DONOR REPORT
2021 YEAR TO DATE
Table of Contents
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LETTER
ABOUT US
FOOD SYSTEM
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LFA AT A GLANCE
LFA INITIATIVES
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
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VALUE CHAIN SUPPORT
LOOKING FORWARD
THANK YOU
Lettuce growing with drip irrigation at Squash Blossom Farm
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localfoodalliance.org
Letter Dear Donor, We may have thought 2020 was a year of transition to the new normal, but 2021 has been the test plot. From labor shortages and heat waves to increased demand and federal bailouts, the farming world has been tumultuous. This year, we’ve said goodbye to two of our regional dairy producers, Old Almo Creamery and Picabo Desert Farm. Both offered delicious, locally raised dairy products at retail stores and restaurants throughout the Valley. Rising feed costs, water shortages, and heat-stressed plants and animals were too hard to weather. In times of uncertainty, it is up to us, the local food community, to offer our regional food producers support. At the Local Food Alliance (LFA), we address these needs by showcasing our regional farmers and ranchers, providing information on where you can purchase local products. We encourage residents and visitors to think about where their food comes from, how it’s grown, who’s affected in the journey from farm to fork and what gaps need to be addressed to ensure a safe and streamlined system. As a Sun Valley Institute for Resilience (SVIR) program, LFA builds resilience within our regional food community by working to fill the gaps in our food system. Hand in hand with another SVIR program, the Impact Idaho Fund, and entrepreneurs in our food community, LFA plans to fill these gaps in the seasons to come. For the remainder of 2021 and beyond, we’re digging in and staying rooted in our community. Thank you for joining us on this journey.
Amy Mattias Program Director
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About Us ABOUT SVIR The purpose of SVIR is to advance community resilience by investing, educating and collaborating to ensure that the economy, environment and people thrive.
ABOUT LOCAL FOOD ALLIANCE Local Food Alliance (LFA) envisions a thriving community where people are nourished by fresh locally and regionally grown food every day.
Our initiatives, SPROUT Kits, the Wood River Valley Locally Grown Guide and 5B Resilience Gardens cultivate collaboration, inspire discovery and highlight the vibrancy of our local food community.
RAISE AWARENESS
Share the stories and abundance of our regional food system 4
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INVEST
COLLABORATE
Connect farmers and food entrepreneurs with business opportunities
Build affinity among stakeholders along the supply chain
Food System A food system is a complex web of activities spanning from farming and ranching to processing and distribution to restaurants, retail access points and organizational stakeholders. Community based food systems provide a myriad of benefits, including: ECONOMIC
LOCAL MULTIPLIER EFFECT
FARMER VIABILITY
Farmers who sell directly to consumers have a greater chance of remaining in business than those who market through commodity channels.2
Each dollar spent at a produce farm using direct-to-consumer marketing channels generated 44 cents more in local economic activity than purely wholesale-oriented produce farms.1
WATER & LAND
COMMUNITY
SENSE OF PLACE
Regional food systems provide a sense of place by reconnecting producers, consumers, community places and living beings across ecosystems.3
CONSERVING NATURAL RESOURCES Organic producers have higher soil organic matter, which leads to increased water infiltration rates and reduced soil erosion and nutrient run-off.4
ENERGY
FOOD MILES & CARBON FOOTPRINT
With the average American meal traveling 1,500 miles, sourcing from regional farmers and ranchers reduces the food miles and carbon footprint of your plate.5
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. “The Economic Impact of Locally Produced Food.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 4 Aug. 2020 USDA Economic Research Service, Local Foods and Farm Business Survival and Growth ATTRA Food Miles: Background and Marketing, National Center for Appropriate Technology, 2008 The Journal of Sustainability Education, Placing Local Food Systems: Farm Tours as Place-Based Sustainability Education, Rodale Institute, Impacts of Conventional & Organic Management Practices on Soil Health and Water Quality, 2020
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LFA at a Glance DONOR SUPPORT* DONOR CATEGORY
DOLLAR AMOUNT
COUNT
Sower
$10-$999
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Cultivator
$1,000-$4,999
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Harvester
$5,000+
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Locally Grown Guide Sponsorship
$250-$5,000
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Total
$115,460
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$115k+ Raised from donors in our community 49% LOCALLY GROWN GUIDE SPONSORSHIP 21.5% SOWER 8% CULTIVATOR 21.5% HARVESTER
COUNT 37
82% HARVESTER 12% LOCALLY GROWN GUIDE SPONSORSHIP 1% SOWER 5% CULTIVATOR
*Donations received through August 31,2021
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DOLLAR AMOUNT $115k+
PROGRAM EXPENSES* CATEGORY
AMOUNT
Locally Grown Guide
$38,400
5B Resilience Gardens
$17,000
SPROUT Kits
$7,600
Value Chain Support
$7,400
Thought Leadership
$7,000
Total
$77,400 49% LOCALLY GROWN GUIDE
DOLLAR AMOUNT $77.4k
9% THOUGHT LEADERSHIP 10% VALUE CHAIN SUPPORT 10% SPROUT KITS 22% 5B RESILIENCE GARDENS
Any surplus Revenue in a given year remains restricted to supporting LFA initiatives year over year and provides important flexibility for potential expansion of initiatives and/or adoption of new initiatives based on stakeholder feedback and needs.
