Linking Urban and Rural as a Basis for a Good, Clean and Fair Food System

Could food sheds become real, like watersheds are real?

Changemakers Day Panel - August 29, 2008

Notes recorded by Gar House – Roots of Change Fellow, 2008

Summary: Urban and rural landscapes are currently disconnected on several crucial levels. To create truly sustainable communities social, cultural, economic and particularly ecological connectivity must be re-established between urban and rural systems. New concepts and innovative approaches are required to induce the current industrial system to successfully adapt. Applying and expanding the foodshed concept provides a potential solution framework to nurture this connectivity and promote sustainable agricultural systems. Food literacy is essential to food safety and security. Urban citizens need to not only know where and how their food is grown, but also accept responsibility and an active role in supporting local, ecologically-based farming in their adjacent rural communities.

The UN estimates that beginning this year; more humans will live in cities than in the country for the first time in world history. We know from history that when urban and rural communities disconnect, cities fall. City people provide markets, capital, recycled water, compost, and increasingly they drive policy. Country people are stewards of important finite resources and places, and are producers of food, fiber, and energy. Urban and rural populations are interdependent, but many people have forgotten this fact. Join four innovators as they explore their challenge in leading San Francisco’s effort to develop a common cause among urban and rural leaders in a 200-mile arc around the city.

Left to Right: Sibella Kraus, Agriculture at the Metropolitan Edge; Ed Thompson, Jr. – California Director, American Farmland Trust; David Pascal - Office of the Mayor, City of San Francisco; Paul Muller – Full Belly Farms, organic farmer; Moderator; Michael Dimock, Roots of Change

_{Photos © 2008 Mike Kahn/Green Stock Media. All rights reserved.}

Michael Dimock - Question – Set One for Panel:

Michael Dimock asked these introductory questions: What is a foodshed? Is it like a watershed? In what ways? What is needed to make a foodshed manageable as a watershed?

What is being done to create the link between urban and rural landscapes?

Sibella Kraus:
1.   Urban centers rely upon agricultural support – many books & much literature on soil and civilization – historic precedents exist, not new.
2.   Seek and promote mutually beneficial flows between cities and rural areas. Make the connections symbiotic – examples include Sonoma County which taxes itself for good watershed management and agricultural land preservation
3.   Areas of tension do exist between rural and urban such as land use, pesticides, water quality and usage
4.   Sibella announced the upcoming Foodshed Relationship meeting on October 22, 2008 in Davis, CA – meeting to foster the urban and rural link
5.   Urban edge agricultural parks are an interface between urban and rural landscapes – they become a common ground, making it easier to market food and provide citizens with educational amenities.
6.   Land availability is key issue
7.   Importantly provides an opportunity for fresh food for urban dwellers
8.   San Francisco has a 40,000 acre watershed
9.   There is an agricultural park ‘Sonole’(?) (did not hear the name clearly, nor the location) which sells produce to poor communities. The plots are tended and harvested with citizen involvement
10.   San Jose in Santa Clara County is planning a 300 acre agricultural park in which the partnerships & planning have been very strong
11.   Napa Valley has a proposed eco-village to be located on a local college campus
12.   Teaming with UC Davis to achieve these goals to promote a ‘new ruralism’ based upon sustainable agricultural principles and methods. – the goal is to reconnect with the countryside and to retro-fit rural areas to support urban areas.
13.   Such rural + urban connections should be deeply imbedded into the best values of ‘city making’ – leverage institutional advantages of both the rural and urban areas
14.   Education – student interest is high and is focused on interdisciplinary studies.
15.   Sibella announced another symposium on ‘New Ruralism’ with Fred Kirschenmann and Raj Patel. (part of SFN conference?)
16.   Rural + Urban connection strategy must include land use + transportation, and include a ‘greenprint’ (rural infrastructure) as well as a blueprint. SACOG (?) project = an example
17.   The San Francisco foodshed project pulls from many sources to collaborate and share resources and methodology

