The Health of the Nation: New Article on Regional Foodsheds

After recently attending a Food Empowerment conference at Rutgers in Newark, I was left to consider the necessity of  cities to secure sustainable and resilient foodsheds and the types of policies that would go hand in hand with supporting these structures.  In researching ideas I came across a new 2011 law review article from the Fordham Environmental Law Review: Regional Foodsheds: Are Our Local Zoning and Land Use Regulations Healthy?  The article explains some of the reasons why its so important to focus on agriculture as a solution to our recent environmental, health and social equity issues and also inventories some local communities efforts (within the USA) and the policies they are experimenting with to create and sustain local foodsheds.

The most crucial point the article makes, and one which policy makers, activists and local communities should take note of, if they want to create an inclusive, broad reaching and sustainable foodsystem, is the idea that planning for regional foodsheds should be a collaborative process: “Regional foodshed planning must be comprehensive, and it should ―approach food not just [as] a commodity but as an infrastructural system. . . that needs to be managed and considered in all urban and regional planning efforts.”

Currently, in most situations, food is viewed exclusively as a commodity.  This understanding of food is as unsustainable and unhealthy as it is  incorrect, and we should be as concerned about the present dysfunctional state of our food supply system as we are with other forms of our crumbling infrastructure - roads and foreign-oil dependence.  Consider our current dependent on foreign oil and how stressful the situation has become, now imagine being dependent upon foreign food.  We would soon find ourselves in the situation faced by the majority of the global south, where crops are grown for export and the farmers growing these crops cannot afford to buy imported staple crops to feed themselves.  It is past time to consider how we can improve our current food system structure, and our relationship with food itself.

The article begins by providing an overview of local and regional foodsheds, reviewing not only the environmental and public health benefits, but also highlighting the economic benefits:

In 2009, U.S. households spent more than $526 billion on food produced outside of the home, indicating a significant economic market for locally grown and processed food. Local sourcing can supply a significant amount of food. A recent Michigan State University study posits that by converting vacant urban land to a host of urban agriculture related…, Detroit residents could be supplied with 76% of their vegetables and more than 40% of their fruits… Strong regional food markets economically support labor-intensive small and medium sized farms, which have been overtaken in the past several decades by mechanized, large-scale industrial agricultural operations. Local economies are also reinforced as the foodshed movement spurs the need for local food processing facilities and agri-businesses providing supplies, equipment and services… In addition to job creation and economic development, regional food markets reduce transportation costs and provide some insulation from volatility in the global food market. Furthermore, regional markets for production and processing can decrease costs for healthy foods, which can in turn produce economic benefits by preventing health care costs from diseases associated with poor diet and obesity.

Following this overview, the authors go on to detail strategies that local governments might attempt: creating food policy councils/task forces and incorporating food policies into their comprehensive planning.

Some local comprehensive plans contain sections…that touch on regional food policies, such as agriculture, sustainability, or economic development elements. For example, in Marin County, CA the plan supports “the production and marketing of healthy, fresh, locally grown food.”

The article also delves into a number of other policies being tried across the country, including policies that many larger cities (including NYC) have begun to explore: employing the purchasing power of local governments (and also large institutions):

Procurement policies that favor locally grown foods can help establish a market to support regional food production. In Cleveland, for example, an ordinance was passed in 2010 that requires the commissioner of purchases and supplies and each contracting department to develop a list of local food producers and businesses and to ―endeavor to maximize purchases from these sources. It also favors contract bidders that are locally based and purchase twenty percent of their food locally. Albany County, New York, has also enacted a policy to increase the percentage of local food consumed at the county‘s residential healthcare and correctional facilities. The policy recognizes that locally produced food supports the regional economy, requires less oil and gas, and provides nutritional benefits. Furthermore, in early 2011, a proposal was introduced in New York City to increase purchases of New York state food by city agencies.

The article is a great general starting place for anyone wanting to view a broad array of possibilities for their local communities.  It is also an invaluable tool for those in Newark’s city government and others involved in the redevelopment of the city’s food system and the new sustainability plan.

Spring Seedlings for Summer Sustenance: Planting Round #2 in Newark

Last Sunday the Tabernacle Garden in Newark planted their summer seedlings as a part of a day of celebration over the gardens initial success.  As a part of Newark's Interfaith Week the tabernacle opened it's doors to the neighboring community and invited them to share in celebrating the projects progress so far, as well as plans for expansion in the following year.  Rabbi Curtis Caldwell kicked off the event with a welcoming speech, inviting the entire community to join in both the planting and harvesting of the garden, as well as the larger vision of creating a community project to serve as a catalyst and centerpiece for rejuvenating the community.  

Following a short commemorative video, which highlighted the initial planting with local Peshine Avenue Preparatory and TEAM Charter schools, the Rabbi invited up partner institution Planting Seeds of Hope to introduce the broader project goals to the community.  Emilio Panasci, local planner and representative for PSOH and Open Communities, explain the current on-site collaboration between the local schools, government offices, urban agricultural institutions and the faith community as well as the desire to expand the current project through the development of a new community development corporation based around the urban agricultural project and it’s potential offshoots.  

