FEEDING PEOPLE AND FEEDING SOILS IN TOMPKINS COUNTY

The overreaching goal of this project is to develop new systems that promote the prevention of wasted food, donation of surplus edible food, and organics recycling opportunities for the community. As a component of this project, TCRMM has two supporting goals to guide project work: to engage commercial food generators to identify and implement strategies to reduce food waste through prevention and donation techniques, while enhancing composting systems; and to support food producers in developing and honing composting systems that enable use of finished compost in crop production.Objectives forGoal 1 -Engaging commercial food generators for circular food systemsinclude:Offera roundtable for 5-8 representatives from food producing businesses to gather feedback and workshop ideas for enhancing whole-hierarchy solutions (prevention, donation, and composting) in commercial businesses.Develop and implement a new module for the ReBusiness Partners program to support 10 businesses in reducing waste.Convene 5 stakeholders to review prepared food donation opportunities, challenges, and barriers in Tompkins County.Develop and pilot a new process to redirect surplus prepared food for donation and distribution.Objectives forGoal 2 - Enhancing composting opportunities and utilization for growersinclude:Host a composting workshop for 15 food producers (i.e. farmers, community gardeners, etc.) featuring strategies to enhance and implement composting systems for busy producers.Create 1 summary video that highlights key concepts for producers to simplify and enhance on-farm composting operations.Provide direct assistance to 3 food producers to establish and improve current on-site compost systems.Pilot a community compost collaborative at TC3, in which food scraps are collected from members for composting, and finished compost is marketed.