Exploring the sustainability space in Chicago, Illinois, has led Midwest Dairy to have conversations and build partnerships with urban ag farmers as a route to telling dairy’s sustainability story. The urban agriculture ecosystem in Chicago has grown fivefold in the last 23 years. Recently, a growing national spotlight on food insecurity and access to city land has driven the development of a new food system that connects local farmers to land, local consumers, and food-based businesses on the South Side. This effort has formed a solidarity economy in which stakeholders work together.
To celebrate and grow this agriculture system, Grow Greater Englewood partnered with Growing Home and the Urban Growers Collective to host the third annual Chicago Urban Ag Crawl in early September. About 200 people attended the South Side event, which featured 17 farms and gardens across Englewood, Auburn Gresham, and Back of the Yards, as well as 15 South Side chefs and caterers. Midwest Dairy attended the Urban Ag Crawl event to learn how dairy could fit into this environment and tell the Dairy Sustainability Story, ultimately recognizing Dairy’s role in this new space.
This partnership has also enabled us to engage with other food system partners in the Chicago area. For example, Just Roots Chicago recently hosted a Farm to Table dinner, where partners and organizations gathered for a great dinner and conversation. Midwest Dairy was invited to attend and speak about dairy’s role in sustainability, as well as answer questions from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and Food Pantries and other guests.