In 2021, Indiana was the eighth largest farming state in the nation; that same year over 700,000 Hoosiers went hungry.
"Ninety percent of the food Hoosiers eat is imported, that's 98% for fruits and vegetables," Anne Massie, co-executive director of the Northwest Indiana Food Council, said. "We're consistently listed in the top 10 agriculture producing states, but we can't even feed ourselves."
For the past nine years, the NWI Food Council has been working to change these statistics by establishing a strong, local food system that supports area farmers while reducing food insecurity rates. Now the organization wants to create a comprehensive food system plan that spans seven counties, but they can't do it alone.
Over the next few months, the council will be traveling throughout Northwest Indiana, asking residents a somewhat complex question.
"What should our future food system should look like?" Massie said.
Years in the making
Twelve years ago, Massie sat on a steering committee for the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission's, or NIRPC's, 2012 Local Food Study. The study grew out of NIRPC's first Comprehensive Regional Plan, which was adopted in 2011. The 2040 Comprehensive Regional Plan lays out ideas for sustainable growth, urban reinvestment, environmental conservation and improved transportation. While crafting the plan, NIRPC held a number of community input sessions. During these meetings, residents frequently brought up the importance of local food.
NIRPC convened a Food Study Advisory Committee and got to work mapping the state of agriculture and local food in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties. The report found that the vast majority of the three counties' farmlands was dedicated to commodity crops like corn and soybeans, which are sold on the world market. The report also detailed the potential economic and environmental benefits of eating local, the Region's rapid loss of farmland and barriers consumers face when trying to access local food.
One of the 2012 study's main findings was that Northwest Indiana needed a group to act as the leader of the local food movement. Just three years later, the NWI Food Council was born.
“There really hasn’t been an update (on the study) since 2012," Massie said the Food Council plans on providing an update with the "NWI Community Food System Plan."
Completed through a partnership with NIRPC and the Northwest Indiana Forum, the updated plan will look at Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Starke, Pulaski, Newton and Jasper counties. The NWI Food Council will hold a series of listening sessions in each county beginning in March.
Virginia Pleasant, the other co-executive director of the NWI Food Council, said the group wants to hear from farmers, entrepreneurs, people working in tourism, restaurant workers and food service directors.
"We want to hear from just general eaters too," Massie added. "Anyone who would like to see a different landscape where food security is prioritized and considered more of a public good than it is right now."
The Food System Plan will outline what Northwest Indiana's current local food strengths are and where potential barriers lie. The plan will complement NIRPC's NWI 2050 plan, which was finalized in July of this year.
Similar to NIRPC's 2040 Comprehensive Regional Plan, the 2050 plan lays out strategies for improving transportation, environmental sustainability and economic development. Making sure the Food System Plan and the 2050 plan are in tune is important because reliable public transportation is inextricably linked to food access, Massie explained.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies low-income areas where at least 33% of residents are more than a half mile from the nearest supermarket, as having a "low access" to healthy food. In rural places, low-income residents greater than 10 miles from a supermarket are considered low access.
Almost all of East Chicago, Gary, Lake Station and Hammond are considered low access.
Massie said the plan will identify opportunities to improve local food distribution. The plan will also look at policy changes that could make local food more affordable and could make it easier for residents to grow their own food.
According to data from the last USDA Census, NWI's seven-county region spends almost $2.3 billion on food each year. Less that 2% of that money goes towards local farmers and producers.
Since the 2012 study, Massie said NWI's network of local farmers and producers has grown immensely.
The Food Council hopes to publish the study at the start of 2025.
"A lot has changed since 2012," Massie said. "The major difference is before there wasn't a Food Council. Now there's actually an organization that can champion the implementation of this work."
A statewide sustainable food system
Northwest Indiana isn't the only part of the state looking to "re-regionalize" food systems. For the past five years, the NWI Food Council has been working with other food councils across Indiana to develop a food charter that would provide a long-term vision for a statewide sustainable food system.
The partner groups, which include other food councils, Indiana University, the Indianapolis Community Food Access Coalition and more, recently obtained funding through the Indiana Department of Health to create a charter. Pleasant said the groups were inspired by Michigan, which completed its first statewide food charter in 2010 and has since published an updated charter. Michigan's 2022 "Good Food Charter" highlighted the importance of ensuring nutritious food is accessible, the state's food system is equitable, the food production process is fair to workers, the food system is diverse, that food production and distribution processes are environmentally sustainable and that residents have healthy food options.
Statewide listening sessions will be held throughout this spring and summer and an online survey will be circulated. Pleasant said the charter will be drafted this fall and may be published as soon as the start of 2025.
“There really hasn’t been the intentionality for creating a food system that is just and serves community members," Massie said.
Over the next few years, millions of dollars will be flooding into the Midwest's local and sustainable food movement.
On Feb. 1, grant applications opened for the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub, a program that will fund distribute $16 million to farm to school initiatives in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana over the next five years. The application will remain open through April 30; more information is available at innovateschoolfood.org.
Also over the next five years, the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center will distribute funding to small and mid-sized farmers and historically marginalized food and farm businesses throughout Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
With regional partners, Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems is one of twelve organizations selected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a Regional Food Business Center. These centers will help more farm and food businesses access new markets and navigate federal, state, and local resources. In September 2022, USDA announced $400 million available to fund this initiative.
Over the next five years, the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center will receive $20 million to launch and coordinate this center with key partners in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The USDA will allocated $20 million to this initiative. More information is available at canr.msu.edu/GLM-RFBC/.