Discovery at Ohio State: New Thought for Food - April 2018
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Land-Grant Universities and Structural Racism in the US Food System

The Inter-Institutional Network for Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability (INFAS), a W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) national network of WKKF endowed chairs of which Casey Hoy, InFACT faculty director, is a member, recently released "A deeper Challenge of Change: The role of land-grant universities in assessing and ending structural racism in the US food system." The essay builds on "The Challenge of Change: Harnessing University Discovery, Engagement, and Learning to Achieve Food and Nutrition Security," a report that was compiled by a commission appointed by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) that included Hoy and Bruce McPheron, Ohio State's executive vice president and provost. Photo Credit: APLU

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Social Media Exclusive: Post-Conflict Agricultural Systems in Cambodia

Beginning April 29th, InFACT's social media will feature weekly highlights of a research project in Cambodia funded by InFACT's Linkage and Leverage grant program. Erin Lin, assistant professor of Political Science and Global Food Politics and an InFACT faculty hire, will travel to Cambodia with two research assistants to undertake an environmental impact study to identify chemical contaminants in recently demined Cambodian rice paddies. The team will be on the ground in Cambodia for 9 weeks to collect soil samples from bombed and mined villages. The samples will be sent back to Ohio State for analysis. Understanding how these explosive remnants of war can increase soil toxicity and reduce land fertility is critical for building resilient agroecosystems. Follow their journey on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @OhioStateInFACT.

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InFACT Sponsors the National Good Food Network Conference

InFACT, represented by Brian Snyder, executive director, and Angela Latham, program coordinator, was proud to be included on the list of sponsors for the 3rd Biennial National Good Food Network (NGFN) Conference that took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico in March. The NGFN is an initiative of the Wallace Center at Winrock International with the goal of linking members of the food value chain, specifically food hubs, to connect producers and consumers. This year’s conference emphasized a broader set of businesses and organizations that are partnering with food hubs to fill out that value chain. InFACT is officially supporting the campaign to host the next conference…Ohio 2020!

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May 11-12 "Making Milpa" Workshop at the Ohio State Student Farm

Seats are still available for the May 11-12 "Making Milpa" workshop hosted by Ohio State's Student Farm and which is being offered through funding from InFACT's Linkage and Leverage grant program. The event will be held at OSU's Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory and will include instruction from a farmer from Belize. Participants will learn about agroecology and the ecology of milpa, the culture and history of swidden agriculture, as well as topics such as community food security, food sovereignty, and farmer-to-farmer exchange of knowledge and resources.

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Ohio State Mansfield Holds Food Symposium

Through funding from InFACT's Linkage and Leverage grant program, community leaders in Mansfield are thinking in-depth about food and food access for all of their citizens. On March 1st, The Ohio State University at Mansfield hosted the 2018 Food Systems Symposium at the Oasis of Love Church, which was attended by more than 100 people. Participants talked about how to address economic, education, diet and food security issues in the community. The goal of the meeting was to strategize for the development of a community-based vision to improve access to safe, affordable and nutritious food in Richland County. Photo Credit: OSU Mansfield

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Learning from Ants to Build Better Food Distribution Systems

A recent article in Ensia, "Food by Local Farmers. Distribution System by Ants," tells the story of Farm Fare, a Cleveland-based business that is reimagining the local food supply chain by building  economies of collaboration to compete with the economies of scale of industrial foods. Farm Fare's model was inspired by a conversation with Casey Hoy, InFACT faculty director and professor of Entomology, who encouraged Farm Fare's co-founder, Cullen Naumoff, to apply the concept of ant colony optimization to food distribution systems. Photo Credit: Oberlin Food Hub/Ensia

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Upcoming Events


May 2
OSU Center for Law and Interdisciplinary Studies and OSU AEDE Special Seminar: Just Prices: Government Intervention in Agricultural Prices in Karnataka
May 8
OSU Environmental Professionals Network Breakfast Series: All About Maple
May 10-12
OSU Chadwick Arboretum Spring Plant Sale
May 11
OSU Innovate Conference
May 11-12
OSU Student Farm's "Making Milpa" Workshop
May 15
OSU Environmental Policy and Outlook Conference
May 16-17
2nd Annual Ohio Mass Spectrometry and Metabolomics Symposium
May 18
Developing Food Waste Recycling Infrastructure for SW Ohio

Funding Opportunities


OSU InFACT Linkage and Leverage Grants - Proposals due Apr 30
USDA Local Food Promotion Program - Applications due May 7
USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program - Applications due May 7
NSF Smart and Connected Health Program - Proposals due May 22
USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program - Applications due May 24
The World Food Prize Norman Borlaug Field Award - Nominations due June 15
Sisters Health Foundation Responsive Grants Program - LOIs due July 11
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Grand Challenges - Various deadlines
OSU Sustainability Fund - Proposals accepted on an ongoing basis
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infact@osu.edu | discovery.osu.edu/infact