Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems Reports
A collection of scholarly work from the students, faculty and staff of The Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems. Lead by Executive Director, Kathleen Merrigan, the focus of the Center’s research is on developing innovative ideas and solutions to the many challenges of current food systems. Our mission is to drive social progress, economic productivity and ecosystem resilience through food system transformation.

Investigation of how digitalization of agriculture and agrifood systems affect local and regional food systems

Meatless Monday is an initiative that encourages actionable steps toward the reduction of meat consumption by asking participants to eat meat-free on Mondays. Many organizations, cities, schools, and correctional facilities have implemented Meatless Monday initiatives as a push to improve environmental sustainability, human health, and the welfare of animals. Such initiatives provide an opportunity to educate consumers on the health benefits of a plant-forward diet, the environmental impact of meat production, animal welfare issues, the innovation of non-meat proteins, and to engage stakeholders in gaining more control over their food choices. This report offers a summary of seven Meatless Monday initiatives throughout the U.S., highlighting best practices and notable challenges of implementing and maintaining such an initiative in three different contexts: local government, school systems, and non-profit or volunteer-led organizations. This report was conducted through an extensive look at previous research, news articles, and marketing materials, as well as interviews with stakeholders in six mid-sized U.S. cities.

The Hawaiian Islands are highly reliant on imported foods for feeding residents and visitors alike. This is in part due to a shortage in food processing infrastructure locally that contributes to Hawaiʻi’s inability to process much of its own food products. This study examines the feasibility of increasing food self-sufficiency in the islands through utilizing legacy industrial fruit processing equipment recently acquired by Olohana Foundation, a small 501(c)3 non-profit in Hawaiʻi. This study asks: How can the Olohana Foundation develop their aseptic juicing line to best support increased food self-sufficiency in the islands? Additionally, how can the juicing line be re-deployed in a manner to provide sustainable economic opportunity to producers and other community members? Through interviews with Hawaiʻi food system experts, fruit grower and fruit product buyer surveys, and a review of selected Unites States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Survey (USDA NASS) crop data for Hawaiʻi, our team evaluated the feasibility for re-establishing the juicing line. Our results found that due to the lack of available locally-produced fruits and high start-up and operational costs, it is unlikely that the juicing line can be re-established as it was previously operating, producing papaya and guava juices and purees. However, there is no shortage in demand for locally grown fruit products in Hawaiʻi and there is high interest from producers in joining a grower-owned cooperative. We conclude with several recommendations for the near, medium and long-term. In the near to medium-term, we recommend that the Foundation pursue alternative configurations of the equipment to produce niche Hawaiʻi products for which there is adequate supply, including fermented fruit products. In the long-term, the Foundation should research the potential for sourcing produce from other Pacific-region islands, as well as work at the policy and community levels to increase production of fruits locally, lower costs of production, and lower barriers to organic certification.

Tribes in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) are working to increase First Foods access, heal ecosystems, preserve their cultures, and prepare future generations to culturally manage First Foods landscapes as their ancestors have done for millennia. This paper examines present-day government food system funding and advocates for the integration of tribal governments into funding systems and to address the funding gaps where agricultural funding does not reach First Foods cultures.
This paper explains how Pacific Northwest First Foods cultures are unique from agricultural tribes in many other regions of the U.S. and explores how funding structures built for individual businesses do not match the cultural and environmental context for First Foods.
This paper seeks to bring attention to regional funding needs for tribal governments in the Pacific Northwest and contribute to the national Indigenous food policy agenda. Lastly, this paper also seeks to outline the funding discrepancy for tribal governments, spark regional conversations to build consensus around First Foods funding needs, and prepare tribes for potential First Foods funding in the future.
Based on interviews with staff and leaders from 4 tribal governments, funding policy recommendations were developed that include tribal government capacity building, tribal consultation, cultural resources, outreach, education, workforce development, First Food diet and public health, tribal community infrastructure, Land Back, cultural land management, climate crisis risk-reduction, extinction prevention for rare species, and other unique First Food funding needs.




Thirty years ago, Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) as part of the 1990 Farm Bill. The law established strict national standards for organic food and a public-private enforcement program to ensure compliance with the law. Today, the organic industry still faces a number of challenges. This report seeks to address some of these and to provide policy recommendations to better support the growing organic industry and its positive impacts on human health, on the economy, and on climate.

With increasing climate impacts predicted across the globe, many see soil carbon storage and sequestration as an opportunity to reduce atmospheric carbon and mitigate climate change. This report assesses the current opportunities for Minnesota agriculture and proposes solutions, policies, and management practices for these markets to benefit farmers and Minnesota’s agricultural sector

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of current ranching and slaughter capacities in Hawaiʻi, highlight relevant regulations and identify missing elements, offer case studies of similar operations and their procedures, and provide recommendations that Hōkūnui might consider in their pursuit to expand their slaughter capacity, while processing slaughter waste safely and sustainably