Ken Meter

Ken Meter is one of the most experienced food system analysts in the U.S., integrating market analysis, business development, systems thinking, and social concerns. Meter holds 50 years of experience in inner-city and rural community capacity building. His local economic analyses have promoted local food networks in 143 regions in 41 states, two provinces, and four tribal nations. He was commissioned to create statewide food system assessments for New Hampshire, Hawai’i, Alaska, Mississippi, South Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, and Minnesota, and developed strategic regional food plans for 16 regional food systems. Meter consulted with the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service and Colorado State University as one of 14 co-authors of a toolkit for measuring economic impacts of local food development. He is co-editor of Sustainable Food System Assessment: Lessons from Global Practice (Routledge ,UK) in 2019. Meter’s work can be found at www.crcworks.org

Building Community Food Webs

Our current food system has decimated rural communities and confined the choices of urban consumers. Even while America continues to ramp up farm production to astounding levels, net farm income is now lower than at the onset of the Great Depression, and one out of every eight Americans faces hunger. But a healthier and more equitable food system is possible. In Building Community Food Webs, Ken Meter shows how grassroots food and farming leaders across the U.S. are tackling these challenges by constructing civic networks.