Wallace Center at Winrock International
Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development Center Newsletter
October 2012
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Food Access News
NGFN Webinar Recording Now Available Online! If You Build It…. Will They Come? Consumer Behavior Concepts for Effective Marketing of Healthy Food 
The National Good Food Network’s (NGFN) October
webinar explored, at an introductory level, how one may adapt what we know about traditional marketing and consumer behavior to create positive social change to not only increase healthy food access, but also increase the purchase and consumption of healthy food. How people live, the constraints they live with, and how they shop are all important factors in creating an effective healthy food marketplace that considers what products should be marketed, at what price, and to which specific consumers. Over 400 people from across the U.S. attended the webinar. The webinar panel included a food marketing professor, Wallace HUFED staff, and a HUFED grantee from Centro del Obrero Fronterizo, based in El Paso, Texas.
Food Marketers Can Apply What They Know to Help Consumers Eat Better
Seventy-two percent of TV food advertising promotes candy, sweetened cereal, and fast food. A new study attempts to tip the balance in another direction by presenting ways that food marketers can use the same marketing strategies to compel consumers to buy and
eat healthier foods, without sacrificing profits. For example, marketers can use incentives (in combination with other approaches) to steer consumers away from unhealthy products by offering meal discounts or healthy habit loyalty cards for consumers that opt for diet drinks, milk, juice, or water.
Eating Healthy on the Go: What to Avoid at Fast Food Restaurants
Kim Brodie, a health specialist at the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Phoenix-Raleigh has created
guidelines for making healthier choices when eating at fast food restaurants. For example, Brodie recommends ordering whole wheat or whole grain bread instead of white bread and ordering plain mustard in place of mayonnaise, ketchup, or barbecue sauce. Learning from this, we can begin to explore how to meet people where they are to help them progress toward healthier eating.
New Study on Marketing to Kids to be Released Later This Year
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is updating a 2008
report on how food companies market to children and what impact this has on childhood obesity. The report, to be released by the end of 2012, will examine 2009 data that the FTC subpoenaed from more than 40 companies and will explore what changes food companies have made in food marketing that targets children.
The Federal Trade Commission also Issues Revised “Green Guides”
The FTC recently issued a set of revised
Green Guides that ensures marketers are making honest and accurate claims about the environmental attributes of their products. New sections were added to this edition of Green Guides that address the claims that companies make about carbon offsets, “green” certifications and seals, and renewable energy and materials.
Grocery Store for a Day Event Brings Food to NOLA’s Ninth Ward
New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward has approximately 6,000 residents but no grocery store. In an effort to draw attention to this situation, the Lower Ninth Ward Food Access Coalition opened a grocery store for a day,
a pop-up parking lot market at a church. The market created an authentic neighborhood grocery store shopping experience while also raising funds for a much needed mobile store.
Fast Food Chains are Tapping into the Fast Casual Market
With ‘fast casual’ restaurant formats trending, fast food companies are now upgrading to compete.
Fast casual restaurants,
like Panera Bread and Chipotle, offer affordable, freshly-prepared food for increasingly time-pressed Americans. By using fresher, higher quality ingredients and shifting away from pre-packaged and made-in-advance meals, fast food chains hope to draw more consumers and new consumer segments. Taco Bell, for example, has recently rolled out its ‘Cantina Bell’ menu which offers higher quality and less processed versions of its products.
Learn to Shop for Healthy Affordable Food on a Budget
The
Shopping Matters Program, sponsored by the non-profit Share Our Strength and managed by Chef Greg Silverman, is a guided grocery store tour that teaches individuals how to read labels, compare unit prices, and compare various forms of fruits and vegetables. Tours are led by experts in the field, including culinary and health professionals, and challenge participants to buy groceries to make a healthy meal for a family of four with only $10.
New Technology is changing U.S. Commerce, Targets Young Consumers
Food companies are embedding their product marketing and branding into the design of simple and enticing
mobile games for touch-screen phones and tablets, with the effect of spreading their message and building brand loyalty among children. The new medium is simple, cheaper than TV commercials, and is currently unregulated.
Impulse Marketing and Customer Psychology in Supermarkets Contributes to Unhealthy Choices
A recently published
article in the
New England Journal of Medicine explores the role of product placement and point-of-purchase displays in retail outlets and its correlation to obesity and chronic disease. Thirty percent of supermarket sales are derived from mostly unhealthy products, placed in prominent areas such as the end of check-out aisles and near the cash register.
What Would Your Dream Food Label Look Like?
