I submitted this to OEFFA for discussion at their state meeting in 07.
I've yet to hear back from them.  I called and talked to Mike and
others who said he would ask Carole to respond.  Which never happened.
Are these ideas that could generate more discussion through your
websites

I included this with my food pantry
and garden planning proposal packet that I've given to a few people for
comments.  I'm still working on it.  I'm thinking of creating my own
survey to see what information and interest is out there.  I believe we
(farm groups) need to be more proactive as an association of food
sellers in order to compete with the corporate interests that bring
substandard food into our state as well as urban sprawling our farmers
and farm land out of business.  I tell people to just thing what
wonderful coop farms the 5 acre McMansions will make when their current
owners get downsized too.

There are so many things that could be done to grow local and improve
our environment and economy.  I can be somewhat stream of conscious but
I have faith that my ideas will strike  someones fancy.
I started to discuss how city farms and city people could be beneficial
to OEFFA.  There is a large growing market we need to work with.   The
ethnic groups living here.  We should thank them for harvesting our
food.  We need them to have a better quality of life.  The 35'000
Somali are buying a lot of goat meat from Australia.
The Latinos are bringing tomatillos, salsas, moles and spices here
from way down south.  The Asian's are bringing everything pickled and
dried here from Asia.  This is tons of food being grown and trucked
from other countries.  Most of which could be grown locally.  They all
have kids.  Kids who have never heard of 4H, Grange, Junior Achievement,
FFA and FHA.  I see these people as the Americans who are willing to do
what it takes to put food on every ones table.  Let's make it good
food.  We need to support our own regions.  Assisting local ethnic market gardeners to sell in these markets would be beneficial for the economy.  It
would create jobs that could slow a growing need for food stamps and food pantries.

A lot of questions have entered my mind concerning farming locally.
How much land in Franklin County could be turned into market gardens?
Could OEFFA have guidelines for smaller plots that are close to the
city?   Could groups managing more than one plot be certified members
of OEFFA ?  Would there be support for groups to form to supply food
pantries, schools or other institutes that serve food?  There are so
few produce growers to work with locally that it would be be smart to
assess their working capacity and create CSA's to support them.  We
could do a study to determine how many CSA's could be created to bring
more farmers into this business model.
We could also survey existing farmers/landowners about converting to
produce.  How many have a well, barn and small tractor for doing a market garden?  What's the closest farm market or location for a possible one to their farm?  Do they need migrant farm workers for planting and harvest?  Could they provide housing for extra help or could an RV be made available to
assist them with this issue?  We could determine the needs for
processing more local products that are targeted for marketing locally
and to large institutes such as schools, pantries and nursing homes.
Could a catering/banquet unit be created that takes our food and
message out to other groups such as the Kiwanis, Rotary, Chambers of Commerce etc...?

Could we create  our own youth corp or work on supporting and expanding
the already existing  groups that represent young farmers and
gardeners?   Could FFA or the other youth organizations take on food
production for institutions or agencies that feed the poor and elderly?