*Expenses incurred through August 31, 2021
Elevated Table, Squash Blossom Farm
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LFA Initiatives SPROUT KITS
Due to COVID-19, families facing stay at home orders and at-home schooling were in need of activities. Given this need, a collaboration of educators, lead by LFA staff, put together SPROUT Kits. These kits offered an at-home educational program for 4- to 10-year old’s and their families. Kits contain hands-on activities that increase food and ecological literacy. Each kit includes cooking and gardening activities using locally grown food and bioregional seeds. Increasing eco- and food-literacy is one aspect of cultivating a sense of place, helping to strengthen our community. All information and activities are provided in both English and Spanish. Key impacts: • Distributed 600 SPROUT Kits during winter and spring of 2021 • 84% of survey respondents indicated being introduced to new concepts and tasting new foods while 89% indicated being more likely to cook with local ingredients and plant a garden • Engaged 20 volunteers and 6 organizational collaborators • Participated in Bloom truck summer activities, engaging dozens of children throughout Blaine County
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Making bread from the winter SPROUT Kit
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Great idea! It was fun to cook soup and bread with my son. Simply amazing. I felt so lucky to receive this from you. Everyone at my preschool loves this program, THANK YOU!
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— KIT RECIPIENTS
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Winter 2021 SPROUT Kit Materials
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FROM THE COMMUNITY
Example of activity page from a SPROUT Kit packet
The edible flowers were such a cool idea! We are enjoying watching them grow! We can’t wait until they flower! — Survey Respondent
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LFA Initiatives LOCALLY GROWN GUIDE
The Wood River Valley Locally Grown Guide invites you to experience the farms, food businesses and organizations that create the distinctive flavor of our community. Published annually, our free guide connects residents and visitors to high-quality seasonal food produced in our regional foodshed. This publication promotes the purchasing of local food which secures farmer viability, the reduction of food miles and the recirculation of dollars within our regional economy. Readers are introduced to the stories of our agriculturalists, helping to build a relationship with the farmers and enhancing the sense of place. Key impacts: • Over 100 listings in 2021 publication • Distributed 2,500 copies at more than 30 locations • Digital version of the Guide has over 135 reads • LGG Newsletters reach 1,380 readers monthly • Hosted 5 Meet Your Farmer webinars with a total of 88 registered attendees and over 200 YouTube views
Goats and chickens at Lookout Farm
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localfoodalliance.org
FROM THE COMMUNITY
— WATERWHEEL GARDENS Another great webinar today, love love love hearing from the farmers, who are so smart and passionate and doing what’s best for animals, land, climate and ultimately consumers. Please keep it up, really fantastic! — WEBINAR ATTENDEE
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Have you seen the new Locally Grown Guide for the Wood River, put together by the @localfoodalliance?! They did a great job! Really amazing to see all the producers and collaborators that are part of the local food community!
5B Resilience Gardens growing tomatoes and squash
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LFA Initiatives SUCCESS STORY: MEET YOUR FARMER WEBINAR SERIES Starting in February 2021, we hosted monthly webinars to provide an opportunity for our community to meet their farmers. The series is an extension of our Locally Grown Guide, helping individuals to build relationships with their farmers. People who know their farmers are willing to spend a larger percentage of their income on food purchases and remain loyal to the farmer if prices increase.1 This webinar series included topics such as community supported agriculture (CSA) shares, small grain production, regenerative meat, eggs and dairy production, retail stores focused on offering locally grown items and farmers market vendors. IMPACT OVERVIEW In total, there were 89 registered attendees to the webinar series. To date, there have been 206 views of the recorded webinar series. Following each webinar, 100% of attendees indicated that they were introduced to a new producer, were more likely to seek out products from local producers and learned something new in the webinar.
