Some semi-final conclusions

As a reminder, I embarked on this journey a little over four weeks ago to ultimately assess the differences/similarities between food systems development in the state of Kansas/Douglas County and Melbourne/state of Victoria.  To make the information easier to digest, I decided to put it in table form.

P.S. I found out that I've been accepted to the University of Minnesota's Masters in Urban and Regional Planning program for next fall!  :)  I've also been accepted into an internship program through KU for this summer in Singapore...

The purpose behind making this table was to simplify some of the complexity of the food initiatives that I was exposed to while in Australia.  I chose maybe one or two examples for each 'shared' characteristic to give an example instead of providing an exhaustive list.  This led me to some more conclusions which require greater explanation, which follows.

	Kansas	Shared	Victoria
State-Level	K-State Research and Extension, Independent projects at the University of Kansas Wineries and vineyards in Kansas Slower development of multi-faceted local foods; little funding from state-level to carry out objectives in reports such as Feeding Kansas	Local foods research initiatives Wine industry as contributor to agricultural revenue Short history of local foods development; Stronger support at city than state level	Victorian Eco Innovation Lab Wine regions around Melbourne More positive reaction and support for local foods as evidenced by quick Google searches, existing documentation
City/County-Level	After the Harvest (Kansas City) Farmers Markets of Kaw Valley Cultivate KC Douglas County Food System Plan Urban Ag 101 Food rescue one part of many duties of single organization (Just Food) Centered around “Feeding America”, being the America’s breadbasket Stronger programs nationally; not necessarily in KS Greater pride in products made from/in Kansas than from other countries; embrace for other cultures is more specific to food than the wider social culture	Gleaning organizations Farmers Markets Grassroots initiatives Food system planning as recognized by the city through reports, employment, outreach Food Rescue Agricultural identity Support for new/young growers Foodie culture	Darebin Fruit Squad Melbourne Farmers Markets Cultivating Community Community Food Guide Melbourne Food City Food rescue as stand-alone organizations (Second Bite, OzHarvest) Based around Australia being a colony; short history of being its own country; embraces multiculturalism; situation unique in that it’s an island; greater focus on interdependence (lots of trade agreements with China) rather than self-sufficiency Beginning farmer programs are just starting up in Melbourne Centered around embracing all the ethnicities present in the city; pride in being authentic

One thing that I realized in working on putting this together is that it is hard for me to isolate my 'food system' experiences from all the others.  I think that just goes to show that our food system is deeply integrated to other parts of our daily routines.  Maybe this is why food system planning makes so much sense in terms of effectiveness--because food is our baseline for all the other activities that take place during the day.

Anyways, I wanted to expand a little bit on the wine industries characteristic to give you a better idea of the differences in magnitude that wine represents for the agricultural economies of the state of Kansas and Victoria.  In Kansas, as of 2010, there were 23 wineries.  In 2017, wineries contributed just under $30 million to the Kansas economy, which stands in stark contrast to Victoria's wine industry, which comprised over 800 wineries and contributed 1.04 billion to the state's economy.  Victoria is one of the three largest wine producing states in the entire country.  I'll admit I was pretty surprised to see such a difference.  In class the other day one of our professors mentioned the wine industry accounting for less than 5% of the state's agricultural production, but to me it seems like there are quite a few wineries here.  And that may be because I often think of the places in Missouri I've been to with my parents.  There are a lot popping up in Weston, MO, from what I've heard recently.

It fascinates me to think about the potential for agritourism in Kansas and how we could better market our wineries and other 'outdoor adventures' to make this state a destination for travelers.  When I think of places I want to visit, I hardly ever think of sticking around in the Midwest.  There's a group working on just this topic in my capstone class for environmental studies majors this semester, so it'll be cool to see what they end up putting together.  I'd love to see them convince me to stay here.  :)

Another thing I started working on at the same time as this blog post was thinking about a presentation I have to give about my research over the last three semesters at the Environmental Studies Symposium.  I realized that, while the focuses of my research were all kind of different, there was the common theme of moving from a smaller scale to a bigger one.  For instance, my summer research looked at the barriers to entry for young and beginning farmers in Kansas, and I focused on female farmers.  Then in the fall, I compared food policy reports from across the country, and moved to a national scale.  Finally, over the winter I took my knowledge to the international realm by comparing food system development efforts in Melbourne/Victoria and Kansas. 

I wrote down a list of the biggest takeaways from these experiences, which will probably make it into my presentation, but I think that they're worth sharing with my digital audience:

1. A more narrow research question will serve you better than a wide one
2. Research doesn't have to be mundane and can in fact help with clarifying career goals
3. Often times the only way to know what you want is to know what you don't want
4. The field of food and farming is where I belong
5. Sometimes you have to leave the comfort of your surroundings to fully appreciate how comfortable you were
6. Life is too short to let someone else make decisions about your future for you
7. To go along with that, dream BIG, unapologetically

Sometimes when I reflect on everything that I've done and managed to accomplish at this point, I get nervous.  Like it's too good to be true, or it's all about to crumble in a car accident, a broken bone, or something else traumatic.  It's also freaky to think about the fact that I'm only 23!  Definitely not keeping up with Leonardo DiCaprio by having founded a Foundation by the time I was 22, but I'm doing alright...Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more adventures!  (Most likely to take place in Singapore this summer)

References:

Australian Grape and Wine Authority (2015). Economic Contribution of the Australian Wine Sector.  Gillespie Economics.  Retrieved from https://www.wineaustralia.com/getmedia/faaff2eb-8fb0-463b-bca7-35d4b7ac39e3/Final-AgEconlus-Economic-Contribution-Australian-Wine-Sector?ext=.pdf 

Kansas Department of Agriculture. (2017). Estimated Economic Impact of Agriculture, Food, and Food Processing Sectors. Retrieved from http://agriculture.ks.gov/docs/default-source/ag-marketing/ag-contribution-2017.pdf?sfvrsn=20

Wine Victoria. (2018). "Regional Economic Development Strategy and Service Deliver Model". Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources.  Retrieved from https://economicdevelopment.vic.gov.au/about-us/overview/strategies-and-initiatives