Browsing by Subject "Food"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 64
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    2019-2020 Minnesota Rural Grocery Survey Report
    (2020-11-20) Olive, Ren; Draeger, Kathryn; Kim, Hye-Young; Hanawa Peterson, Hikaru; Jarvi, Monica; Park, Dojin; Jorgenson, Alma
    Rural grocery stores are anchor businesses in communities of 2,500 or fewer residents that provide a full range of fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable foods. When rural grocery stores go out of business, they are generally difficult to reopen, impacting the well-being of the surrounding community. While working with communities across Greater Minnesota, the University of Minnesota (UMN) Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) observed that the needs of rural grocery stores were not adequately identified and supported. To gain a deeper understanding about this sector, RSDP worked with the UMN Center for Survey Research to conduct a statewide survey of rural grocers between May and October 2019. This survey builds on a 2015 Rural Grocery Survey also administered by RSDP, and it was designed to better understand rural grocers’ business conditions and gather information on store characteristics, competition, locally grown food, business motivations, collaborative relationships, and infrastructure. The survey was mailed to 250 identified grocery stores in communities with 2,500 or fewer residents. Of that, 15 were determined to be ineligible due to closure or discontinuation of grocery service. Of the 235 eligible grocery stores, completed surveys were received from 129 for a response rate of 55%. The data collected is assembled into four key themes that emerged from the survey: 1) Stores as businesses and community anchors, 2) Competition for food dollars, 3) Grocering local food, and 4) Stores as food system innovators.
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    Adjusting to work time and income reduction: change in household consumption behavior and life satisfaction
    (2013-07) Theodore, Jennifer
    This thesis presents findings from two interrelated studies inspired by the work-time reduction movement and its goals to reduce household consumption and improve work-life balance. The first study examines change in household food consumption and travel behavior as a result of regularly scheduled unpaid days-off from work. The second examines how appreciation for the value of time as a driver of change in household consumption, relative to income, moderates life satisfaction during a period of reduced working hours. A survey of 1,452 furloughed state government employees provided empirical data. A moderate percentage of employees (46%) increased their consumption of meals cooked from scratch, while 57% decreased consumption of meals at restaurants/sit-down cafes, 37% decreased consumption of convenience food meals and 21% ate fewer delivered meals. Multiple regression models predicted change in meal type frequency after controlling for demographic characteristics and furlough length. Furlough length had a smaller effect on change in convenience food consumption than it did for other meal types. Future research could account for personal preferences or measure pre-furlough meal frequency to investigate the effect of habit on changing food consumption patterns. Nineteen percent and 29% of employees reported an impact to commute or household travel mode, respectively. Fifty-eight percent of employees reported an impact to the number of household trips they made; three quarters of whom made fewer trips. Individuals with longer furloughs used a personal automobile less frequently for commute and household travel and took public transportation or walked more frequently. Furlough length increased the odds of an impact to commute mode and number of household trips. Commute mode and household trip frequency may be consumption activities that require deeper income cuts or more time in order to develop new habits. Future research should control for access to alternative transportation modes and nonwork activity destinations. Work hours, where significant, generally had larger effects on predicting impact to household travel mode or number of trips than did income. Household travel mode may be a consumption area where individuals are more amenable to using their discretionary time to use slower, or more planned, transportation modes. I expected that individuals who appreciate their time-availability as a means to produce time-intensive household goods and services would be the most likely to adapt positively to a work-time reduction scenario. Participants rated the importance of time and income to change in consumption of home-produced meals and outsourced meals and to change in commute and household travel mode and household trip frequency. Time was rarely valued as more important than income to change in consumption. Using binary logistic regression models that controlled for demographic characteristics and furlough length, I found that individuals who rated time as more important than income to change in consumption behavior were significantly more likely to report that they had maintained or increased their life satisfaction during furlough time. The effect of the time/income valuation difference was much larger than those of household income and weekly work hours and suggests that feelings of self-sufficiency are essential to a successful shift to reduced hours.
