Fresh Taste

04/08/2021

The new Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (IRAI) organizers hope interested researchers, farmers, and organizations will join the April 9 (3:30-5pm CDT) online discussion as IRAI releases its first Request for Proposals. The meeting will be used to answer questions and network for shared understanding and team development as the project takes its next steps.

A major part of the initiative is facilitating ongoing conversations with key actors in the food system network, including producers, landowners, end users, scientists, nongovernmental organizations, technology firms, policy makers, the financial sector, and experts in related disciplines.

Registration via Zoom is open at this link: https://illinois.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqcO6orTkqHNMnnpo7gPpU8vk7SlXBXFmC

Learn more on the IRAI website: https://sustainability.illinois.edu/research/illinois-regenerative-agriculture-initiative/

Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative 2021 Request for Proposals! General Information The Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (IRAI) is announcing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to support research and demonstration projects involving both University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and c...

07/23/2020

A win for urban growers

Advocates for Urban Agriculture also launched a grant to help gardens pay for tapping into hydrants under the new policy.

07/10/2020

The city has only issued six permits to community gardens this year after rolling out cumbersome requirements for water use.

07/07/2020

🐝Buzzing with excitement for to take over our Instagram this Wednesday, July 8. Follow along to learn more about their work providing culturally relevant, nutritionally dense meals and local and wholesale fresh produce delivery/distribution to Chicago’s south and west side communities

06/15/2020

Announcing the Chicago Region Food System Fund.

The Chicago Region Food System Fund responds to hunger and business disruption by bolstering the local food system to withstand COVID-19.

With an initial investment of $4.2M, the Chicago Region Food System Fund focuses on hunger and business disruption in the local food system—from production to processing to distribution to consumption—in an area approximately 200 miles from Chicago. Priority will be given to organizations producing food in, and supplying food to, communities of color. Fresh Taste, fiscally sponsored by Forefront, manages the Fund.

To learn more, donate, or apply, go to

The Chicago Region Food System Fund responds to hunger and business disruption by bolstering the region’s communities and local food system to withstand COVID-19.

04/03/2020

03/23/2020

Food safety is on everyone’s mind. This article from Serious Eats has helpful and important information about food prep, delivery and general COVID-19 safety steps.

Questions about COVID-19 and food safety, answered.

03/19/2020

Are you a coder or know someone who codes? Do you have some time to help with a rapid response project?

Chicago Food Policy Action Council is looking for a coder who can help build a forum on their website (hosted at Square Space) that will focus on COVID-19 response work in the food system. If you can help, reach out to CFPAC directly by emailing Marlie Wilson at [email protected].

Chicago Food Policy Action Council

New Report: Productive Landscapes in Chicago and the Southland A Framework for Fostering a Vibrant Community-Based Urban Agriculture Cluster

03/10/2020

"In this country, more than two-thirds of the 31 million students who regularly eat school lunch are economically dependent upon the meal, and low-income kids similarly constitute the majority of the 14.6 million who eat school breakfast and the 1.3 million who receive an after-school supper. So what will happen to at-risk children if this school-based social safety net falls prey to the growing pandemic?

That question is no longer hypothetical."

Schools in three states so far have closed to try to prevent exposure to COVID-19. School lunch groups are asking USDA to ensure students get access to meals.

03/06/2020

This article delves into how the shift in agricultural financing in rural communities from local sources to global large-scale conglomerates has taken money away from farmers and placed it in the hands of finance firms, negatively affecting the fabric of rural America.

“From the 1960s to the ’80s, about a third of each dollar American shoppers spent on groceries went back to farmers; in 2016, according to the Farm Bureau, that has fallen to less than 13 cents per dollar,” writes Nick Shaxson. “Given total US food spending of about $1.7 trillion each year, that falling share suggests that the changes in the food system could be costing US farmers at least $150 billion a year—certainly many times the $18 billion in federal farm subsidies that were paid to them in 2018. Where is all this hidden money going, and who benefits?”

A predatory and extractive financial sector has hollowed out communities across the US.

03/03/2020

We all need to continue supporting our local farmers and food businesses now and in the future!!! (And wash your hands per CDC guidelines...)

“If people don’t eat at restaurants, that doesn’t just affect the restaurant but also the seafood supplier or farmer....The economic impact isn’t contained; it sends ripples up level by level.”

Coronavirus is devastating food establishments, karaoke halls and family-owned factories — the businesses that collectively employ 80 percent of the nation’s workers.

02/22/2020

Beans are having a moment! Good for you AND good for soil health.

Check out the link in the comments for a great cooking tip with kombu

“There is literally no downside to eating beans,” says Meghan McCarron . She rounded up her favorite bean varieties and obsession with Rancho Gordo in her latest story .