Midwest Food Alliance is Launched

Contact: Ray Kirsch, LSP, 651-653-0618, rkirsch@landstewardshipproject.org
Jim Ennis, MWFA, 651-265-3684

10/20/00
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Bringing together farmers, grocers and consumers to make the connection between the health of the environment and how our food is produced, the Midwest Food Alliance is highlighting sustainably grown, locally raised products in select area supermarkets starting in October. The program was launched Oct. 13-14 with in-store events and demos that featured locally grown apples and meat products.

“Research has shown that consumers want to support environmentally-friendly growing practices and local farmers, but they can’t always recognize those products in their supermarket,” said Jim Ennis, project director of the Midwest Food Alliance. “Our program will help them make that connection.”

Linking suppliers, retailers and consumers, the Midwest Food Alliance is also supplying educational materials, signage, banners and food demonstrations where consumers can meet some of the farmers who grew the food they are tasting. All food sold under the Midwest Food Alliance program will have an MWFA-approved sticker for easy identification.

“By creating a way for consumers to know about sustainably grown foods and the farmers who grown them, we believe more and more farmers will be motivated to move to a more sustainable approach to farming, making a positive impact not only on our local environment, but the whole upper Mississippi River Basin,” said Ennis.

Dennis Courtier, an apple grower from Pepin Heights Orchard, added, “This program will get people thinking about where their food comes from and how they can make a difference by buying food that has been raised in an environmentally-friendly way.”

Positioned under a banner of “Good Food for a Healthy Future,” the Midwest Food Alliance program is a pilot project funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, with additional funding from The Bush Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, the Otto Bremer Foundation and The Carolyn Foundation. It is a joint project of Minnesota-based Land Stewardship Project (LSP) and Organic Alliance as well as Cooperative Development Services (CDS), located in Madison, Wis.

For further information on the Midwest Food Alliance, read MWFA's Guiding Principles and Frequently Asked Questions.
Also see: The MWFA article in the July/August 2000 issue of Land Stewardship Letter; and
The Commentary by Ray Kirsch on frozen meats in the April/May/June 2000 issue of Land Stewardship Letter