Local Food Systems (NORA)

Local Food Systems

Initial Version (January 29, 2013) by Brenna Davidson, student at Truman State University

Why do we need local food systems?

We all understand the need for food. But not all food is created equal.

For a complete and healthy community to function there must be a food source for its population. The status quo for American communities is to import food from all corners of the world for local consumption, a practice that not only wastes money and resources, but also drives up the cost of food. The food consumed is processed and manipulated to survive the trip it must make to the destination. Additives and genetic engineering have degraded the taste and nutritional quality of our food.

Why are we doing this to our communities? Why are we making conscious decisions to ignore ultimately cheaper, viable, and nutritious options? What can be done to improve the situation in which we have put ourselves?

Three steps must be taken to reach a goal of a manageable system of feeding a community: keep it local, keep it simple, and keep it sustainable.

Keep It Local

"Don't eat anything that took more energy to ship than to grow."

Carrie Cizauskas

Keeping it local means exactly that. Simply grow the food locally that can be produced in the community and serve it locally. This eliminates the need for fuel, transportation, and additives. It also creates local employment and keeps food costs low. Not all food can be grown locally depending on demand and environmental conditions, yet greenhouses and specialized urban farming can overcome these obstacles to produce a nutritious yield of food for a community.

There are many successful farming cooperatives across the United States and around the world. The state of Tennessee has over a hundred farmers markets and co-ops operating across the state. OurCoop.com is a great resource for locating local markets and food producers.

Producing and consuming locally grown food reduces carbon emissions from transportation and can help ensure ethical treatment of farm workers. By purchasing food that is trucked across the country or even the globe, you are paying the base price for the product itself and to fill the air with noxious exhaust fumes that could be saved by buying locally. Much of the cost of food is not paid with money, but with sacrifice. Pollution created by transport is forcing us to sacrifice the health of our climate and our people.

When you produce the food yourself or buy from trusted local farmers, you are ensuring that no unfairly treated laborers were involved in the harvest process as well. Farmers’ markets enable farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer.

There is a multitude of resources available on the web on how to eat local. Sustainable Table is a great place to find farmers markets and local food vendors, as well as information on how to lead a sustainable life from the food perspective. With recipes, newsletters, and a “Shop Sustainable” section on how to shop for responsible food sources in traditional settings, Sustainable Table is a great resource.

OurCoop.com offers an interactive map to find farming co-ops near you.

Another great online resource is Local Harvest. Users are able to purchase food from sustainable farmers if local food is not available in their area. Local Harvest also provides a source for organic, free range turkeys every year near the Thanksgiving season. This site hosts a myriad of information on finding local organic food from farms, farmers markets, restaurants, and grocery stores.

Many people are fully embracing the local life-style. For example, Madeline Keenan and her husband have developed a fully self-sustaining farm and home where they grow their own food and sell the surplus to perform maintenance for the farm as a whole. They are focused on education in nearby communities and host classes and workshops to promote their sustainable lifestyle. Visitors learn to plant and harvest crops for fields of all sizes. Children are welcome since Sycamore Bend Farms places high value on learning where food comes from and how it is grown early in life. As they become trusted sources of local food and products like goat milk soaps, they are enriching their community and creating a viable alternative to commercially shipped and produced food.

Madeline and her husband sell surplus produce at the Excelsior Springs farmers market each week.

Keep It Simple

Keeping it simple is also important in achieving a functioning food production system. It doesn’t have to be a large, complicated system. Depending on the size of the community, a handful of people can work together to produce a surplus of food. Staying on the local scale also keeps the system simple since there is no need to organize a complex delivery system. A small tract of fertile, well-managed land or greenhouse is able to provide staggering amounts of fresh, nutritious food for a multitude of people.

Keeping it simple also eliminates the need for preservatives and food additives. If you are producing your own food or buying from local farmers, there is no need to add chemicals for preservation or hormones to enhance growth. You can control what you eat and feed to your family. This guarantees a more sustainable future for our livestock and crops as well as a healthy alternative to the large, commercial farming status quo.

Producing enough food for a family or for a small community does not warrant genetic engineering of the plants or animals. If we do not expect spotless apples and mammoth sized livestock and purchase from responsible local vendors, there is no reason to pump our food full of artificial chemicals and hormones or breed super strains of crops.

Keep It Sustainable

Lastly and most importantly, keeping the system sustainable will ensure a bright future of food production. This involves farming techniques to improve the soil and rotate crops to regain nitrogen and nutrients for food production as well as using resources sparingly. Sustainability also translates to the human side of food production. If there is no one to continue the system after the present generation of farmers, there will be no system. People must work together in a way that will ensure the existence of the program for years to come.

Education is another element to keeping it sustainable. Proper education of children on healthy farming and nutrition guarantees that there will be a new generation of sensible, sustainable farmers for a bright future. Teach children and other adults new to the local food movement how to grow and find local food for their families as well as the reasoning behind why they should do this. We are living in an age when children do not know where food comes from or how their food was produced. We need to change this. We all remember an afternoon spent with a parent or grandparent learning lessons that we would never forget. Food production should be included in the regular rotation of lessons on which we place importance for our children.

