Rural Sociology Commons^™

“Sometimes It’S More Valuable Than Money:” Using Stories And Local Knowledge To Document Impacts Of Wild Harvesting, Sarah Hultine Massengale, Mary Hendrickson

Urban Food Systems Symposium

Self-procurement strategies such as gardening, hunting, and wild harvesting are often overlooked in the development of local and regional food systems because the informal exchanges of these foods do not contribute to traditional financial impacts (McEntee 2011). Research conducted between 2017-2018 in the Missouri Ozarks partnered with wild harvesters and used narrative inquiry and critical reflection to explore the practice of wild harvesting, motivations for food access strategies, and the comprehensive wealth impacts of wild harvesting in the region. Comprehensive wealth, a USDA –Economic Research Service framework, provides a tool for economic development that considers multiple forms of capital and …