Earlier this year TFP sent an electronic survey to 150 organizations that work with youth to build local food systems in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. We wanted to see who was out there, what they were doing, what motivated them, what were their biggest strengths and challenges, and what type of impact they were having both individually and collectively. In short, we wanted to find out what the field looked like and how much it has grown in the 17 years since Ward Cheney came up with the idea to bring urban and suburban youth together on a piece of land to grow food for hungry people.

Forty organizations responded to our inquiry. From the data they supplied, we have created a report that is freely available entitled State of the Field: Youth in Sustainable Food Systems 2007 (PDF).

Findings show that organizations are largely focused on urban areas, their strengths lie in their programs, and their biggest challenges lie in management, strategic planning and staff retention. The Food Project has been an inspiration to many of them over the years, and connections with us and other organizations within the field continue to be important. As individual organizations each is a positive force of change in their communities. Across the field the impact is even more impressive. If the trends observed in this survey sample are applied to the 150 organizations in the field of youth in sustainable food systems in North America that were identified for this study, we would expect to see the following impact on youth and the food system:

• Over 380,000 people interacting with youth in sustainable agriculture organizations
• 230,000 individuals experiencing garden and farm work, most of it in urban areas
• 38,000 participants in nutrition education programs
• 14,500 youth and young adults working with sustainable food systems
• 258,000 customers and hunger relief clients receiving produce
• 300 acres in production
• 1,150 employees
• $21.7 million in program budgets

We hope that this report can be used by used by organizations and funders alike to strengthen connections within the field, set priorities, gain support for non-programmatic components and gain legitimacy for a field that until now has been largely unrecognized. There is a lot of great work happening out there!