity Nebraska, a UNL Extension hub that
• [0:36] helps connect Nebraska communities with university faculty, students and
• [0:39] other resources, is leading the project in cooperation with 33 partners.
• [0:44] The project is not to create a physical brick-and-mortar “center,”
• [0:47] but rather an online platform to connect and strengthen locally grown food systems.
• [0:52] “USDA is excited to be partnering with Rural Prosperity Nebraska on
• [0:56] this innovative and unprecedented initiative,” said Jenny Lester Moffitt,
• [1:00] USDA undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs.
• [1:04] “By leveraging the expertise now available through these Regional Food Centers,
• [1:09] USDA can offer unique support for local food systems development across the country.”
• [1:15] Mary Emery, executive director of Rural Prosperity Nebraska,
• [1:19] said the award would help paint a clear picture for the farmers,
• [1:22] distributors and other major players in the region’s local food system.
• [1:26] “You have all these different entities working with local foods -
• [1:29] producers, grocery stores, local distributors, nonprofits,
• [1:32] business developers, meat processing plants, extension
• [1:35] offices, the Nebraska Regional Food Systems Initiative
• [1:38] - and these are all puzzle pieces,” she said.
• [1:41] “But we’ve never put the pieces together.
• [1:43] What we want to do with this project to put the puzzle together and
• [1:47] see the picture of how regional food systems work.”
• [1:50] As the regional food system comes into focus, Emery and other leaders
• [1:54] can work to do a better job of connecting people to fresh, locally produced foods.
• [1:59] The inspiration for the proposal came from recognizing how under-served populations
• [2:03] in rural communities often struggle to easily access local and healthy foods.
• [2:09] This issue was exacerbated during the COVID pandemic, when long supply-chain
• [2:14] lines became disrupted, leaving many communities without fresh foods.
• [2:18] This project emphasizes the necessity to rethink local and
• [2:22] regional food supply chains and how to strengthen them.
• [2:27] Regional food health is a key focus area of Rural Prosperity Nebraska
• [2:31] and an integral component of rural community vitality.
• [2:35] “It’s like two sides of a coin,” Emery said.
• [2:37] “How do we get people to eat healthier if they can never access fresh, healthy food?
• [2:42] And how do we get people more interested in producing fresh,
• [2:45] healthy food that they can take to market?
• [2:47] The farmers, the farmers markets, the cooperative grocery stores,
• [2:51] the small rural grocery stores, the Double Up Food Bucks program
• [2:54] - we want to bring all of them into the network.”
• [2:58] “We want to get the message out to producers who are producing fresh
• [3:01] foods for local markets that there are resources out there for you,
• [3:04] and we’re going to make it easier for you to find them,” Emery said.
• [3:08] “To food consumers, we want to say
• [3:09] we’re going to help you find more and better local, healthy foods.”
• [3:14] For Rural Prosperity Nebraska, I'm Jordan Rasmussen.