I shared this presentation at a local extension meeting on 2/15 in Galesburg, IL

1. Macroscope = an imaginary instrument devised by French scientist Dr. Joël
de Rosnay in his 1975 book The Macroscope: A New World Scientific System (Le
Macroscope: Vers une vision globale) to introduce the systems view of the world to a
wider audience.
Macroscopes are not just imaginary – the term is now used to describe the
real tools and techniques used to study complex systems (like food systems).
Most comfortable at a temperature of -18 C
~70,000 gallons
of milk in 1 year
The business acumen that created our industrial food production, distribution and marketing
systems is worthy of respect – equal acumen is needed to create successful local food systems

2. WIU/Allison Organic Research Farm in Roseville, IL
We mostly investigate management strategies for highly
mechanized “organic” row crop systems that produce low-
value grains for sale by the semi-load to grain merchants
but we are also starting to explore higher value crops

4. Microwave popcorn packing facility in Central IA where “Rocky Popcorn” gets packed

5. “pepperonis” are
slices of purple
fleshed sweet potato
We are dabbling in a few other purple and gold crops!

6. 2 salads featuring local farm products, prepared by
Cornucopia and served at the 2010 Allison Farm field day

7. Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand
A venue for IL crops including our popcorn

8. Barefoot Gardens CSA

9. Good Hope Gardens CSA
Late May Early June
Mid June Late June

10. FIG Local Food Dinner – 5 courses of fine dining

11. FIG Local Food Dinner – free event featuring fall produce in January

12. Distributing transplants during the Heritage Day parade

13. FIG Children’s Tent at Macomb Farmer’s Market

14. Container gardening at WIU and housing projects

15. Container gardening at Lincoln elementary school

16. Growing Power garden in Chicago

17. “Mound Farm” in Galesburg

18. Only 2 hits within a 10 mile radius :-<

20. Harnessing the power of entrepreneurial ingenuity
Key to the success of local food systems