This potential was fleshed out in a brief discussion of example projects across other regions led by Ms. Payne, the teams sustainability and agricultural development consultant, and highlighted the cohesive potential of urban agricultural institutions to promote integration of diverse populations around community gardening activities, the possibility of addressing local economic issues through agriculturally based business ventures, and the potential for the envisioned educational center to serve in promoting multiple urban justice goals: increasing food access and nutritional education, as well as enhancing local public space and creating a haven for civic action and community activism.  

In closing, Stephen Panasci, the group’s landscape architect debuted the proposed garden design to be phased in over the next year.  The plan included the expansion of the current raised beds, as well as the addition of an Urban Orchard and various learning areas.  

The brief overview and call for community collaboration was followed by a meal prepared by the in-house Chef, Shonda, and featured nutritious dishes based on the vegetables and herbs the tabernacle expects to harvest from their garden later this year.  Following the presentation, local children and parents were invited to participate in the spring seedling planting.  The children were given a hands-on opportunity to connect with locally grown foods as well as the opportunity to learn about the life-cycle of plants and some growing basics.  Community members were also invited to participate in funding the future of the project with a mini-seedling sale, which took place throughout the planting.

A preview of the seedlings to be planted

Preparing the new beds

Tomatoes for the summer community dinners

Staking out our peas and beans

Learning how to loosen the roots

Planting Marigolds to scare off pests

Companion planting with onions and eggplants

Water for our thirsty transfers

All this and more in a days work!

Growing Community In Newark: Ground Breaking Event

Sunday marked the groundbreaking event for the Tabernacle Garden in Newark, New Jersey.  A community building venture hosted by the Tabernacle, the Garden will be open to the entire community and will be based in a partnership with the local Team Academy and Peshine Schools.

Some of the participants, including Tabernacle and community members, Planting Seeds of Hope members and local students.

Students choosing what to plant and learning why we were planting it now.

Cleaning out the beds for planting.

Planting our herb borders (Dill, Parsley, Basil, and Cilantro!)

Getting our fingers dirty at a young age: Community Mini-Gardeners!

More to Come Soon!

An Edible Schoolyard Grows in Brooklyn

Yesterday Historic P.S. 39 The Henry Bristow Landmark School in Park Slope, Brooklyn launched an innovative Edible Community Garden (ECG) pilot program. The program plans to integrate the garden into the school’s curriculum, food program, and the surrounding community and is based in an edible micro-garden, showcasing modern planting methods appropriate for urban challenges. 

The growing obesity epidemic across the US has highlighted the critical link between children’s health and nutrition, and improving school food has been recognized as one important area where cities can tackle the problem at a local level.  School gardens have been recognized as engaging, hands on solutions to this issue. With the stated goal of engaging students in all aspects of farm to fork activities from inception to harvest, the project hopes to foster curiosity and a desire to understanding where food comes from in the students and community, as well as encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, and teach them in a hands-on way what it means to be environmental stewards.  

Currently, outside of several well-publicized and intensively funded school garden initiatives, few examples exist in the US that can quickly and affordably enable communities to tackle nutritional and food justice issues right now.  The pilot project hopes to team P.S. 39 staff with parents and community members in order to build a showcase school garden that aims to become a template and inclusive model of urban micro-farming for schools, homes, and businesses across the country, all within a 6 month time period.

P.S. 39 ECG intends to implement a garden-based learning curriculum where scientific principles come to life. The edible garden will be used to engage students with hands-on learning experiences from ‘seed to plate’ throughout the growing seasons.  The elementary classes will study, plant, maintain, harvest and enjoy the edible plants through curriculum-tied activities, learning about scientific principals through hands on experience. 

The pilot program will be based in pioneering sub-irrigated micro-garden planter technology, ideal for urban environments. Sub-irrigated planter systems (SIPs), store water and oxygen below the potting mix and roots, conserving water and nutrients, and are therefore more accessible and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional gardens.   The beneficial closed loop system dramatically increases yields, and aboveground planter system is ideal for urban lots without open soil areas or with possibly contaminated soil.   Through the use of readily available recycled containers such as shipping pallets and soda bottles, SIP design makes ‘plots’ portable and easy to maintain, as well as, providing an economically efficient solutions for communities with limited resources

The Edible Community Garden Pilot Program represents an integral component of a larger district-wide movement to become a pilot district for wellness in the schools.  Other local schools are also growing food in school gardens, implementing salad bars and healthier menus in their cafeterias, reducing styrofoam and waste, integrating food choices into the curriculum, and helping families learn to cook healthier meals.

Hopefully this innovative project will prove inspirational to other schools in the New York area and beyond, but also show that these projects can be successful even with limited time, funding and experience, so that all communities see that enjoying the fruits of their labors is within their reach.