Local, Regional, and Community Food Systems

Oregon communities, rural and urban, are taking their food systems into their own hands. They are improving food security and human health, healing the natural environment, strengthening local economies, and addressing inequities across the food system. OSU Extension is engaged in the local, regional, and community food systems movement through the Center for Small Farms & Community Food Systems, the OSU Small Farms team, and the interdisciplinary Community Food Systems team within Extension. We partner with communities and organizations across the state, including the Oregon Community Food Systems Network.

This section provides information, educational resources, and applied research related to building equitable, health-promoting, and ecologically and economically resilient food systems across Oregon.

Featured Resources

Oregon Community Food Systems by the Numbers: Oregon's Farmers Markets

Examines the impact of farmers markets in low-income areas of Oregon with low access to supermarkets. One in a series of fact sheets that monitors trends and changes in various dimensions of the food system. Growing Farms ...

Lauren Gwin | Aug 2018 | OSU Extension Catalog

Seasonality Chart: What's in Season in the Region

From fruits to flowers and meat to fiber, this chart will help determine what agriculture products are in season and available directly from farms in the Willamette Valley region.

Mary Stewart, Colton Harms | Aug 2019 | Fact Sheet

Updated Community Food System Indicators Now Available on OSU’s Rural Communities Explorer (June 2019)

Updated CFS indicator data from the 2017 Census of Agriculture are available on OSU Extension’s Rural Communities Explorer’s Communities Reporter Tool for the state and all counties. The CFS Indicators are a partnership between OSU Extension and the Oregon Community Food Systems Network.

Lauren Gwin, Shannon Caplan | Jun 2019 | Article

Latest Resources

Cultivating Connections – Farm to School programs in southern Oregon

Farm to School programs increase children’s access to and knowledge of fresh, local foods, and the producers that grow the food. Experiential, hands-on activities like growing, tasting and cooking food and visiting local farms are the hallmark of Farm to School education. Elevate Extension Keynote presentation

Cheryl Kirk | Nov 2020 | Online resource

Veterans explore farming as possible career in OSU Extension Small Farms online programs

All of the Small Farms programing was forced online after the pandemic arrived, including two innovative programs to help veterans learn about farming and see if it is a good fit.

Kym Pokorny | Nov 23, 2020 | News story

The Grow it Oregon Challenge

Face-to-face engagement shifted to social media but that did not slow down our SNAP-Ed clients. They learned to grow their own produce and increased the availability of produce in their home.

Mandy Hatfield | Nov 2020 | Online resource

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Related News

Veterans explore farming as possible career in OSU Extension Small Farms online programs

All of the Small Farms programing was forced online after the pandemic arrived, including two innovative programs to help veterans learn about farming and see if it is a good fit.

Kym Pokorny | Nov 23, 2020 | News story

OSU Extension’s Western Meat School goes hybrid and attracts hundreds

Western Meat School, which runs for six weeks in November and December, will cover key topics in production, processing and marketing to produce high-quality meat and sell to diverse market channels.

Kym Pokorny | Oct 28, 2020 | News story

More than $1 million in grants will help expand Extension Farm to School programs

The Oregon Farm to School and School Garden program got a shot in the arm in 2019 when the Oregon Legislature unanimously voted to increase funding for the grants for the 2020-2021 biennial from $4.6 million to $15 million.

Kym Pokorny | Jul 2, 2020 | News story

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Meet Our Experts

Shannon Caplan

Rural Community Explorer Program Coordinator, Special Projects

Lauren Gwin

Community Food Systems Specialist

Lauren Kraemer

Assistant Professor of Practice, Family and Community Health

Contact me with all your health and wellness questions in the Columbia River Gorge.

Robin Maille

Family & Community Health/SNAP-Ed

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Is this a huckleberry or something nasty?

Q: I saw these plants with what I think are huckleberries out at Harris Beach and at the rest area across from Harris Beach. Others have said they are not and are dangerous to eat. I would like help identifying them. The names I know are the evergreen, winter or California Huckleberry.

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