Food labels currently give us a lot of information, much of it useful and some of it confusing, but there are opportunities for food labels to tell us much more. One idea is to add a
“traffic light” to food labels with a red, yellow, or green label that would encourage consumers to make healthier choices and may help counter obesity. In one
study, sales of red-lighted soda fell by 16.4 percent in three months. Food labels are a great opportunity to brand products and educate consumers on more than nutritional contents.
2012 Rural Business Opportunity Grants and Rural Cooperative Development Grants Announced
United States Department of Agirculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack
announced the recipients of USDA’s 2012 Rural Business Opportunity Grants (RBOG) and Rural Cooperative Development Grants (RCDG). Both of these programs encourage economic growth and job creation in rural communities. 42 RBOG grants were awarded, five of which address agricultural and food system development.
American Farmland Trust: Growing Beginning Farmers in the Northeast
American Farmland Trust is working with local land trusts in northeastern U.S. to help farmers increase access to farmland and to support the transition of farms/farmland to the next generation. Their “next generation” initiative includes a professional development program to train agriculture and food sector professionals about farmland access and farm transfer, research on barriers facing beginning farmers, and a network linking farm seekers and farmland owners.
Persistent Poverty in Rural America Still Major Barrier
The overall number of Americans living in poverty remains at its highest level in decades, with the official poverty rate in rural areas being a full two percentage points higher than the national level at 17.0 percent. While poverty is high nationally, several rural regions and communities have experienced
persistently high poverty rates for long periods of time, including Central Appalachia, the Lower Mississippi Delta, the southern Black Belt, the Colonias region along the U.S.-Mexico border, Native American lands, and migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Numerous sources cite poverty and education as leading indicators of health outcomes.
Sign Up to Be a PreventObesity.net Leader
PreventObesity.net is building a network of leaders working to create healthy environments and policies for kids. PreventObesity Leaders receive a number of free communications tools and services including the Inside Track newsletter, a must read for anyone working in childhood obesity. Click
here to learn more and apply to be a PreventObesity Leader.
Interested in Selling Your Products to the USDA?
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service buys over 1.1 billion pounds of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables each year from qualified companies of all sizes. The food is distributed to schools, food banks, disaster areas, and anywhere else it is needed. Learn more about this opportunity and access information you need to begin selling to USDA
online by referring to the “Vendor Selling Kit” on their web page.
Reports, Studies, Tools, and Tips
MANUAL: Marketing 101 Manual: An Introduction to Basic Marketing Practices for Small Farmers
Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) released a
marketing guide for small farmers. The manual is geared toward helping farmers develop and implement a marketing plan that will work for them, their farm, and their products.
REPORT: Food Justice for 10 Cents a Day
A
report from UC Berkley Food Labor Research Center and Food Chain Workers Alliance analyzes how raising the minimum wage for 29 million workers would increase food costs in America only minimally, contrary to popular belief. Raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.80 would only result in an average increase of $36.50 in food costs per household per year.
TOOL: Expanded Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass
USDA expanded
the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass to include data and resources from other federal agencies outside USDA. The Compass is a narrative and searchable map of projects that have received federal support for local food work.
GUIDE: New Farmers Guide: Cultivating Success at Farmers Markets
A new
guide written by Shelly G. Keller and Randii MacNear of the Davis Farmers Market addresses the need for training and marketing assistance, especially for beginning farmers. The guide covers nearly every aspect of selling at farmers markets and includes worksheets to help farmers evaluate prospective farmers markets and budget for the costs of selling at farmers markets.
TOOLKIT: Health Equity Resource Toolkit for State Practitioners Addressing Obesity Disparities
The purpose of this
toolkit is to increase the capacity of state health departments and their partners to work with communities to implement effective responses to obesity in populations that are facing health disparities. The toolkit includes a six-step planning framework to guide the design and implementation of effective responses to obesity in populations facing health disparities.
GUIDE: Buy Newark: A Guide to Promoting Economic Inclusion Through Local Purchasing
A new
guide from PolicyLink aims to help any purchaser or retailer that wants to start a buy-local program. This guide is designed for buyers in Newark, New Jersey, but it is also useful for anyone seeking to improve local buying power. The guide explores how small, local businesses can supply anchor institutions, such as hospitals, universities, libraries, government agencies, and other large, locally rooted employers, which spend millions of dollars on supplies and services annually.
TOOL: Farm to School: A School’s Guide to Purchasing Washington Grown Food
Washington State Department of Agriculture released a
new guide to assist school districts in their Farm to School efforts. The guide clarifies rules about how to apply a geographic preference in school food purchases and provides a step-by-step guide to help school districts in Washington state increase their use of Washington-grown food in accordance with rules and regulations at all levels of government.
