Celebrating Local Food Policy Success
Illinois Stewardship Alliance Chicago "Shindig" Came on Heels of Legislative Win
A Chicago Celebration of Food Policy Gains
This article is about the “Summer Shindig” that the Illinois Stewardship Alliance presented at the Urban Growers Collective’s South Chicago farm on Saturday (August 28). But since the Alliance is the leading state policy advocate for local farmers and food producers, let’s not bury the lede: The Shindig came one day after the Alliance scored its biggest legislative victory this year.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed the Home to Market Act into law, enabling producers of cottage foods — home-crafted, value-added products with low safety risks — to sell direct to consumers at fairs and festivals and through home sales, pickup, delivery and shipping. Under prior law, cottage producers were, for the most part, able to sell only at farmers markets.
According to the Alliance, the measure, sponsored by state Rep. Will Guzzardi and state Sen. Dave Koehler, “creates smart new regulations for cottage food operations, enabling them to reach new customers, while giving the public greater access to homemade jams, jellies, pickles, hot sauces, and unique Illinois products.”
With the expansion of the cottage food law, farmers now have greater options to use the items they grow in value-added products, providing a much-needed additional revenue stream. It also expands opportunities for would-be entrepreneurs, including those in under-resourced communities, who lack the personal resources or access to investment capital to launch a large-scale food business.
Saturday's Shindig was one of five events for Illinois Stewardship Alliance members scheduled for farms around Illinois this summer. After welcoming remarks by Laurell Sims — co-CEO of Urban Growers Collective — Alliance Executive Director Liz Moran Stelk told the gathering that the Shindigs have two main missions, both involving the organization’s food policy agenda.
“We do celebrate our victories and we are going to talk about some of the things that we've accomplished together as an organization and a team,” Liz said. “And also these Shindigs are located strategically in congressional districts where there are Illinois members of Congress who serve on the House Agriculture Committee.”
Veteran Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush, who serves on House Ag, represents the 1st District that includes the South Chicago Farm. He was unable to attend the event but provided a video in which he praised Alliance members for “making their voices heard in support of local food and sustainable agriculture.”
He also hailed Urban Growers Collective for “doing incredible work to build a more equitable food system right here in Chicago,” adding, “Chicago is home to a robust urban agriculture community. By working together and investing in urban agriculture, we can close the food access gap and bring fresh, local food to our community.”
Liz said the challenges presented by the COVID pandemic underscored the flaws in the nation’s food system that advocacy groups such as Illinois Stewardship Alliance seek to address through public policy change. “Not a single one of us has been spared from the struggles of the pandemic, but especially it's shown us a lot about the food system that we've built, and that it is fragile, and it is not reliable enough for Illinois,” she said. “Owillur goal is to feed Illinois, and we can do a heck of a lot better job doing that by building a local and regional food system.”
Liz and Alliance colleagues Molly Gleason (Communications Director) and Kathleen Mueller (Northern Illinois Policy Organizer) then enumerated the Alliance’s policy victories this year. Along with enactment of the Farm to Market Act, these included:
• A $500,000 appropriation for the Healthy Local Food Incentives Fund, which assists farmers markets in providing matching funds, up to $25 per visit, to shoppers using SNAP/Link food assistance benefits.
• $6 million in conservation funding to assist farmers in adopting practices that protect drinking water, preserve land, and address climate change.
• The Right to Garden Act, which bars municipalities from implementing laws that prevent home food gardeners from building structures such as hoop houses on their personal property.
Looking forward, Liz said Alliance priorities include persuading lawmakers to adopt a Good Food Purchasing Policy for all Illinois agencies; developing an agenda to address climate change, which has strong support from the Alliance’s Local Food Farmer Caucus and Soil Health Caucus; preparing efforts to influence upcoming discussions on a new federal farm billl; and add a third member caucus, the Eater Caucus, to enable non-farmer members to help shape the Alliance’s policy agenda (I’m going to apply).
The other highlight of the two-hour-long event was a tour of the South Chicago Farm, led by 29-year-old farm manager Malcolm Evans, who has been associated with the organization since he was 11 years old (when it was known as Growing Power Chicago). Attendees toughed out the blazing late August heat to learn about the amazing variety of vegetables and fruit produced on the small farm.
Enjoy the photos of the farm visit, and to learn more about Urban Growers Collective, please check out our articles about South Chicago Farm published on July 8 and the Art on the Farm installation in downtown Chicago’s Grant Park, published August 6.