Amy did a great job hosting this conversation with our local farmers. It was very nice to “meet” the farmers and learn about what they do, their challenges and successes. Thank you for giving this intro to the local farm scene! It was great to connect with the producers and hear about their successes, challenges and projects. Well done! Thank you for producing this Meet Your Farmer series.
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It was informative, interesting and entertaining. Thanks!
— WEBINAR ATTENDEES
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Corsi, Alessandro & Novelli, Silvia, 2015. “Relational goods and direct purchase from farmers: estimating the value of the relationship between consumers and producers,” 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211550, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
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PARTICIPATING PANELISTS
ALL ABOUT COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE
ALL ABOUT SMALL GRAINS
ALL ABOUT EGGS, MEAT & DAIRY
ALL ABOUT THE LOCALLY GROWN GUIDE
ALL ABOUT THE WOOD RIVER FARMERS MARKET
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LFA Initiatives 5B RESILIENCE GARDENS
The 5B Resilience Gardens initiative seeks to broaden community access to local gardening resources, enhance the visibility of existing and new gardens throughout the community, and cultivate a vibrant gardening community through resource sharing, collaborative events and educational opportunities. Our webinar series teaches Wood River Valley residents how to successfully cultivate a garden in our high desert climate, leading to a greater sense of place and a reduction in food miles. Workshops give people the hands-on experience needed to implement a variety of gardening tasks in their own lives while promoting regenerative practices that protect our environment. In collaboration with The Hunger Coalition, we also launched a Community Composting project to turn food waste into organic soil amendments. Key impacts: • 34 registered Resilience Gardens • 63 community members involved in Facebook group • Over 100 community members registered for webinars • 201 views on YouTube channel videos • 5,000 pounds of food waste turned into 32 gallons of compost Volunteers supporting work at the Grange
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FROM THE COMMUNITY
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Thanks so much for the very informative workshop today on composting. You’ve inspired me to get started and begin my own composting!
— WEBINAR ATTENDEE
Making seed balls at the Bloom Truck
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The compost workshop I went to was very informative. The information I received & the lessons taught of how easy it is to compost & how much it impacts not only our community but the world was eye opening & I was inspired to continue working towards a more sustainable life!
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— WEBINAR ATTENDEE
Informational composting sheet created by LFA
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Thought Leadership EXPERTISE IN THE FIELD
We serve as a leader within the food system. Our opinion is valued and relied upon by many different stakeholders. Each year, we’re asked to participate as thought leaders in a variety of ways, including at the federal, state and local level. The next page showcases a few ways that we exemplify our role as thought leaders in the food system.
Program Director, Amy Mattias, touring local farm
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localfoodalliance.org
LOCAL
STATE
FEDERAL
In the past year, LFA provided support in drafting policy statements for the Blaine County Comprehensive Plan. The team’s intellectual capital has been sought on various projects, including potential permaculture model sites to urban agricultural models across the Valley from in-town locations to development scale projects.
In 2020, our program director was invited to join the board of a statewide advocacy group for independent food, agriculture, restaurants and beverage businesses. In 2021, our program director became the board chair of the Farm & Agriculture Committee, helping to drive policy positions on the local, state and federal level.
This summer, our program director was invited to comment on a USDA stakeholder call focused on livestock processing. Given strong relationships developed across value chains, LFA’s insights in the processing bottleneck faced by small and midscale producers is valued by local, state and federal agencies. Our program director presented a comment on federal investment dollars to a stakeholder group of 380 individuals throughout the nation.
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Value Chain Support REGIONAL COLLABORATIONS Turning supply chains to value chains is one step in regionalizing the food system and building community resilience. Value chains ensure each stakeholder along the supply chain is fairly valued for their contribution. Reducing the steps between the food on the farm and the food on the plate often means a larger percentage of dollars stay with the farmer or rancher. A key booster of farmer viability is connecting farmers directly with buyers.
