New funding to map food supply chain in New Mexico
Monday, March 7, 2022; Silver City, NM: New funding will support the creation of a statewide Food, Hunger, and Farm (FHF) data infrastructure to address basic-needs insecurity issues worsened by COVID-19. The $80,000 grant was awarded by Data Across Sectors for Health (DASH) as part of the organization’s ongoing work to connect information systems and share data across sectors.
The effort will be led by the New Mexico Data Collaborative (NMCDC), a program of the Center for Health Innovation, which is state’s designated public health Institute.
NMCDC Interim Director Emily McRae said the funding will allow the program to “house a dedicated central hub for Food Supply Chain data in New Mexico.”
Mapping New Mexico’s food supply chain will allow residents to shift the infrastructure to better serve consumers, producers, and sales outlets – and alleviate food insecurity. The mapping will connect the dots on how food travels from the farm to reach residents’ plate.
Local farmers can discover – through the supply chain mapping project – how to better connect with potential markets for their products, while consumers can locate markets closer to them or buy directly from farmers.
Infrastructure shifts in the food distribution system can save produce travel time from farms to consumers – assuring products are fresher when they reach consumers, and lowering prices while saving on shipping costs, rising over-all-quality, and increasing equitable access to economic opportunity for small farms and minority farmers.
Restaurants and institutions, like school cafeterias and food banks, can connect directly with farmers to purchase healthy, locally grown food while increase the quality of food served to diners, students, and populations at-risk for food insecurity.
“With the expert guidance of representatives from multiple sectors of the food supply chain, we are identifying priority data sets and working to connect the dots between entities who have data and those who need data, to support and enhance the flow of food from growers to communities,” said McRae.
The food supply chain mapping effort will include representatives from Food Depot, ESHIP Rio Grande, New Mexico Harvest, New Mexico Farmers Marketing Association, New Mexico School Nutrition Association and Farmington School Food Service Nutrition.
The NMCDC previously aided in the creation of a supply chain eco-system map with the Food Hunger and Farm (FHF) Council through the Data Across Sectors for Health (DASH) grant. The resulting map shows the complex interrelationships between farming resources, growers, distributers, and government agencies and is available at bit.ly/3sCyUmZ.
Historically disjointed data sharing across healthcare, public health, social services, and other sectors beyond health has hindered the coordination of equitable, community-driven health improvement efforts.
DASH hopes award will continue its core support of multi-sector collaboration and data sharing efforts and leverage these lessons to identify powerful policy and system change opportunities. The LAPP initiative was developed with guidance from federal and state officials, community-based organization leaders, subject matter experts, and community members.
The awards are a part of a DASH’s Learning and Action in Policy and Partnerships (LAPP) program led in partnership with the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). NMCDC is one of five communities to receive funding for COVID relief planning. The other awarded efforts are in Nebraska led by Cyn Health, Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health innovation (ARCHI) in Georgia, San Juan County in Utah, and Connecticut Data Collaborative (CT DATA).
For more information contact McRae at (575) 597-0023 or visit: nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com. To learn more about the initiative, visit DASHconnect.org/LAPP.
