FamilyFarmed.org is a non-profit founded by Jim Slama that focuses on locally grown and responsibly produced food. FamilyFarmed.org is specifically focused on enhancing the health of communities, doing this through public and private partnerships, preserving farmland, encouraging transparency in food production and leveraging the power of NGOs, as well as through many other strategies and practices.
FamilyFarmed.org started as part of a non-profit named Sustain, which fought to keep organic food at high standards by fighting against USDA rules that would have lowered these standards. Sustain launched a trade show that became known as the FamilyFarmed EXPO, now called the Good Food Festival & Conference, which marked the beginning of FamilyFarmed.org and its focus on consumers, buyers, and farmers. The Good Food Festival & Conference will be celebrating its 10th Anniversary in Chicago March 13-15, 2014.
Working to serve family farmers and build local food systems, FamilyFarmed.org produces the Good Food Festival & Conference, hosted at the University of Illinois at Chicago Forum. It also works as a national leader in food hub development, guiding entrepreneurs focused on food issues. FamilyFarmed.org provides technical assistance to farmers in order to help them become involved with wholesale buyers and producers.
FamilyFarmed.org is currently launching the Good Food Business Accelerator, which started as the Good Food Financing Conference in partnership with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. FamilyFarmed.org is working to promote food safety by educating small to mid-sized farms on best practices, and, in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), FamilyFarmed.org is working with foodservice providers to provide locally grown food in cafeterias.
FamilyFarmed.org provides many valuable resources in order to assist consumers in finding local food. More information on local farmers markets can be found here, and for an update on a recent farm bill to promote Good Food, please see this article written by FamilyFarmed.org’s founder Jim Slama himself for the Huffington Post.