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    Analysis of 2021 Minnesota Garlic Grower Survey
    (2022-10) Schweser, Greg
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    Apple Crisp Coop Marketing Final Report
    (University of Minnesota. Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships., 2001)
    Apple Crisp Coop Marketing Final Report
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    Asset Survey: Experiment in Rural Cooperation
    (University of Minnesota. Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships., 2003-01) Hartman, Lacey
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    Central Minnesota Processed Foods Industry Cluster Report
    (Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, 2010-05-14) Dahlheimer, Justin; Day, Jennifer; Schmedeke, Jeffrey
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    Commercial Kitchen Guide
    (St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, 2014-09-01) Korslund, Karen; Schweser, Greg; Grewell, Rachel
    Community commercial kitchens available for rent to members of the public can be used as incubation facilities for beginning food entrepreneurs like caterers, product manufacturers, or food truck operators. They may also be a means for local farmers to add value to raw product in order to expand their marketing potential. Community commercial kitchens are different from other community kitchens in that they are approved for use by licensed food businesses, and may be used to create products for sale in wholesale or retail markets. This guide is intended to provide information on policies and regulations for those looking to open or operate in a community commercial kitchen.
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    Considerations and Benefits of Developing a Minnesota-Based Halal Meat Supply Chain
    (University of Minnesota Extension, 2021-08) Mamedov, Serdar; Draeger, Kathy
    Minnesota traditionally has been known as a welcoming state and in the past several decades has become increasingly diverse. One population that has significantly increased its presence is Muslims. The majority of Muslims eat only Halal meat. However, the availability of Halal meat in mainstream retailers is limited. Developing a Halal meat supply chain will help to increase the availability of locally raised Halal meat in small grocery stores and the food retail mainstream. This informational sheet outlies considerations and benefits in developing a Minnesota-based Halal meat supply chain.
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    COVID-19/Emergency 14-Day Meal Kit for Rural Grocery Stores
    (UMN Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, 2020-03-19) Draeger, Kathryn; Gold, Abby; Olive, Ren
    This fact sheet provides guidance on 14-day meal kits that can be deployed from rural grocery stores to community members who need to isolate themselves in the face of COVID-19.
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    Deep Winter Greenhouse Enterprise Analysis: A Study of the Costs and Benefits of Operating Deep Winter Greenhouses in Minnesota and Wisconsin
    (University of Minnesota Extension. Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships., 2015-06) Pesch, Ryan
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    Deep Winter Greenhouse tomato production trail overview and recommendations
    (2023) Hoidal, Natalie; Schweser, Greg; Pesch, Ryan; Ford, Carol
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    Deep Winter Greenhouse v. 2.2 Construction Documents
    (2017-05-18) Handeen, Daniel
    A Deep Winter Greenhouse (DWG) is a greenhouse designed to limit the amount of fossil fuel it takes to grow crops during cold winters. DWGs are passive-solar greenhouses that rely on energy from the sun to heat the building instead of more traditional heating sources. The DWG 2.2 construction documents, developed by the College of Design Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR), reflect design changes incorporated as a result of the UMN Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships' statewide DWG initiative.
