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Important Food System Concepts
Here is a growing list of concepts important to formation of a sustainable food system in California. Some were even pioneered by folks involved in the Changemakers Network supported by Roots of Change. Regardless of origin, they are important and the transformation to a sustainable food system will be accelerated as more of the state’s residents come to understand and integrate these concepts in their lives, work and communities.

Please join the Changemakers Network in order to learn more about these and other exciting concepts!


Urban-Rural Partnerships

Urban centers exist and thrive when rural regions produce a surplus of food and fiber.  When civilizations forget this dependence and under-invest in the health and wellbeing of their surrounding rural regions, collapse is inevitable. Examples of this relationship, and consequences from its break down, can be found in the works of Allan Savory ,  the evangelist for holistic management, Edward Hyams’ thoughtful book, Soil and Civilization, and recent work by Jared Diamond and Paul Roberts .

This relationship is a two-way street, and rural communities depend on urban centers for markets, capital, and good policy, though today they might describe themselves as vulnerable to the whims and wishes of urban centers.  There is actually significant tension between urban and rural communities that Roots of Change is seeking to address through its financial support of Ag Innovations Network and the AFA and FSA roundtables.

There are signs of improvement in rural and urban relations. In recent years resource flows have begun to highlight the important opportunities for recognizing mutually beneficial links. Cities and urban-based philanthropies have supported land trusts and agricultural land preservation projects that protect farmland. At least one metropolitan area in California has even taxed itself to do this! Rural regions practicing good watershed stewardship ensure cities have clean water to drink. Cities practicing good water treatment increasingly supply farmers with recycled water for crop irrigation. Cities that practice green waste collection and compost provide a soil amendment that is good for improving farmland. Rural regions that focus on eco- or agritourism provide urbanites with spaces and places for recreation and leisure. Cities that value fresh healthy produce provide sites and support for farmers markets and wholesale distribution. A healthy symbiosis can exist when urban and rural people understand and foster healthy resource flows.

Roots of Change is committed to expanding the development of urban-rural partnerships focused on reawakening both worlds to their interdependence. More cities could provide economic incentives for farmers willing to preserve agriculturally productive land in zones around the city, thereby ensuring sufficient local land to feed their populations. More cities could supply water and compost to farmers and expand the direct marketing opportunities for local farmers. More farmers could practice watershed stewardship and develop agritourism. We could all do more to ensure the urban-rural relationship is dynamic and supportive of sustainable civilization.

In the fall of 2008, with support from Roots of Change, the city of San Francisco will hold a series of three roundtable meetings involving 15 leaders from the country and 15 from the city. Their mission will be to discuss how both sides could develop a working relationship that benefits both communities. American Farmland Trust, Ag Innovations Network, SAGE, Public Health Law & Policy, Food From the Park, and San Francisco Department of Public Health will collaborate to support these 30 urban and rural leaders. Mayor Gavin Newsom and California’s Secretary of Agriculture, AG Kawamura, have both agreed to participate. Check back in the mid fall to learn more.


Biologically Integrated Farming Systems

Hundreds of farmers now employ biologically integrated farming systems on tens of thousands of acres of winegrapes, almonds, walnuts and other crops throughout California. By reducing the risks associated with chemical use, these systems of biologically integrated farming do not harm, but instead often improve, the economics of these farming operations.  They no longer spray chemicals or add fertilizers based on a pre-set schedule. They are now keen observers and active stewards of the land, responding to the ever-changing dynamics within the multiple biological systems of orchards and vineyards. Biologically integrated farming systems (BIFS) offer a means for California agriculture to more practically meet society’s environmental goals on a mass-production scale.

Biological farming preserves the farm’s long-term productive capacity and the natural environment using a “whole systems” approach, enhancing natural biological processes. Specifically, farmers build and preserve soil health with natural vegetative cover, or by planting nitrogen rich cover crops, and/or applications of compost. Farmers encourage beneficial predator insect populations to control harmful pests. When they must spray, farmers use less biologically disruptive insecticides such as Bacillus thuringiensis or BT (allowed under organic standards), avoiding broad-spectrum chemicals that kill randomly. Biological farmers carefully monitor insect populations to pinpoint spray times, maximizing impact. They seek to increase biological diversity by erecting raptor boxes and planting hedgerows of native grasses, shrubs, and trees, offering beneficial insect and wildlife habitat.

Biological farming is a composite of the best practices from conventional and organic agriculture. Unlike organic farmers, biological farmers do have the option of using a “hard chemical” if damage of economic significance threatens. Hence, the farmers possess a sense that they are protected from pest-induced disasters. Still, the reduction in chemical use is environmentally significant. Among surveyed farmers in the Biologically Integrated Orchard Systems (BIOS) project, biological farming reduced harmful organophosphate usage by 90%.

