Calculating HEI-2010 for food shelves using electronic invoice data is novel and feasible, albeit with limitations. HEI-2010 scores for 2013 identify room for improvement in nearly all food shelves, especially the smallest agencies. The utility of providing HEI-2010 scores to decision makers in the hunger relief setting is an issue requiring urgent study.

Distributing healthy food is an important goal for hunger relief agencies, but they face many challenges in meeting it. Budgets for purchasing food are limited, and hunger relief agencies often have little influence over the nutritional quality of food they receive through donations. In a recent study, Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores were calculated monthly using electronic invoice data for food shelves served by two major food banks in Minnesota. While the HEI is directly related to nutrition guidelines and provides great detail in its scoring, implementation requires careful measurement and classification of foods and a rather complex set of calculations. In addition, a significant portion of food distributed by food banks is mixed pallets of free “miscellaneous” that cannot readily be included in HEI calculations. We propose and test a less data‐ and labor‐intensive measure for characterizing the healthfulness of food distributed by hunger relief agencies. This new measure, the Hunger Relief Nutrition Index (HRNI), facilitates nutritional assessment of miscellaneous foods, allows for easy aggregation of healthfulness scores across food sources and time periods, and correlates well with the HEI.

IntroductionKernza intermediate wheatgrass (IWG) is a perennial grain and forage crop. Intercropping IWG with legumes may increase the forage yields and nutritive value but may compromise Kernza grain yields. The interaction between IWG and legumes depends on planting season, row spacing, and legume species. Our aim was to evaluate the effects of those management practices on Kernza grain yield, summer and fall forage yield and nutritive value, weed biomass and, the profitability of the cropping system in Wisconsin, USA.MethodsIn the spring and fall of 2017, we planted eight cropping systems at 38 and 57 cm of row spacing: four IWG monocultures [control without N fertilization or weed removal (IWG), hand weed removal (hand weeded), IWG fertilized with urea at rates of 45 or 90 kg ha−1], and four IWG-legume intercrops (IWG with alfalfa, Berseem clover, Kura clover, or red clover).Results and discussionMost of the intercropping systems were similar to IWG monoculture in grain (ranging from 652 to 1,160 kg ha−1) and forage yield (ranging from 2,740 to 5,190 kg ha−1) and improved the forage quality. However, for spring planted IWG, intercropped with red clover or alfalfa, the grain and forage yields were lower than the IWG monoculture (~80 and 450 kg ha−1, respectively). The best performing intercrops in the first year were Kura clover in the spring planting (652 kg Kernza grain ha−1, 4,920 kg IWG forage ha−1 and 825 kg legume forage ha−1) and red clover in the fall planting (857 kg Kernza grain ha−1, 3,800 kg IWG forage ha−1, and 450 kg legume forage ha−1). In the second year, grain yield decreased 84% on average. Overall, the profitability of the IWG legume intercropping was high, encouraging the adoption of dual-purpose perennial crops.

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Widespread and substantial diversification of current agroecosystems appears fundamental to meeting many grand challenges in agriculture. Despite urgent calls for diversification on regional scales, particularly in regions dominated by industrialized, low-diversity agriculture, strategies for diversification on such scales are in early stages of development, conceptually and practically. We outline such a strategy, and its implementation by the Forever Green Partnership, a public-private-NGO coalition in support of agricultural diversification in the U.S. Midwest region. Our strategy supports introduction and scaling of multiple novel crops in a region, which requires development of many interdependent supporting elements, including supportive markets, infrastructure, policy, finance, and R&D. The core of our strategy is development of sustainable supply chains (SSCs) for a set of novel crops. We define SSCs as rudimentary systems of these supporting elements for novel crops, linking on-farm crop production to end-use markets while advancing economic, environmental, and social sustainability criteria that are demanded by stakeholders. SSCs provide a scaffold upon which fully-developed support systems for multiple novel crops can be constructed, thus driving regional diversification. SSCs cannot be “built in a day”; rather they must evolve as production of novel crops expands over time and space, and as new challenges and opportunities emerge. Therefore, regional diversification requires a system to sustain this evolutionary process across time and multiple novel crops. We posit that an effective system can be built from two crucial elements: a process of conscious and concerted cultural evolution, and a polycentric network that organizes and supports that process. We outline this system and its conceptual basis, and its implementation by the Forever Green Partnership, and associated challenges and accomplishments. Three years after its inception, the Partnership has attracted substantial resources, developed a polycentric network, and some elements of the cultural-evolution process are in place. However, node development is uneven across the network, hindering its operation. In addition to advancing strategies for regional-scale diversification, the Partnership is seeking to advance conceptual and practical understanding of sustainability transitions in agriculture, and to explore the potential value of conscious cultural evolution in such transitions.