Center builds food network

The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems has taken the lead in building a national network of centers and programs working to foster more sustainable food and farming systems.

In early November, for example, the center hosted a gathering of sustainable agriculture centers and programs that identified ways to increase the impact of their programs by working together.

“As a result of this gathering, our center will collaborate more closely with other sustainable agriculture centers and programs,” says Chuck Francis, director of the sustainable agriculture program in the Center for Applied Rural Innovation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Key issues can be tackled across states and regions more effectively than in one state.”

Twenty-five representatives of a dozen sustainable agriculture centers and programs from across the country attended this gathering, which was held at the Wisconsin Union on Nov. 2-4. These centers and programs conduct research, teaching, and extension on sustainable agriculture and food systems that contribute to the economic, ecological and social well being of farmers, workers, consumers and their communities.

Gathering participants identified advocacy, research and networking as areas of work that will benefit from increased collaboration on a national scale. The participants agreed that collaboration will raise public awareness about sustainability issues and their impacts on farms, the environment and local economies.

Information: Cris Carusi, 262-8018.