Farmers are not the only ones advocating biological farming methods. Government officials and nonprofits like Community Alliance with Family Farms (CAFF) that are focused on resource and environmental protection have supported these methods as a practical way of meeting society’s environmental goals. US EPA, USDA, several state agencies and foundations are investing in programs that promote biological farming. They do this because it is more quickly and easily adopted by larger numbers of farmers than the organic system. The increased numbers of growers using biological systems means major overall reductions in the use of chemicals. In addition, food and fiber resulting from biological farming require lower price premiums than those associated with organic production, making environmentally sensitive products affordable for many more people.

In Europe, biologically integrated farming has attained much higher rates of adoption due to European Union incentive payments and promotion of the system by retailers and environmental nonprofits. As of 2000, in Holland, 70% of hothouse flower growers, 50% of the mushroom growers and 25% of the field-grown vegetable farms use biological methods. In Switzerland, 80% of all the farmers use biological farming methods, 10% farm organically and only 10% use conventional farming techniques. In 2002, in California, the California Association of Winegrape Growers and The Wine Institute formed an industry-wide initiative, the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing that has moved thousands of growers, who manage hundreds of thousands of acres of vines, to adopt biologically integrated farming systems. They have demonstrated how California’s farmer and crop associations could transform the vast majority of the State’s production by 2030.

More science, updated policy, and market demand will help speed the transformation. This is where California’s residents must play a role. Please write letters to state and federal policymakers calling for them to support farmer as they move to adopt biologically integrated farming systems. Ask your retailer to require these systems as part of their product specifications. Look for labels and certifications like Food Alliance that identify products that are grown using these techniques and buy them!


Food Sovereignty

Food sovereignty is a term first conceived by the global peasant movement Via Campesina in 1996 at their Second International Conference in Tlaxcala, Mexico.  Via Campesina is a transnational peasant and farm movement that has vowed to collectively resist the globalization of agriculture to ensure that the voices of those who produce the world’s food would be heard.

Following is Via Campesina’s definition:

Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture policies; to protect and regulate domestic agricultural production and trade in order to achieve sustainable development objectives; to determine the extent to which they want to be self reliant; to restrict the dumping of products in their markets, and; to provide local fisheries-based communities the priority in managing the use of and the rights to aquatic resources. Food sovereignty does not negate trade, but rather, it promotes the formulation of trade policies and practices that serve the rights of peoples to safe, healthy and ecologically sustainable production.

Although this concept may have the most resonance in developing nations due to impacts of food aide and trade policy on rural economies, it is becoming widely discussed in Europe and North America. In an interesting twist, high income and low income communities, both rural and urban alike, are increasingly attracted to the notion of gaining more control over their food supplies. Roots of Change believes this concept will prove increasingly appealing in light of concerns over rising energy and food costs, food safety, and community health.

For more information visit:

BBC News 

Food First

Oakland Institute

The Oil Drum

Via Campesina


Foodshed

The concept of watersheds and the existence of watershed management plans have provided a means for human communities to more sustainably depend on a renewable, but precious, resource that is defined by an ecological reality. Like a watershed, a foodshed relates to a geographic area that provides the basis for food production. Like a watershed a foodshed must be maintained. Like a watershed, a foodshed may not be the only source of the resource (think of Los Angeles, which imports most of its water via pipeline). Roots of Change believes that maximizing local food production has economic, ecological, and nutritional benefits that will becoming increasingly pronounced as natural resources become more valuable and food related illness more acute.

The State has long established protocols for planning communities, including general plans, which often contain “Ag Elements” that clarify county goals for agriculture. Unfortunately, the current concept of “best and highest use” does not refer to agriculture, which is seen as a temporary economic stage that will end when the land is developed for other commercial activity or housing. Roots of Change believes the mental model that frames agriculture as impermanent is no longer appropriate or sustainable. Rather, as they do for water supplies, communities must begin to plan for permanent food production regions and infrastructure that will ensure fresh, healthy and diverse food supplies.

The essential infrastructures need not be publicly owned and operated, although this may be appropriate for certain components of a food system. From primary production points on farms, ranches and in fisheries, to processing and distribution, private enterprise will remain the primary driver of foodshed activity. However, we know, as with other industries and societal needs today, including agriculture, the public sector could provide key investments or incentives for private investment in strategic elements of a functional foodshed system. A foodshed management plan becomes the vehicle for illuminating the practical path to foodshed development and maintenance for cities, counties or regions.

