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References: The Farm-to-Table Movement and Local Food Systems

  1. Farm-to-table - Wikipedia - Overview of the farm-to-table movement, its origins in the slow food and local food movements, environmental and nutritional motivations, and examples of farm-to-school programs and CSA models.

  2. Community-supported agriculture - Wikipedia - Detailed explanation of the CSA model including its history, how subscription shares work, economic benefits for small farms, and evidence on improved diet quality among CSA subscribers.

  3. Food desert - Wikipedia - Defines food deserts and food swamps, explains their geography and demographic patterns in the U.S., and surveys the evidence on how limited food access affects diet quality and health outcomes.

  4. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - Michael Pollan - Penguin Press - Narrative investigation of four food supply chains (industrial, organic, local/sustainable, and foraged); directly relevant to the supply chain mapping lab and the comparison of food miles across sourcing models.

  5. Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable, and Secure Food Systems - Philip Ackerman-Leist - Chelsea Green Publishing - Practical guide to building regional food systems; covers food hubs, aggregation strategies, institutional procurement, and the structural barriers small farms face in selling to schools and hospitals.

  6. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service: Local Food - USDA Agricultural Marketing Service - Official federal resource on local and regional food systems including data on farmers markets, CSAs, food hubs, and farm-to-school programs; supports the food-shed mapping activity.

  7. LocalHarvest: Find Farms, CSAs, and Farmers Markets - LocalHarvest - National directory of CSA programs, farmers markets, and community gardens; students can use it to map local food access points for the food-shed analysis project.

  8. USDA Farm to School Program - USDA Food and Nutrition Service - Information on federal farm-to-school grants, participation data, and science behind how fresh local produce improves school meal nutrition; directly connects to the supply chain lab.

  9. Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future: Meatless Mondays - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health - Research summaries on local food systems, institutional procurement reform, food policy, and the environmental benefits of dietary shifts; useful background for the local food system design capstone.

  10. Rooftop Growers: Urban Farm Resources - Rooftop Growers NYC - Case study and resource collection for urban and rooftop agriculture; provides real-world examples of urban farm economics, yield data, and community nutrition impact to support the urban agriculture components of this chapter.