Building a sustainable local food production system is not an easy task, nor is it a temporary solution to an age-old problem. To truly fix the broken system we currently operate under, we must make changes at the ground level. Fundamental changes in the way we produce food for our nation, cities, towns, and communities must take place. If we continue down the path we have laid for ourselves, importing food from foreign countries at high prices, relying on preservatives to keep the food fresh, and using once-fertile ground as parking lots, we will rapidly spiral into a na- tion fully dependent on others for our sustenance. Community Gardens

          A small plot of land can be set aside for a community garden along with an 

optional greenhouse for more temperature-sensitive crops. A number of people or the entire community may work together to produce a variety of crops that will feed multiple families. Once the crops are available for harvest, the group can distribute the food throughout the local co-op network or sim- ply use the produce to feed their families. Keeping the operation on a scale of three to five families helps ensure that the workload is man- ageable and realistic. One cannot feed an entire army with a commu- nity garden. Creating a Community Garden

Any community with willing volunteers and a plot of land can start to produce 

their own produce. The American Community Garden Association provides a step- by-step instruction manual for creating a community garden anywhere. Contact your local Parks and Recreation department for information on creating a commu- nity garden in a city park or on public land. Local farming cooperatives (co-ops)

A farming co-op is defined as a collective of food producers working together 

to create an abundance of a crop or harvest. Co-ops can be as large or as small as needed. Many operate farmer’s markets to sell surplus goods for profit. Sycamore Bends Farm produces food for the Eureka Springs Farmers Market as serves as a member of a local, all-organic co-op. They produce enough crops to sell the surplus and supply the community. For the pur- pose of this article, I will focus on small co-ops that aim to produce enough food for their members and for a small commu- nity of a few families. Another approach involves existing farm- ers: Local farmers can “band together” to work as a team. They combine their crops after taking enough to feed their families then sell the surplus for a profit to be dis- tributed throughout the co-op. Many co-ops open small stores to sell surplus goods and use the profits to improve and maintain the operation. Those working together with prior experience and fertile land can produce a surplus of food quickly and effi- ciently. This is a more conventional example of a contemporary co-op, since modern communities do not share land or food as they once did. Creating a Co-Op

   Many guides exist to starting up a new cooperative for all types of topics. A USDA 

article outlines the process extensively from the ground up for a farming co-op. It gives step-by-step information on creating the management structure and how to acquire licenses from government agencies. Another wiki offers a more user-friendly approach to information on starting your own co-op. Subject You will need to... By the end of this stage you’ll have... Organizational Development Form an Organizing or Steer- ing Committee with people who represent the cooperative’s potential members. Identify your mission and core values. A committed group of people who agree on what they want this business to sell to whom. Business Development Define your key business concept – What products and services might the co-op supply that could make a significant economic difference in the lives of its members? Create a project development plan and budget. Conduct Market Research to deter- mine the need for your cooperative’s products and services and complete your feasibility analysis to see if you have a viable business idea. Market research that shows there is a large enough market and sufficient product to sell that the cooperative will be financially viable and make a significant economic contribution to its members; A clear plan and budget for each stage of development Member Development Share information with potential members about your business idea. Growing interest from potential cooperative members. Fundraising Secure funds for Stage One and begin fundraising for Stage Two. Funds raised to cover the cost of develop-ment for Stage One and some of Stage Two. Stage One: Exploration (3-6 Months) The Stages of a Cooperative Development Process http://cultivate.coop/wiki/Starting_a_cooperative Subject You will need to... By the end of this stage you’ll have... Organizational Development Set up your Founding Board, incor- porate your cooperative, and adopt Bylaws that describe how you will work together. A legally incorporated cooperative with a seated board. Business Development Create a Business Plan and Market- ing Plan that describes how you will launch your business, what it will cost, and where you’ll get the money. Raise money (equity) from mem- bers and get a loan to launch your business. A Business Plan and Marketing Plan show- ing how the cooperative will be launched. Member Development Recruit members for your coopera- tive. Enough members and money to launch your cooperative. Fundraising Secure development funds for Stages Two and Three. Funds raised to cover the cost of develop-ment for Stage Two: Stage Two: Business Planning (3-6 Months) Subject You will need to... By the end of this stage you’ll have... Organizational Development (If applicable) Set up office and hire staff. An office set up and staffed. Business Development Contract for and market products and services. Pre-sell members and/or customers products and services. Initial products and services ready to offer; Customers signed up for products and services. Member Development Orient new members to their roles and responsibilities. Members educated about their rights and responsibilities as co-op members. Stage Three: Cooperative Launch (2-6 Months) Subject You will need to... By the end of this stage you’ll have... Organizational Development Provide staff and management education and engage in strategic planning. A viable business, up and running, bring- ing economic benefit to its members and functioning in a democratic, responsible manner. Business Development Provide products and services in response to member needs; engage in sales and marketing and ongoing business development. Member Development Engage in member and board edu- cation. Stage Four: In Business If you are serious about starting a local farming co-op to benefit its members and the community, seek legal advice before following the steps above to ensure that all nec- essary licenses are obtained and regulations are followed. Each state has a different policy so it’s important to start off your co-op right. Works Cited Feenstra, Gail. “Local Food Systems and Sustainable Communities”. American Jour

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