Summer 1995 (v7n3)
By David Campbell and Gail Feenstra, SAREP
Sustainable agriculture has made great strides in developing agricultural production practices more in harmony with the ecology of particular places. While progress continues on this front, a new and more complex challenge beckons: developing community food systems which integrate production, distribution and consumption patterns to sustain the economic and social life of particular regions. Examples include researchers at Wisconsin's Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems who are identifying regionally specific biological control products that can promote small business creation; participants in the Hartford (Conn.) Food System who create direct marketing links that sustain farms and improve nutrition in low-income communities; and students and administrators at Hendrix College (Ark.) who have dramatically increased the College's purchases of locally grown food.
Projects such as these give concrete expression to traditional sustainable
agriculture concerns for rural community development, social responsibility,
and an improved quality of life. Participants are motivated by desires
to limit community dependency on an unstable global economy, to create
jobs and enhance the local economy, and to satisfy the growing hunger
for a more direct and empowering connection to the food they eat. The
aim is not complete local self-sufficiency, but a move in a direction
that combines equitable trade with a primary focus on increasing the local
community's self-reliance and food security.
Projects to develop sustainable community food systems typically encompass at least one of the following goals and are consistent with all six: 1) insuring access by all community members to an adequate, affordable diet of high nutritional value; 2) developing and maintaining a stable base of family farms using production practices which are less chemical and energy-intensive; 3) creating marketing practices which directly link farmers and consumers and reduce the resources used to move food between production and consumption; 4) starting ag-related businesses that create jobs, reduce leakage of dollars from the community or in other ways contribute to the community's economic development; 5) improving working and living conditions of farm labor such that farmers and farmworkers can be fully contributing members of the community; and 6) implementing public policies that encourage a community's transition to sustainable agriculture by protecting farmland, developing necessary infrastructure, and providing research and technical assistance.
In California, several SAREP-funded projects exhibit unique features of community food systems. These include PlacerGrown, a county-wide cooperative agricultural marketing program; the Arcata Farm and Education Project , a student-run community farm in the city of Arcata; and a Community-Supported Agriculture/ Farmers' Market Project in a low-income neighborhood of Los Angeles.
PlacerGrown is an example of how broad-based community planning can find creative ways to sustain agriculture and contribute to a county's long-term economic development. The objectives of this non-profit agricultural marketing organization are to expand the demand for locally grown and processed foods; to increase agricultural production, profitability and opportunity; and to enhance the community's quality of life. A marketing plan has been developed by a group which includes Cooperative Extension, cattle and sheep ranchers, fruit and vegetable growers, farmers' market representatives, and the Office of Economic Development. Among the specific activities pursued are producer and consumer surveys to determine what both groups need to support a more regionally based food system; a consumer education campaign called "A Reason for the Season" to identify how nutritional needs can be met by eating locally available foods in season; and training programs aimed at increasing use of local foods by restaurants, institutional food services, grocery stores and community groups. The project, now in its second year, includes a plan to disseminate its model through a manual/report, slide sets and presentations.
The Arcata Farm and Education Project demonstrates how a small project can spark creative connections that promote a more sustainable community food system. The two-acre, student-run community farm is the result of cooperation between Humboldt State University, Cooperative Extension, local farmers and educators, and the city of Arcata. The project has five major objectives: to use the farm as an educational facility to teach university students about sustainable small farm management skills; to operate the farm as a CSA (community supported agriculture) or subscription farm; to develop and incorporate curriculum for local elementary and high schools; to facilitate communication about agriculture in the community by involving local farmers, refugee farmers and community members in classes and activities at the farm; and to give community youth groups access to the facility as a place to experiment with animal husbandry and sustainable agriculture projects. A manual, a slide set, and possibly a video are being developed that will describe the farm's activities, how it has overcome problems, and lessons for other communities.
The Los Angeles CSA/ Farmers' Market Project is an example of how the community food system vision can be addressed in a large urban area. A 1993 study of the Los Angeles food system conducted by the UCLA Department of Urban Planning found that many inner city residents are unable to obtain a nutritionally adequate diet, while at the same time small farmers close to metropolitan areas were struggling to remain economically viable. The project addresses both problems simultaneously by organizing a subscription farming program in which farmers at the Gardena Farmers' Market sell shares of produce to inner city households or institutions on a weekly, monthly or seasonal basis. The project is now in the process of investigating how food stamps can be used to purchase food through this type of community supported agriculture project. Neighborhood residents or local food service institutions should be able to purchase fresh, local produce through the CSA arrangement as early as the summer of 1995.
As in any new area of research and community development, much conceptual and practical work remains to be done, and many questions have yet to be answered. It remains to be seen how quickly and extensively community food systems can be developed, and how appropriate they will be to all regions, or all farmers. By funding a variety of community food system projects, SAREP hopes to help find answers that work for California.
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