Come and Get It! Local Foods Initiative
Come and Get It! announces opportunity for funding, training and mentorship for rural communities to strengthen local food systems, build leadership skills, plan and execute on-farm events
The Come and Get It! USDA-funded local foods initiative, is seeking eight teams of community-minded, local foods champions around Minnesota who are interested in building capacity in your community around stronger local food systems and putting on local food events. Do you know folks in your community who'd be interested in this unique opportunity?
Through a partnership between Renewing the Countryside, Sustainable Farming Association, and Minnesota Farmers Union, your rural Minnesota team will get a stipend to bring farmers and community members together to create safe, on-farm events that boost local sales, connect community members with farmers, build customer loyalty, and strengthen the community's local food network.
Each team will receive paid training for two individuals, and through a guided process will learn how to effectively build and work with a team of collaborators, identify capacity-building resources, and plan and execute two on-farm local foods events, one in 2023 and one in 2024. This is a great opportunity to build leadership in your community, including equipping individuals with the tools and experience to empower them to be experienced local foods event organizers.
SFA Chapters: This could also be a great opportunity for Chapters to produce on farm community events with expert training and guidance, and to have those events funded, all or in part, by this initiative in 2023 and 2024.
If your chapter is interested, please contact Jerry Ford, jerry@sfa-mn.org, 763-244-6659.
Great candidates for teams include communities with individuals who have interest in doing more to support local farmers, food-makers - and their community's ability to buy from them - but lack resources and capacity to move it forward.
If this sounds like an exciting opportunity for your community - even if you don't currently have all the people in place to move this forward - we encourage you and/or other people in your community to apply for this opportunity or reach out for more information.
Apply by December 31, 2022
To start the process and for more info, please fill out a short online questionnaire at: https://tinyurl.com/LocalFoodEvents
Teams will be chosen by January 6th.
Training alongside Project Mentors from RTC, SFA, and MFU will begin at the end of January.
Questions? Call or email Matt Barthelemy at matt@rtcinfo.org or 612-483-0286.