_{© Mike Kahn/Green Stock Media}

Ed Thompson, Jr.:
1.   The urban + rural area connection is critical – ‘No farms, no food’.
2.   Undertook a study to ask the question; Could San Francisco feed itself from the local foodshed? Wanted to take a measure of what was being produced in the area with an eye to viewing both the challenge and opportunity. Also could it be scaled?
3.   ‘Think globally, eat locally’ summarizes this story. As consumed within any given year, the area could feed 20 times the population all within 100 miles of San Francisco. Exceptions were eggs, wheat, and pork which are not produced in significant quantities within the San Francisco Foodshed.
4.   Although food not grow year round, region is blessed with great weather and high potential for self-sufficiency.
5.   Highest and best use of land should always be considered in any given area – not just economic but social and food security-wise as well. Carbon impact reduced by soil biology – ecologically-based agriculture can play a large roll in carbon mitigation. Great central valley of California responsible for a significant portion of the food grown in the entire USA. Covering & removing prime agricultural land with suburban housing is highly inefficient at 1 acre per 9 people – nor is it sustainable – AFT wishes to preserve agricultural land
6.   many challenges yet great deal of momentum from taking farms from big to small and connecting consumers with producers
7.   Currently very difficult to trace origins for food – ‘incognito food’ Ed Thompson – better transparency in food is needed. This is the goal.
8.   Growing organic food requires an entirely different skill set than industrial agriculture for growing commodities
9.   We have spent the last 100 years dismantling the old system of many small farms as the supporting infrastructure.
10.   Report available for downloading at farmland.org

David Pascal
1.   Urban + Rural roundtable 2005 document which brought together many stakeholders, each representing a segment of the whole system
2.   Roots of Change has identified these challenges: food access, food security, economics of the foodshed, collaboration among many stakeholders to ease tensions, reverse or mitigate the dismantling of the rural + urban connectivity, natural resources – must learn to become land stewards, recognize competing demands, and make sure that cultural and bio-diversity are respected and understood.
3.   Is the watershed a good model for the foodshed? Long-term implications of today’s decisions need to be explored and understood.

Paul Muller:
1.   Broad concepts need to be explored and recognized
2.   Need more food security in our county food systems
3.   Current commodities bill demonstrates the disconnect of rural food production with urban citizens
4.   Food system highly dependent upon non-renewable, fossil fuel energy. Under the industrial food production system food is mined and extracted from the soil rather than applying land stewardship principles leading to a sustainable system. This system has resulted in the depopulation of rural California and its supporting institutions for small, rural communities – these institutions are now largely gone from the landscape. Yet   sustainability depends upon these supporting, local, agriculturally-oriented institutions
5.   Rural people were provide a poor set of tools based upon the industrial rather than the biological model of mimicking ecosystem pathways and processes.
6.   Need to rethink our values regarding biodiversity and their relationship to sustainability. We must question the model as it now exists and create a sustainable, workable bridge between the urban and rural landscape. Critical to rethink the agricultural model which is completely focused on corn, wheat, and soybean production and has forgotten the importance of rural communities. Must organize farms on new principles, especially diversity.
7.   Local market within 100 miles = benchmark (1500 families in CSA ?)
8.   Observe and nurture the health of our agricultural ecosystems – the whole biological system must be included – a holistic rather than reductionist viewpoint – connection of the farm system – ‘all levels of life have a role” Can definitely succeed economically
9.   Moving toward ‘good food’ – for example everyone recognizes and appreciate the taste of a good peach. Need to push the concept that food can be healthy and delicious. New local, sustainable agricultural model has ‘lots of legs’ – many small farmers provides diversity and strength
10.   Urban areas must re-invest in rural areas + support them and be willing to pay a fair price for food – appreciate what the food is worth – San Francisco is beginning to address these issues in earnest.

_{© Mike Kahn/Green Stock Media}

Michael Dimock – Questions - Set Two for Panel: How do we make the foodshed ubiquitious? Can the watershed + foodshed be compared? Goal = How do we achieve the goal of a continuum between the urban and rural landscape?

Sibella Kraus:
1.   Both rural and urban areas possess geography and time dimensions – food is also seasonal just as is drainage in the watershed, so both exist within the nature’s seasonal cycle
2.   Foodshed concept not new – originated in 1929 to help explain where our food comes from and how to protect and preserve our land & food producing base – ‘need to protect the land’
3.   Both the foodshed and watershed have been radically altered in the past 50 years. Originally a reasonable distance existed between the farm and table. This is no longer the case. Now agriculture is global. We must retro-fit back to local food sources.

Ed Thompson:
1.   Both the foodshed and watershed have been radically altered in the past 50 years. Originally a reasonable distance existed between the farm and table. This is no longer the case. Now agriculture is global. We must retro-fit back to local food sources.

Paul Muller:
1.   For a system to be healthy and provide healthy food all components must be operating under ecological processes
2.   Important to keep dollar flow within regional economies

David Pascal:
1.   Place, rhythm and flow all important to a foodshed as well as a watershed
2.   Municipalities must protect watersheds and foodsheds
3.   Foodshed is a active, dynamic system – investing large amount of resources for a healthy system – this will provide citizens with a healthy food base and is fair to all participants

Questions and Comments from audience:

Question 1: Farm workers in Fresno do not connect with the large farmers. How do we begin to dismantle their system?

