Local Food Production in Champaign-Urbana

A panel on local food production in Champaign-Urbana in the spring 2015 series "Food Justice," moderated by Tracy Barkley, program coordinator at Sola Gratia Farm and a member of the series committee. Four local practitioners described their work and constraints: Dawn Blackman, volunteer steward of the Randolph Street community garden (a response to the North End food desert); Brad Uken of the Champaign County Farm Bureau, on a Rantoul land-lease and food hub project; Natalie Kenny Marquez, director of Urbana's Market at the Square; and Rick Weinzierl, University of Illinois extension specialist running a beginning farmer training program. Audience questions addressed alleged Agent Orange contamination at the former Chanute Air Force Base and whether food is a right.