Designers and Food Experts Create Infographics on Beef, New Farms

Agriculture, Farm Bill Hackathon, Food+Tech, Infographics, Meat, Policy — By Beth Hoffman on December 7, 2011 9:24 am

Monday, Food+Tech Connect announced the winners of the Farm Bill Hackathon.  But several other interesting projects were also created at the event, held December 3, 2011 in NYC.  A final virtual project from the day will also be featured tomorrow.

Consolidation of the Meat Industry

An illuminating graphic on beef production and industry consolidation was created by Alexandra Tung, Chris Hunt, Nika Stelman, James Boo, Kate Schmidt, Brielle Maxwell, Nichelle Stephens and DD Maucher.

The group was interested in visualizing where each penny of a consumer dollar goes. What they learned was that more, and higher quality, data on the topic is sorely needed.  But they did find strong supporting data from Food&Water Watch and the USDA of extreme consolidation in the meat industry, confirming a lack of enforcement of anti-trust laws.

 

A Credit System for Farmers

FarmTab  – a system to create a credit tab with farms – developed a free mobile app for farmers to use on smart phones on-site at farmer’s markets and farm stands. The program would allow consumers to pay in advance and carry credit with farmers, managed on the FarmTab platform. Michael Zick Doherty, Adam Krebs, Joshua Kleiner and Oscar Torez have pioneered the project, which can also be found here.

 

Support for Established vs New Farms

RJ Steinert, Britta Riley, Dominic DiFranzo, Diane Hatz, Ann Middleton and Albert Chao created graphics comparing the support available for beginning and existing farms.  By looking at individual states, the group found some areas of the country far more supportive of new farmers than others.

Apple Farmers Communicate Online

And last but not least, apple farmers in the Hudson Valley now have a new private online group, designed so they can communicate more effectively with one another and share information.  The project was created by Amir Shimoni, Oana Radulescu and Leanna Mulvihill.

 

 

About Beth Hoffman: Beth Hoffman has reported on food and agriculture for ten years, airing on NPR, The World, Latino USA, Living on Earth, KUER and KALW , and studied the food system in depth as a fellow and co-lecturer in the Africa Reporting Project at UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism. Hoffman competed a year long documentary project cooking with immigrant women in their homes, has traveled to India, Uganda and Ethiopia to report on rice production and chicken farming, and did a multipart series for KUER on the artistic, cultural and environmental connections we have to food. In addition to spending many hours on-farm in Utah, California and abroad, Hoffman also married into an Iowa farm family and is currently working with her husband to slowly convert the land into a sustainable orchard and hog farm. She currently lives in Albany, California. Hoffman’s previous work can be found on her website at bethaudio.com.

Tags: Adam Krebs, agriculture, Albert Chao, Amir Shimoni, Ann Middleton, Apples, beginning and established farms, Brielle Maxwell, britta riley, Chris Hunt, consolidation in meat industry, data visualization, Dee Dee Maucher., Diane Hatz, dominic difranzo, farm bill, Farm Bill Hackathon, FarmTab, food tech, Hudson Valley Growers, infographic, James Boo, Joshua Kleiner, Kate Schmidt, Leanna Mulvihill, Michael Zick Doherty, Nichelle Stephens, Nika Stelman, Oana Radulescu, Oscar TorezAlexandra Tung, RJ Steinert