Events
Webinar: Snacking in America
November 1, 2012 12 pm ET
The Food Institute presents a
webinar on snacking and snack foods, the hottest eating pattern and growing product segment trend in the US and often an untapped opportunity for those working in healthy food access. Learn about what attitudes and decisions are driving this trend and possible long-term business opportunities.
Webinar: Using Healthy People 2020 to Achieve Your Goals: Implementation, Action, and New Tools
November 7, 2012 12 pm ET
The US Department of Health and Human Service’s Healthy People 2020 initiative provides science-based, 10 year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. This webinar will explain activities underway to implement Healthy People 2020 and the Leading Health Indicators. The presentation will further highlight ways that Healthy People 2020 can be used in your own work, from strategy to implementation of community health programs.
Register.
Indiana Cooperative Summit: Building Member-Owned Business Connections
November 9, 2012, Indianapolis, Indiana
The Indiana Cooperative Summit brings together co-op members and leaders from across the many sectors of cooperative enterprise to generate ideas for cross sector collaboration and successful cooperatives.
Learn more.
2012 Healthy Farms, Healthy People Iowa State Meeting
November 16, 2012, Marshalltown, Iowa
The 2012
Healthy Farms, Healthy People Iowa State Meeting is a forum to discuss the intersection between agriculture and human health. The meeting will showcase how the health of Iowans is dependent on healthy relationships between agriculture, food, health care, and public health. Registration is open through November 9, 2012.
Webinar: Market-Based Models for Increasing Access to Healthy Food: Defining What Works
November 29, 2012 3:30 pm ET
The Wallace HUFED Center has been studying market-based food access work for three years. We are creating a report of all that we have learned.
This webinar will be a sneak peek into our insights.
Racial Healing Through the Food System
December 7- 9, 2012, Chicago, Illinois
Racial Healing through the Food System will address challenges and opportunities in the food movement from a local, national, and international perspective. This event is designed to build a community of leaders who are enabled to take action and provide intensive training and dialogue that facilitates anti-racism with the hope that leaders integrate food justice actions into their own programs and neighborhoods.
Funding Opportunities
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute Public Policy Now Accepting 2013 Internship Applications, due November 2, 2012
The Michael Fields Agricultural Institute (MFAI) is a non-profit agricultural institute in East Troy, Wisconsin that works on research, education, technical assistance and public policy that seeks to revitalize farming and help both urban and rural populations. Public Policy interns, among other things, will have the opportunity to assist with the Fiscal Year 2014 grassroots agricultural appropriations campaign of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and work on the 2013 Farm Bill. Learn more and apply
here.
Tenth Annual William James Foundation Sustainable Business Plan Competition, due November 5, 2012
The William James Foundation (WJF) supports for-profit entrepreneurs who are making the world a significantly better place and connects them to experts and investors so their ideas can scale. The WJF
Sustainable Business Plan Competition is for new or growing companies seeking high-level feedback on their ideas. The competition averages 20 pages of feedback per plan to companies and has more than $100,000 worth of services and cash prizes to divide among the top teams.
Partnership for a Healthier America’s End Childhood Obesity Innovation Challenge, due November 16, 2012
The
End Childhood Obesity Innovation Challenge is an online contest to solicit unique ideas that can help in the fight against childhood obesity. Anyone is eligible to submit an idea, including parents, kids, businesses, and teachers. Three finalists will be flown to DC to pitch their ideas to the Summit and the final winner will receive $10,000 to help them turn their idea into a reality.
Community Foods Projects Competitive Grant Program, due November 28, 2012
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) request applications for the
Community Foods Project Competitive Grants program to support either the development of Community Food Projects with a one-time infusion of federal dollars to make such project self-sustaining or Planning projects to assess the food security needs and plan long-term solutions to help ensure food security in communities. NIFA anticipates that approximately $5,000,000 in grant funds will be available.
Project Orange Thumb, due December 15, 2012
Fiskars Corporation seeks
applications for Project Orange Thumb garden grants and makeovers. 501(c)(3) organizations are eligible to apply. Ten $5,000 awards for neighborhood beautification and horticulture education will be granted and one applicant will receive a complete garden makeover.
Obesity Policy Research: Evaluation and Measures Grants, due February 7, 2013
The overarching goal of this National Institutes of Health program is to inform public policy and research relevant to diet and physical activity behavior and weight and health outcomes of Americans. This grant opportunity encourages applicants to conduct evaluation research on obesity-related natural experiments and/or develop/ validate relevant community-level measures.
Full Annoncement.