BEEF
Desert Mountain Grassfed Beef, a regional regenerative beef cooperative, approached us earlier this year seeking support tapping into the restaurant market in the Wood River Valley. We offered to introduce them to chefs and restaurant owners by accompanying them for in-person visits. We introduced them to chefs/restaurant owners at CK’s Real Food, Powerhouse, Sawtooth Brewery and Grumpy’s. Their beef is now on the menu at CK’s and we hope to see it on more menus in the near future.
Cattle grazing green grass
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Pasture raised chickens in the field
EGGS
See the Harmony Hens egg delivery!
Harmony Hens, a pasture-raised, certified organic egg operation, increased their production this year and needed buyers with large volumes. We connected them with the Konditorei, a Sun Valley Company restaurant. In August, the Konditorei promoted a “Harmony Hens Organic Egg Takeover” to test the waters in swapping their conventional eggs with local, organic eggs. For the time being, you’ll see an organic egg up-charge available for all egg dishes. We would love to see these local, organic eggs become the norm at breakfast restaurants throughout our community.
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Looking Forward THE FUTURE OF LFA With the 2021 harvest season underway, we’re harvesting our impacts and stocking the larder for the remainder of this year and into 2022. • • •
Work has already started on the third annual Locally Grown Guide, which will hit stands in spring of 2022. We’re wrapping up the 2021 5B Resilience Garden educational offerings with one final webinar focused on permaculture design and are starting to plan our spring 2022 offerings. We just began gleaning food waste from local grocery stores and turning it into compost in our Community Compost collaboration with The Hunger Coalition and are looking for ways to expand this opportunity Valley wide.
Locally Grown Guides on display
Itty Bitty Farms pickled eggs
Compost made from Wood River Valley food waste
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The 2050 Food Vision (authored in 2020) leads many of our regional engagements, and we continue to strengthen our relationships with key stakeholders. One piece of the 2050 Food Vision that has come to fruition is the launch of the Impact Idaho Fund. We work closely with our Investment Director to support farmers and ranchers in accessing capital, diversifying their enterprises and filling gaps within our regional food system.
Illustration from our 2050 Food Vision
We will continue to be a bridge between producers and buyers, shoppers and eaters in a plethora of ways. Be on the lookout for upcoming webinars, events, and more local food on restaurant menus, store shelves and on your plate.
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT THE LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM
Cut down on food miles by... dining at restaurants that use local food. Support farmer viability by... asking for more local products at your favorite places to eat and shop. Uplift community by... sharing your appreciation with farmers, chefs, business owners, delivery drivers and food service staff. DONOR REPORT
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Thank You DONORS Amy Brazil Kim Castellano Henry & Glenda Corning, The Springcreek Foundation The Jim & Wendy Drasdo Fund Felicitas Funke & Hyndman Beef & Cattle Co. Heidi Hanselman Hecht 2008 Grantor Charitable Lead Annunity Trust Becky Klassen & Buck Drew Robin Leavitt/Friedlander
Ali Long, The Springcreek Foundation Elise Orban Margot Larsen Ritz, Larsen Fund Susan & Clayton Simmers Erick Vorm Jeri L. Wolfson Foundation Julie A. Wrigley Foundation
IN-KIND PARTNERS & VOLUNTEERS Anne Tokareff Atkinsons’ Market Hailey Chamber of Commerce/The Chamber Hailey Public Library I Have a Dream Foundation & Dream Scholars Leslie Silva Manon Gaudreau Rob Lonning & Elizabeth Jeffrey Sawtooth Botanical Garden The Hunger Coalition - Bloom Truck
The Hunger Coalition - Community Composter University of Idaho Extension Upper Big Wood River Grange Webb Nursery Wood River Farmers Markets Wood River Seed Library Wood River YMCA - Bonni’s Garden
Simon Neely of Lookout Farm leading a farm tour
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LOCALLY GROWN GUIDE SPONSORS Atkinsons’ Market Ben Young Landscape Architect Blaine County Title bungalow munch Cafe Della Cookbook D.L. Evans Bank Idaho Lumber and Hardware Konditorei Bakery & Cafe of Sun Valley Company Lava Lake Lamb Limelight Hotel Ketchum
NourishMe Perry’s Restaurant Piedaho Red Barn Granola Sawtooth Brewery Stevenson Real Estate Group, Berkshire Hathaway Sue Engelmann, Berkshire Hathaway Zenergy Health Club, Spa & Boutique
fuel a great life
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Post Office Box 3537
inquiries@sunvalleyinstitute.org
Hailey, ID 83333
(208) 788-4780
EIN: 47-3151484