This pilot training will support the Wallace Center’s commitment to building equitable values-based supply chains, driving our larger goal of reimagining and redesigning farming and food systems. Wallace Center has an existing curriculum on value chain coordination (VCC) which is implemented by the Food Systems Leadership Network. The Food Systems Leadership Network’s training is focused on organizing and prioritizing VCC activities broadly to help practitioners develop more resilient place-based economies. This training will adapt the existing VCC curriculum to create a scalable, equity-centered value chain coordination curriculum and pilot a training series specifically focused on regeneratively produced meat in local and regional food systems of the Upper Midwest.
This training will result in a larger, more connected network of skilled value chain professionals that work on regenerative meat supply chains in the Upper Midwest. It will support long-term collaboration and action to support farmers, workers, and consumers, while also creating an opportunity to work with similar practitioners in other regions or those focused on other regenerative products.
Learning outcomes and objectives for this training include:
- An improved understanding of the purpose and best practice of equity-centered value chain coordination to support regenerative farming and food systems.
- Communications, relationships, and collaborations between diverse Upper Midwest value chain professionals are strengthened.
- Coordination with practitioners within the state.
Instructions for the course:
The Foundations of Niche Meat Value Chain Coordination course is open from February 15 – March 31, 2023.
This self-guided course is broken up into 12 modules, also called “lessons”. Each lesson will have a video or content to read plus additional resources to explore followed with an activity or reflection questions. Sometimes both!
There’s a lot of content in this course! Make sure you have a way of taking notes, whether that’s a notebook, journal or on your computer.
Join the discussion group! This is where you can engage with others in the cohort and training facilitators, ask questions, and answer the reflection questions. In the discussion group, you’ll also find the invitations to all the live sessions linked with this course.
The online course is paired with live sessions with the content creators of the course and meat VCC practitioner “spotlights”. Below are the scheduled live sessions:
- Kickoff Call on February 15th, 2-3 PM CT
- Office Hour on February 24th, Noon-1 PM CT with Sarah Rocker and Elliott Smith
- Practitioner Spotlight on March 1st, 10-11 AM CT with Jodee Smith and Joseph Fischer
- Office Hour on March 2nd, 2-3 PM CT with Sarah Fritschner and Steve Warshawer
- Office hour with Sarah Rocker, Elliott Smith, Sarah Fritschner and Steve Warshawer on March 17th, 1-2 PM CT
- Practitioner Spotlight on March 24th, 3-4pm CT with Jessica Roosa
- Wrap up Call on March 30th, 3-4pm CT
Answer the reflection questions in the discussion group. We encourage you to post one and comment one; meaning, post your answer to the reflection question and comment on another cohort members answer.
A note on language:
We use the terms Value Chain Coordinators and Value Chain Professionals interchangeably.
Looking for more ways to connect other value chain coordinators? Join the Value Chain Coordination Community of Practice (CoP) on the Food Systems Leadership Network (FSLN). This CoP has 200 members across the nation and hosts regular calls with experts, facilitated by the Wallace Center.