Center for Rural Engagement

Project abstract

Orange County Farm to Health, led by community partner, Lost River Market and Deli in Paoli, IN, will convene local partners to address public health issues using locally grown fruits and vegetables. Lost River will coordinate with community partners to bring food education (Cooking Matters), food marketing (Harvest of the Month), and food incentives (Community Produce Box and Produce Rx) to consumers across the socioeconomic spectrum in the community. The Orange County Health Coalition will co-lead efforts to implement Cooking Matters with community partners to increase use of healthy foods in home cooking for local consumers. Coordinating with Southern Indiana Community Health Clinic physicians, Cooking Matters will support a Produce Rx (Prescription) program to provide healthy cooking lessons and food to patients who are prescribed a healthier diet by their physicians. Lost River and partners will create and distribute the Harvest of the Month program materials and coordinate the dissemination of information across local businesses, organizations, and schools. To address increased demand and the addition of wholesale purchasing partners, Lost River will work with grower-suppliers to ensure best practices for food safety on the farm (GAPs Training) and coordinate planning, planting, and harvest among growers in the supply chain.

Community partners

• Lost River Market and Deli
• Southern Indiana Community Health Clinic (SICHC)
• Orange County Health Coalition
• Orange County HomeGrown
• Paoli School Corporation
• Indy Hunger Network
• Indiana State Department of Health
• Indiana Grown for Schools

Campus partners

• Ostrom Workshop
• Sustainable Food Systems Science

Counties involved

Orange

Project abstract

Regional and local food system development is an emerging strategy for building employment, social capital, and better health in rural places like Southwest Central Indiana. SFSS and the CRE partnered in the fall of 2019 to execute a listening tour of the 11 counties that make of up the Indiana Uplands to build relationships and to learn about the food system assets and needs of the communities in the region. The tour culminated in the two IU partners co-hosting the Indiana Uplands Winter Food Conference in Bedford, IN, with programming and workshops tailored to fit the needs and interests articulated in the listening tour, and the creation of the Indiana Uplands Food Network. The tour also helped inform the drafting of Local Food, Local Good: A 2020 Report, which is a 48-page document summarizing the county and regional food system profiles of the Indiana Uplands.

Community partners

• Lost River Market and Deli
• Greene County Farmers Market
• Purdue Extension

Campus partners

• Sustainable Food Systems Science
• Ostrom Workshop
• Critical Food Studies Lab
• IU Food Institute

Counties involved

Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Orange, Martin, Owen, Lawrence, Monroe, Washington