The area surrounding Syracuse is home to acres of farmland — central New York is well-known as an agricultural hub within New York state.

Last Friday, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets offered $1 million in funding to early-stage farmers as part of their New Farmers Grant Fund, aiding in expanding New York’s 36,000 farms and more than 30 commodities. In Syracuse, a partnership between the Onondaga County Agriculture Council and a local organization is leading this research to improve the area’s food system.

FoodPlanCNY was started in 2016 by Matthew Potteiger, a landscape architecture professor at SUNY-ESF, and Evan Weissman, an assistant professor of food studies at Syracuse University. Both Potteiger and Weissman wanted to better understand how factors in central New York’s food system interact. In sharing their findings, Potteiger and Weissman said they hope to create better functioning food systems in local communities.

There needs to be a baseline understanding of “everything from what is produced and how it’s produced, to how the system, as a whole, functions,” Weissman said.

“It’s hard to think about how we can improve our food system when we don’t collectively have a good understanding of what that system is and how it operates,” Weissman said.

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Their work so far has included conducting research interviews with a range of participants across the food system including small produce farmers, food distributors, emergency food providers and food justice activists.

Potteiger and Weissman purposefully approached their research without a preconceived idea of what an “ideal” system should look like, they said. In their research, they highlight the positive aspects of the food system, rather than its shortcomings.

“Syracuse and central New York are often defined by deficits and problems, and certainly, we have our fair share of concerns,” Weissman said. “But I think all too often we overlook the good stories and the resources.”

FoodPlanCNY is funded through a grant from the Onondaga County Agriculture Council. Since the council’s founding in 2012, they have started and maintained a number of agriculture initiatives in the county. These include the Future Farmers of America at Tully Junior Senior High School in Tully, Brady Farm at the Brady Faith Center on Syracuse’s South Side and the installation of raised bed planters at Dr. King Elementary School in Syracuse.

Agriculture Council County Legislator Co-Chair David Knapp grew up on his family’s dairy farm in LaFayette. He sees FoodPlanCNY as a means to fully realize the goals of the council, he said.

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“Our mission is really supporting existing agriculture and encouraging new agriculture,” Knapp said. “Education of the public was kind of the last piece of the puzzle.”

Part of the Agriculture Council’s grant funding was used to hire student research assistants, like William Cecio. A recent SU graduate with a bachelor’s degree in food studies, Cecio worked with FoodPlanCNY. He researched United States Census of Agriculture data on counties in central New York. Since graduating, he still views the work being done by FoodPlanCNY as necessary.

“I saw this as a great opportunity,” Cecio said. “In my opinion, food system planning is crucial for actually creating lasting positive change in local, regional or national food systems.”

The first round of Potteiger and Weissman’s research concluded, but the work of FoodPlanCNY is ongoing. Potteiger and Weissman are now putting together their final report, which includes concrete recommendations of potential improvements on how to best connect local producers to hospitals, universities and school districts.

Published on October 30, 2018 at 10:01 pm