Food systems event: Planning for emergence

Event announcement:

The Professional Planning Colloquium Presents:
Ken Meter, Executive Director, Crossroads Resource Center

"Food Systems: Planning for Emergence"

Fri. Aug. 31^st
12:20-2:00pm
Abby and Howard Milstein Auditorium, Milstein Hall

Ken Meter is one of the most experienced food system analysts in the United States. His work integrates market analysis, business development, systems thinking, and social concerns. As president of Crossroads Resource Center, Meter holds 41 years experience in inner-city and rural community capacity building.

Ken's pioneering study of the farm and food economy of Southeast Minnesota, Finding Food in Farm Country, helped strengthen a collaborative of food producers and led to the creation of the Hiawatha Fund, a regional investment fund. Meter serves as founding member of the board of the fund. Ken's work serves as a national model for analyzing rural economics and has been adopted by 70 regions in 30 states across the U.S. and in one Canadian province.

Meter's innovative tool for measuring financial assets in low-income communities, the Neighborhood Income Statement and Balance Sheet, helped spark development of the Latino Mercado in South Minneapolis. As coordinator of public process and indicator selection for the Minneapolis Sustainability Initiative, Meter led the citizen effort to define a long-term vision and indicators for the city, which helped the city win a national award. He has also served as planning commissioner for his hometown.

Ken Meter serves as a consultant to the USDA, EPA, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and several universities. He managed the grant review panel for USDA Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program.Ken is an Associate of the Human Systems Dynamics Institute, and has taught the "Economic History of U.S. Agriculture" at the University of Minnesota and graduate-level Microeconomics at the Harvard Kennedy School. As a member of the American Evaluation Association, Meter is active in the Systems Technical Interest Group and wrote a chapter of Systems Concepts in Evaluation: An Expert Anthology. Ken is a contributing editor to the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. He also writes occasionally for Successful Farming magazine, Edible Twin Cities, Grist, and Cooking Up a Story.