Answers to 1:
Ed Thompson: Fresno is expanding to create a local food or agricultural green belt around the city. Production agriculture will be represented in this process. The large industrial farmers are interested and desire to mitigate farm worker risk. Better than ‘dismantle’ use the term ‘induce’ or evolve to change.

David Pascal: Must reconnect with all parties to mitigate risk. Most stakeholders recognize need to come to the table to talk about these issues. There is a desire to connect and a genuine desire to address questions and for a dialog.

Question 2: Steve Gliessman – Labor and social justice are missing from this discussion. Could you please address?

Answers to 2:
Paul Muller: Farming in the industrial mode is not conducive to thinking about labor except as a part of the input process. This is related to a larger question and issue: making people accountable for the food that they eat. Related questions are: can we provide year-round employment for farm workers? Health insurance? Can we enhance the fertility of our soil? Must give people a stake in land stewardship – water, energy, labor, soil, all are critical for a healthy sustainable food system.

Labor comment by Amelia (Roots of Change fellow): Started as a farm worker in the field and now working with 500 farm workers throughout the state. The middle level labor contractors often leads to hidden exploitation of farm workers. Safe food is more than bringing in organizations, but also about ugly topics not easily discussed. As a Roots of Change fellow wish to bring to light the rights of human beings and their need for food and for growers’ responsibility to mitigate such hidden topics and issues.

Comment by Michael Dimock: Farmer workers are the indicators in the foodshed.

David Pascal: Must feed population with limited resources. And must reconcile differences to make them more equitable. San Francisco is drafting new ordinances to report the place of origin of food as well as establish labor standards. Must be aware of practices to increase the transparency of how our food is produced. Cheap food is at the expense of farm worker exploitation. Bring new farmers into the system? Who are the main economic players to subsidize access?

Sibella Kraus: Immigrant farmers from all over the world are beginning to grow food in California. These immigrants use traditional systems in their farming operations. They see farming as a supplement to their living, not always their sole means of income. It is very important to have land access. Communities benefit from farming. A different set of paradigms must be recognized – hidden costs appreciated as well as insufficiently measured benefits. Need to identify and quantify the benefits of diverse, traditional farming to understand when, where and how to apply political effort. Struggling with the concept of how to place an economic value on community benefits of local, diverse, safe, organic farming methods.

Paul Muller: Use surplus land and create farmers’ markets. This combination creates healthy biological systems. Marginally move the agricultural system toward ecosystem health. Create mechanisms within the system to make it work – include all supporting pieces, especially the marketing of food.

Question 3: Although San Francisco is able to feed 20 times its population within a 100 mile radius, what about Los Angeles? Ventura? How do we begin to break through the existing monocultures? How do we become price makers instead of price takers?

Answers to 3:
Paul Muller: Farmers have responded rationally to what has been given to them. Now need to change what farmers are compensated for. Suggest we explore sustainable and stewardship indices and move toward a shared relationship among stakeholder groups related to agriculture.
Question 4: The end of the era of subsidized fossil fuel is upon us. This changes conditions for workers and farms should become more people friendly, for example no pesticides. Are we seeing this trend yet? Can farms be redesigned to allow vacationing at the farm? CSA involvement possible?

Answer to 4:
Sibella Kraus: All have a sense of country within us. We enjoy the country. Perhaps the concept of agroecological condos? A role for farms beyond the country gentleman, squire estate is needed. A place for all of us to reconnect with our agricultural heritage. School gardens very important in this regard. Many opportunities exist for interaction between urban and rural communities.

Notes by Karen Schmidt, Roots of Change Fellow 2008

Urban edge agricultural parks
Need a new ruralism to parallel new urbanism.
The Sacramento Council of Governments that developed a regional land use blueprint is now working with SAGE on a “greenprint”
The aim is not to dismantle conventional ag – rather it is to help is evolve while hedging risks
Need to find new ways to give urban dwellers ownership of rural places – right now their only options are ranchette development and gentrification
Foodshed assessment of San Francisco Bay Area indicates that farms and ranches within 100 miles of the city produce far more food than the Bay Area consumes. However few crops can be produced year-round and some basic commodities are not produced in abundance in the region because other crops yield higher economic returns. The local food sector is a small fraction of the total production capacity.

David Pascal announced that Mayor Newsom is forming an Urban-Rural Roundtable to follow up American Farmland Trust's Foodshed Assessment, Think Globally, Eat Locally.

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