Community Meeting on the Collister Food Resource Assessment Project--Wednesday, June 29 at 7 PM Catalpa Room, Collister Library

Please RSVP to: susancarmichael2001@gmail.com

In June 2010, Ken Meter, of Crossroads Research Center in Minneapolis, produced and presented the Treasure Valley Food Coalition Food Assessment. His report researched Treasure Valley agriculture from a community level and revealed that local professional agriculture produces mostly livestock and their food. He also pointed out that Treasure Valley consumers spend $1.7 billion each year on food grown outside the region, even though the climate, soil, and water resources of the Treasure Valley have historically supported a wide diversity of fruits and vegetables.

Meter makes two recommendations which could begin to change the present imbalance of large beef and dairy operations upon local consumers: 1. Communities can focus on eating better quality food that is grown locally. 2. Those same communities can begin to produce more food for local consumption.

Building on the foundation created by Ken Meters report, we propose a pilot project, the Collister Food Resource Assessment, which would expand our knowledge of actual food-production in Boise. Based on data from the 2010 census, the portion of the Collister neighborhood from 36th St east to Collister and from Catalpa south to State St. contains 664 households, with a population of 1722. Completing a Food Resource Assessment for this neighborhood would reveal who was producing food; what kind of food; if there is an excess of food; and how waste was being disposed of -- requiring only a small budget for copying costs, some supplies, and utilizing a corps of volunteers.

This survey will be used for gathering information that will:

1) Provide a clear picture of how much food is being grown in an urban area by local gardeners, food producers, hunters, and anglers;

2) Indicate if there is an excess of food grown that could be sold, shared, or given away, rather than wasted; and

3) Create a community food resource group (e.g., yahoo chat group) which could be used by neighbors, neighborhood associations, food banks, gleaners, or the City of Boise, in order to gain access to excess food; find others willing to sell, trade, or give away food; and determine city policies on the need and establishing of community gardens.