Hypothesis #1: A large population of consumers can be motivated to support a local, organic food system by creating more convenient access to this food in rural areas of the U.S.
Hypothesis #2: Engaging people in learning how to cook can increase the use of fresh food in order to improve their health and decrease environmental impact of processed and prepared foods.
Interested Parties:
Farmers:
+family farms have the opportunity to grow their business and secure markets within their local areas.
+corporately owned farms will soon need to learn how to serve the growing number of people demanding organic and local produce.
Rural Town Folk:
+in general, people will be concerned about the quality, sustainability, and price of the food available to them.
+parents are concerned for their children’s health, which can be improved by eating fresh foods and by avoiding chemicals in conventionally grown produce.
+children are always looking to participate in activities (like cooking or gardening) and will benefit from eating tastier and healthier meals.
Retailers:
+small business owners will be concerned about growing and sustaining their business. They cannot afford to risk stocking items unless they know people will buy them.
+corporate grocery stores will want to supply a demand for organic, local food items while still keeping their profit high.
+farmers markets will want to increase foot traffic and sales. The farmers want to make sure it is worth their while to transport their produce and spend the day at the market.
Producers:
+corporate processed food manufacturers are already looking for ways to sell to the eco+health conscious. They will need to continue to work to keep this market as consumers learn more. They are also most concerned with the bottom line.
+restaurants and prepared food sellers are concerned with holding their customer base, whether that means responding to the recession or to the local food movement.
Research Plan:
What is my food utopia?
+interview people at various organizations:
-GRACE
-OCA
-TrueFood
-Sustainable Table
-Community Food Security
-Food Trust
-Brooklyn Food Coalition
+apply the research I have done on sustainable food systems to define what I believe to be the best system both globally and a for a specific rural area.
- use books, articles, and references to systems used across the world or in our own history
The consumer perspective?
+survey people in both urban, suburban, ad rural areas about their interests and habits in food and cooking as well as their access to food.
+interview both a family and a single person (probably living in a suburban or rural area)
+have people create their own photo diaries about food
(see my research “tool” below)
The farmer perspective?
+survey organic and conventional farmers
+interview a local/organic farmer as well as a conventional farmer
-visit their farms
+interview someone at FarmAid (a nfp that helps family farms)
The supplier perspective?
+interview someone at:
-food co-op in the city (park slope, Flatbush)
-food co-op in the country (middlebury, VT)
-large grocery store chain
-Community Markets (organizer of NY farmers markets)
-“the local lady” (need to find out her name…she has been working to get more local produce into larger grocery stores in rural areas)
+observe shopping at:
-food co-ops
-chain grocery stores
-farmers market
The social perspective?
+interview someone at:
-the lab (a new sustainable butcher shop and cooking school in BK)
-skillshare (a community teaching and learning event)
-stone barns (farm and learning center for agriculture)
+visit and observe
-stone barns
-hapa super club (or other communal dinner party/ cooking event)
Research Tool:
I plan to give out disposable cameras and notebooks for people to document their eating habits and anything food or cooking related that intrigues them. This exercise will help me to see if my assumptions about people’s eating habits are true. I will be able to see what, where, and how people are eating as a way to better understand specific issues or problems that effect the larger system that feeds us. I may also be able to learn what about food is exiting to people and how to create interest around my design.
1 comment:
Interesting, Leigh Ann. Please elaborate about your plans to distribute cheap still cameras for data collection. This is an interesting technique, and I am interested in knowing more about your experimental design. Who will be taking the pictures, exactly where does it occur, will other people be in the pictures, etc. Also, how many cameras will you give out, and how will you be sure you can retrieve them at the end?
steven
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