NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Annalisa Hultberg Email: hultb006@umn.edu

GIS Mapping Project: Local foods in Minnesota get a boost with creation of statewide infrastructure map

The University of Minnesota’s Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Land Stewardship Project, and the Minnesota Project are pleased to announce a first-of-its-kind project “Mapping Minnesota’s Local Foods Infrastructure.”

GIS (Geographic Information Systems), a spatial mapping tool, will be used to create an interactive map of Minnesota’s local foods infrastructure. Maps will include entities such as: fruit, vegetable, dairy, meat, poultry farmers, artisan food producers, as well as restaurants, retailers, hospitals, schools, food distributors, and processors that sell local foods.

This project responds to the expressed need for baseline data on existing local foods infrastructure by local, regional, and state policy makers, economic development agencies, and planners. Researchers and non-profits can use the maps to guide further initiatives and projects in areas such as food distribution and processing, and to address inequities in healthy food availability. Farmers, restaurants, retailers, distributors, and processors will have a tool to determine potential local food supply or demand in an area.

Annalisa Hultberg, a graduate student from the Department of Forest Resources at the University of Minnesota, will oversee the first phase of project. Dr. Margaret Adamek, Research Fellow in Local Foods, Sustainability and Wellness at the University of Minnesota, serves as the project advisor.

“There is so much support and enthusiasm for local foods in the state right now. We hope to build on this to create a visual tool that allows regions to assess what they have, and what they don’t, so they can strategically invest in local foods infrastructure,” Ms. Hultberg said. “This will be a collaborative effort to synthesize a lot of existing data into one location, and will strengthen connections among the diverse groups and individuals who are working in Minnesota’s local foods systems.”

This project is funded through the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the Hubert H Humphrey School for Public Affairs, University of Minnesota’s Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

The first maps will be made public in December, 2008.

Please contact Annalisa at hultb006@umn.edu with questions or comments about this project.



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Annalisa Hultberg
Research Assistant M.S. Natural Resources Science and Management
University of Minnesota
Dept. of Forest Resources
115 Green Hall
1530 Cleveland Ave. N.
St. Paul, MN 55108-6112

(612)532-4888