I am assisting in the start-up of an organization in my home city — Evanston, Illinois (a neighboring suburb of Chicago) — to establish an urban, organic farm within the city borders. “Sustainable food supply” is one of the work streams of innovation that I’ve identified as resulting from socially-responsible business thinking, and the work I am doing with the start-up provides insight into some of the mechanics of innovation.

I will continue to write case study snippets as the organization evolves, but here is a bit of background and some current insights:

• In the U.S., “local organic” is the improvement on the growing marketplace for organically grown food. Illinois is a prime example. It is a state with a very large agricultural economy — but only 3% of the food consumed by people in the state is actually produced in the state. Which means there is unnecessary environmental cost associated with transporting and storing food as it moves from faraway producing areas to local stores and markets. It also forces an economic preference for large, mass-production farms at the expense of smaller, family owned farms. (For an insightful analysis of this issue in Illinois, see Feeding Ourselves: Strategies for a New Illinois Food System)
• There are a wide number of groups and small organizations working to address this issue. The city of Chicago has organic farms within its borders. Not-for-profit organizations are supporting in-city markets for more locally grown food products. And retailers like Whole Foods and Wild Oats are helping consumers identify which food products are “local.”
• Evanston’s effort to establish an urban organic farm is being led by a set of volunteers (with some notable experience and expertise). It is a self-organizing effort involving interest in food policy, organic production, sustainable practices and healthy living.

What we have is an incredibly dynamic system of players, trying to figure out a model for success. It is being organized primarily through networks of relationships, rather than a central organizing system. And in the process, people must shift their mental models — a first step in innovating.

An example from my own experience: In a discussion with Evanston volunteers about how we might successfully build a start-up business that has a chance of being sustainable as a business, we began talking about target markets. One of the volunteers — a food policy activist who is in large part the conscience of the organization — had a look on her face that suggested she was processing the question because it simply did not fit her policy/activist mental model. “Our target is people who eat,” she said.

She of course is right. And it is statements like these that challenge the business-minded participants to shift to a more effective model for social change.