The Dane County Food Coalition met this past Tuesday to keep tracking and improve the food movement of our region.

One of the issues we worked, were the Whole Measures for Community Food Systems: a values-based, community-oriented tool for evaluation, planning, and dialogue geared toward organizational and community change. Whole Measures CFS invites organizations to build on the reporting of outputs and outcomes and to highighlight and measure the multitude of interconnected indicators that define a healthy, whole community.

The Whole Measures for Community Food Systems Fields and Practices are:

Justice and Fairness:

. Provides food for all

. Reveals, challenges, and dismantles injustice in the food system

Strong communities:

. Improve equity and responds to community food needs

. Contributes to healthy neighborhoods

Vibrant Farms:

. Support local, sustainable family farms to thrive and be economically viable

. Protects and cares for farmers and farm-workers

Healthy People:

. Provides healthy food for all

. Ensures the health and well-being of all people, inclusive of races and class

Sustainable Ecosystems:

. Sustains and grows healthy environment

. Promotes an ecological ethic

Thriving Local Economies:

. Creates local jobs and builds long-term economic vitality within the food system

. Builds local wealth

Each member had to define each measure and propose ideas to improve the food system: