The UW-Madison Community and Regional Food Systems Program, which aims to alleviate food insecurity in U.S. cities, received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Monday.
The program, which will first focus on Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit, will combine research, education and outreach to build sustainable regional food systems to increase the availability of healthy food in socioeconomically disadvantaged urban communities.
Community and regional food systems involve the production, processing and distribution of food.
The UW-Madison research team, led by Environmental Studies and Soil Studies professor Stephen Ventura, will partner with Growing Power, Inc., a nonprofit organization that operates urban farms in Chicago and Milwaukee.
The team will also work with Michigan State Agricultural Institute and various other community organizations.
More than 17 million American households were food insecure throughout 2008, and food insecurity is most prevalent in poor communities, according to the USDA.