ROC seeks to make strategic philanthropic investments in partnership with government and others in order to demonstrate the value and efficacy of the foodshed and foodshed management plan concepts.

Following are definitions meant to spawn a process for more thorough analysis and development of truly workable definitions that will guide Roots of Change as it seeks to support six major California cities as they develop the foodshed management concept between 2008 and 2012.

Draft Definition of a Foodshed
A foodshed is the area of land and sea within a region from which food is produced in order to deliver nutrition to a population base. It includes productive lands and waters, farms, ranches, harbors, urban agriculture, processing and composting facilities, distribution points, transportation corridors and systems, wholesale and retail sites. A foodshed may cross a county, state, and even international border. Its purpose links urban and rural communities and humans to biological realities. The size of the foodshed depends on the size of market within the region that needs the food and the capacity of the producers surrounding it to supply that market.

A foodshed management plan guides producers, businesses, and government as they work to ensure the healthy function of a foodshed, which in turn helps maintain the long-term health of the community. The plan may clarify sources, systems of distribution, quality standards for public institution, legal frameworks, maintenance activity, and monitoring in order to ensure that those seeking nutrition, regardless of income level, are sufficiently supplied.


Farming With the Wild

From bacteria and fungi to grasses, ferns, trees, insects, and mammals, biodiversity encompasses all life forms. More than that, it covers the full range of processes, such as nutrient cycling, carbon and nitrogen fixation, pollination, and beneficial predation.

Conserving biodiversity benefits farms and the larger landscape. Agriculture that provides natural habitat, combined with similar efforts across the land, can meet the needs of multiple species, support pollination and pest control, protect water quality, and make a meaningful contribution to wild nature. On most farms, opportunities exist to accommodate the needs of local species with only minor changes to farming practices. Many farmers are already contributing to biodiversity by some of their activities.

For more information, visit Wild Farm Alliance


Working Landscapes

Most of us enjoy the views provided by agricultural land as we travel the roads, rails, and air routes of our great nation. Whether it’s a field of rice waving in the breeze, black and white dairy cows plodding toward a barn, rolling hills of corn, or the deep green circle of an irrigation wheel amidst a brown landscape, agriculture is beautiful. What is less obvious as we pass by these views is the fact that the beauty of the land is maintained by revenue flowing to those who manage that land. These landscapes are both beautiful and working.

A working landscape is a farm, ranch, or forest actively used in agricultural production. When you consider forests, rangeland and farmland, most of this nation is actually working landscape. Our economic system and cultural context prefers that the economic burden of protecting and maintaining land be primarily borne by individuals or companies, with some exceptions. For example, as a nation, we have agreed to use public funds for some lands via parks, preserves, forests, and wilderness areas. We also provide tax reductions or stewardship incentive payments to landowners that commit their land to agricultural or stewardship use. In California, the Williamson Act lowers property tax rates for long-term commitment to agricultural uses. The Williamson Act is partially responsible for the plethora of working landscapes in California.

Protection of agricultural land is essential. We need to ensure the nation can feed, cloth and house itself. The most practical way to maintain the vast majority of agricultural land is to maintain sustainable economic opportunity for land managers so that the lands pay for themselves. Every time you purchase a product sustainably grown in California, you invest in the maintenance and enhancement of the working landscape. Every time you buy local, you ensure your community will remain close to food and farms and to what is beautiful.

There are numerous entities working to promote and protect working landscapes, including:

California Rangeland Conservation Coaliton

California Rangeland Trust

Landowner Stewardship Program

Red Lodge Clearing House

Trust for Public Land – Working Lands Initiative

USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service



Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits; and supporting services, such as nutrient cycling, that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.  Many of these goods and services are  traditionally viewed as free benefits to society, or "public goods".  Lacking a formal market, these natural assets are traditionally absent from society’s balance sheet; their critical contributions are often overlooked in public, corporate, and individual decision-making.  

The idea of ecosystem services has been expanded and popularized by Gretchen Daily, a biologist at Stanford University, in her 1997 book, Nature's Services.  One of the most successful examples of ecosystem services that is commonly highlighted is New York's decision a decade ago to invest a relatively small amount in protecting the Catskill/Delaware watershed, including money to upgrade Catskill dairy farms, in order to ensure clean drinking water for New York City, instead of building a multibillion-dollar artificial filtration plant.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and its report on Ecosystem Services

The Natural Capital Project

The Ecological Society of America – Ecosystem Services Fact Sheet

The Katoomba Group

CSIRO

Ecosystem Service Wiki
 
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