Preliminary results from service-learning projects on scaling up the supply chain in local and regional food systems, capacitating migrant workers to promote individual and public health, and working with street vendors to improve product marketability and local legislation.

1. IMPLEMENTING “PLANS”
FOR SERVICE LEARNING
ALFONSO MORALES, Associate Professor Urban and Regional Planning
Affiliate of: The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, The Center for
Freight Infrastructure and Research, The School of Public Health, The
Nelson Institute, The Center for Non-Profits, The Collaborative Center for
Health Equity, Global Studies, The Center for Transportation Management
and Policy, Agroecology, and the Chican@/o Latin@/o Studies Program.
Currently PI or CoPI of grants on: Farm2School, Community and Regional
Food Systems, Food Distribution and Logistics,

2. An Integrated Approach - I
Service and Learning Imply Systems of Ideas and Behaviors.
Campus Research Partners include:
UW-Madison Community & Regional Food Systems Project
A 5-year USDA-funded research project working to identify the characteristics and
functions of a healthy community and regional food system and how they contribute
to increased community food security
Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS)
Conducts applied participatory research how integrated agri-food systems can contribute
to environmental, economic, social, and intergenerational sustainability.
Center for Freight Infrastructure Research & Education (CFIRE)
Conducts research, education, and outreach to advance technology and expertise in the
planning, design, construction & operation of sustainable freight transport systems.

3. An Integrated Approach - II
Systems imply conflict and cooperation; goals and habits.
Community and Professional Partners Include:
Migrant Workers;
Cultivate Kansas City;
City of Freeport, IL; Vandewalle and Associates (professional
planning firm, based in Madison, with a national footprint)
The Street Vendor Project of New York City, and etc.

4. Presentation overview
Multiple Projects…and Organizational Locations
• Professor as researcher. University Grant - Capacitating Migrant
Workers – Promoting Individual and Public Health:
Economic development, Sustainability, Healthy food access
• Morales, Alfonso. 2009. “A Social Currency Approach to Improving the Health Related Quality of Life for Migrant
Workers.” Journal of Southern Rural Sociology. 24(1): 92-112.
• Professor as teacher. URPL 711 Class Projects, (1) regional food
distribution system development and (2), teaching food systems
Economic development, Sustainability, Pedagogy of Service Learning
• Day Farnsworth, Lindsay and Alfonso Morales. 2011. Scaling up for Regional Food Distribution. Journal of
Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development. 2(1): 1-21.
• Greenstein, Jacobson, Morales, and Coulson. R+R. Teaching Food Systems: Content and Pedagogy. Journal of
Planning Education and Research.
• Professor as consultant. URPL 912 work with Cultivate Kansas City,
NYC Street Vendor Project and preliminary work City of Freeport
Community economic development, Entrepreneurship,
• Covert, Mathew and Alfonso Morales, 2014. “Successful Social Movement Organizing and the Formalization of
Food Production.” In The Informal City: Settings, Strategies, Responses edited by Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris
and Vinit Mukhija, Cambridge, MIT Press.
• Davis, John and Alfonso Morales. 2012. Fining the Hand that Feeds You: Street Vendor Fines and Increasing
Revenues to New York City. University of Wisconsin – Urban and Regional Planning, Working Paper 2012-1.

5. P as R -- Migrant workers…key to agricultural
productivity, yet exploited sector of workforce

6. Poorest health outcomes of any occupational category,
disconnected from social support, problematic access

7. Mobilization and Interventions
• Partnered with Promotora Program, 15 previously
unrelated migrant households created Club Nuevos
Amigos
• Produced a variety of health-related benefits
• Increased access
• Improved mental health and
• Enhanced self-efficacy

8. P as T -- URPL 711
Regional Food Distribution: Challenges & Opportunities
Aggregation
• Sourcing from small-mid size farms requires new aggregation strategies to:
• Supply high-volume regional markets
• Diversify product lines
Transportation & logistics
• Inefficiencies associated with the “first and last mile”
• Transaction cost of product changing hands multiple times
• Variability of load size due to seasonality, production volume
• Strategic location decisions for food hubs and distribution centers
Transparency across the food supply chain
• Food safety
• Marketing value
• Consumers want to know where there food comes from
• Source-identified foods can capture premiums for farmers

9. Solutions
Aggregation
 Food hubs
 Food Innovation Districts
Transportation & Logistics
 Physical infrastructure
• Research to identify hauling needs, capacity & economics
• Research to inform location decisions for food hubs & DCs
 Building relationships
• Develop regional marketing organization
• Engage regional planning and intergovernmental organizations
Transparency across the supply chain
 New approaches to supply chain governance
 Technologies (e.g. RFID, QR Codes)
 Telling the story of product – “food with a face”

10. Networking Across the Supply Chain
February 20-21, 2013
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Transportation Services Division
Agricultural Marketing Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture
This Project is supported by Cooperative Agreement No. 12-25-
A-5639 between the Agricultural Marketing Service/USDA and
the Center for Integrated Agriculture at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.

11. P as T – II
Community and Regional Food Systems – Teaching Service
Learning

13. Jerry Kaufman – Mentor, Partner, Teacher

14. P as Consultant – applications generating
opportunities – for research and service
• Grant reviewer for USDA led to relationship
with CKC…
• Which led to consulting on new urban
agriculture ordinances in KC
• Which led to mobilization and counter mobilization
• Which led to changes in ordinances
• Which led to book chapter
• Which led to pilot test new data collection
• Which led to NEW USDA proposal
• Which will lead to….

15. Reminding us of the tight fit between
society and state…

16. …and the idea that state serves society

17. P as C – II…sometimes service extends
to state to support society

19. Tickets to Changes…

20. Thank You -- What We Have Learned
1. Desire to partner is
only the first step
2. Intersection of desire to
serve (capacity, etc),
and
3. Compatibility with
capacity (research),
4. Understanding of
circumstances from
perspective of served,
5. Interaction, not action
6. Builds mutually
adjusting relationships
that identify and
achieve goals