Table of Contents

Definitions
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1. Tracking the Extractive Economy
Chapter 2. Co-Learning is Contagious
Chapter 3. Invoking Traditional Wisdom to Recover from Plantation Agriculture
Chapter 4. Building the Capacities and Voice of Low-Income Residents
Chapter 5. Placing Food Business Clusters at the Core of Economic Development
Chapter 6. The Cradle of Food Democracy: Athens (Ohio)
Chapter 7. Metro-Area Farmers Need Supportive Networks
Chapter 8. Municipal Officials Collaborate to Protect Metro Farmland
Chapter 9. Working Below the Radar to Create Networks of Green Space
Chapter 10. Building Market Power for Farmers
Chapter 11. Shifting from “Local Food” to Community-Based Food Systems
Chapter 12. Scale is Both the Problem and the Solution
Conclusion. Building Community Food Webs: Active Networks, System Levers, and Business Clusters
For Further Reading
About the Author
Index

About the Author

Ken Meter is one of the most experienced food system analysts in the U.S., integrating market analysis, business development, systems thinking, and social concerns. Meter has worked for fifty years in inner-city and rural community capacity building. His local economic analyses have promoted local food networks in 143 regions in 41 states, two provinces, and four tribal nations.

Reviews

"Connections, Convening, Collaboration and (reclaiming) Culture are the themes resonating through the eight stories of community food systems skillfully woven together by Ken Meter. Building Community Food Webs is illuminating for learning from the past and planning for the much-needed future of food system changes."--Anupama Joshi, Co-author, "Food Justice"; Co-founder, National Farm to School Network; Executive Director, Blue Sky Funders Forum

"It is an excellent primer on how local food systems can stanch the flow of wealth from rural communities and the importance of approaching these systems as social rather than logistical."
-- "Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development"

"From a hard-working visionary, Ken Meter's book is full of the good ideas that will strengthen the next generation's work to create food systems that foster equity and inclusivity. Ken provides us MUCH to learn and practice."
--Alfonso Morales, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"Woven through stories that stretch decades, Building Community Food Webs gives critical insight into how communities have transformed agriculture and food economies. With a unique analysis of the economic landscape, Meter deftly highlights common threads that inspire the reader with multiple pathways and strategies."--Jeanette Abi-Nader, Food Equity Activist & Cultivate Charlottesville Executive Director