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    Designing a Model Food Systems Graduate Degree Program
    (2022-07) Dryke, Jessica
    We live in a Global Society where our business and cultures are connected across communities, countries, sectors, and disciplines. That means problems are more complex than can be addressed with a single tiered approach. In a society where communities are interconnected and interdependent across local and global markets, problems do not have simple solutions and fall under the category of wicked problems. These problems require evolving multidisciplinary collaboration across sectors, disciplines, and cultures to find solutions through continual adaptation to changes in society. Issues like food waste, food insecurity, sustainability and climate change are wicked problems that need multi-pronged approaches that appreciate multi-disciplinary problems. Since wicked problems occur on a systems scale, understanding the functionality of systems is imperative. Right now, there are few professionals trained in systems that can tackle these wicked problems within our food system. A shift in higher education over the years towards specialization, linear thinking, and reductionist approaches has not only contributed the shift away from systems understanding but has also contributed to a skills shortage gap in employees entering the workforce. The shortage includes skills such as communication, building collaborative relationships, systems thinking, problem solving, interdisciplinary work, and facilitation. This thesis is based on Participatory Action Research that combines action, practice, theory, and reflection to identify problems and potential solutions within the University of Minnesota graduate system. An anthropological approach used observations, qualitative data collection, and conversations with people of differing views to understand the issues within the current academic system from the perspective of fellow students, administrators, faculty, staff, alumni, and other professionals outside the university system. This methodology and write-up further recognize and support the value of the human influence on research design and interpretation while utilizing the first-person experience. This project highlights the need for training of food systems students and young professionals to support the relevancy and impact of the nutrition discipline, in recognition of the absence of nutrition and food science in food system discussions and activities, while advocating for multidisciplinary training through the creation of a model Food Systems Graduate degree program. This complementary approach allows reductionist thinking to confluence with systems thinking to promote more wholistic training for graduate students. This Graduate degree program further supports flexibility to promote self-efficacy and interest for students, cohort-based experiential learning, and expanded levels of mentorship beyond faculty-student interaction through alumni involvement. The all-encompassing contribution of human influence, different sectors, disciplines, culture, socio-economic, and political perspectives are essential to an inclusive, holistic, and comprehensive education program, based on systems approaches. The Twin Cities is rich in food-related resources to support this Food Systems Graduate degree program. The University of Minnesota has a unique opportunity to tackle the skills shortage gap along with the decline in student motivation, given the breadth, depth, and scope of the food system to gain student interest. To achieve this goal nutrition needs to be reinserted into the food system through dialogue and action by coherently connecting all three intellectual traditions of nutrition (Biological, behavioral, ecological) based on our food system, through situational analysis and design. The all-encompassing contribution of human influence, different sectors, disciplines, culture, socio-economic, and political perspectives are essential to an inclusive, holistic, and comprehensive education program, based on systems approaches.
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    The Economic Impact of Farm-to-School Lunch Programs: A Central Minnesota Example
    (University of Minnesota. Extension, 2010-06) Tuck, Brigid; Haynes, Monica; King, Robert; Pesch, Ryan
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    Edible Landscapes Case Study
    (2011) Bluhm, Brian
    Edible landscaping can be found throughout the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) campus. The Edible Garden Project helps to diversify the appearance of the UMD campus while also providing opportunities for collaboration across colleges and departments. In its third year, the project now boasts 19 different groups involved with 16 campus gardens. These gardens serve many purposes including encouraging healthy eating, providing opportunities for UMD students, faculty and staff to learn about local produce, and providing fresh vegetables to the UMD community. UMD Facilities Management made the Edible Garden Project possible through their commitment to sustainability and alternative landscapes.
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    Environment and development: essays on the link between household welfare and the environment in developing countries
    (2014-07) Rogers, Martha H.
    In this dissertation, I present three methods of evaluating local populations' interactions with their natural environments using household-level data from Tanzania. To date, little effort has been made to evaluate the non-market benefits of natural resources for local populations and this dissertation makes important contributions to this budding research area. First, I apply a travel cost model and estimate that households in Kagera, Tanzania are willing to pay approximately $200 per year (2012 U.S. dollars) for local community forests access, a value equal to roughly 25 percent of annual total household expenditures. Second, using a long-term panel data set I estimate that an additional hour required to collect firewood when a child is young translates into $475 (2010 USD) in lost earnings over 30 years, roughly 1.7 percent of income. Finally, I show evidence of significant interdependencies between a household's agricultural production and food consumption decisions. This inter-dependency implies that programs aimed at environmental conservation through agricultural intensification may have important unintended consequences on a household's food consumption and subsequent micronutrient levels. In sum, the results in this dissertation indicate that households in Tanzania interact with their environments in complex ways and receive significant non-market benefits from natural resources.