williams presentation
TRANSCRIPT
Feed Northampton: FIRST STEPS TOWARD A LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM
Responding Innovatively to Challenges
UNDERSTANDING FOOD AS A
SYSTEM
Components of a food system
Scales of foOD SYSTEMS:
3. National
4. Global
1. Local
2. Regional
The Global Foodshed • A foodshed is the area between where food is
produced and where food is consumed, including: - where food is grown - where food travels on distribution routes - where it is processed and packaged - where it’s sold and consumed
On average, food consumed in the United States
travels over 1,500 miles and changes hands half a
dozen times before it even reaches the table
A D V A N T A G E S o f l a r g e - s c a l e s y s t e m s
• Access to wide varieties of food from distant lands and warmer climates
• Food is available year-round
• Food is produced and sold at low costs, making it more accessible to food insecure
W E A K N E S S E S of large-scale s y s t e m s
• The reliance on fossil fuels makes the system vulnerable, due fuel availability and fluctuating costs
• Massive waste stream pollutes the environment and fails to capitalize on potential opportunities
• Centralized processing plants are susceptible to contamination affecting people nation-wide
• Less economic trickle down to local economy
PLANNING A LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM:
a proactive response to the vulnerabilities of large-scale food systems for securing our food
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
Stimulates local economy
Reduces environmental impacts
Enhances community
UNREALIZED OPPORTUNITIES... • A local food system planned at the municipal level has
the potential to provide food security and support job growth
• Individuals, businesses, and local governments can realize that there is an opportunity to plan a local food system that can foster:
entrepreneurial endeavors
educational opportunities
community assets
food abundance
CHALLENGES to be overcome:
...However, there are constraints and limitations to local food cultivation
• Land is prohibitively expensive
• Diminishing agricultural land
• Voids in infrastructure
• Legal barriers and zoning restrictions
• Short growing season
Responding Innovatively to Challenges
FEED NORTHAMPTON: First steps Towards a Local Food System
A process for developing a
LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM
1. Land Assessment
2. Appropriate Strategies
3. Assembling a Whole System
Context: Northampton lies in the fertile
Pioneer Valley
Some of the richest agricultural soils in the
world: Winooski/Hadley Loam
1) LAND ASSESSMENT
0‐3%3‐8%8‐15%15‐25%25+%
Slope Analysis
Legend
soils
Density & grocery stores
COMPOSITE ANALYSIS ← Slopes
← Land Use
← Impervious Surfaces
← Hydrology
← Soils
← Transportation
← Conservation Areas
← Farmland
TRANSECT
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
A A’
A A’
TRANSECT
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
Rural
Suburban
Agricultural
Urban
• Apply site-specific cultivation strategies appropriate to each district’s characteristics
• Each District has unique opportunities and constraints to food cultivation
DISTRICTS
2) APPROPRIATE STRATEGIES
• How can we apply the best management practices and food cultivation strategies from around the world to each district?
• Permaculture offers some solutions… • Coupled with case studies of regions with similar
growing conditions to Western Massachusetts
AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT
Greenhouse: Four-season Farming
Organic Farming
AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT
RURAL DISTRICT
Pond Construction Water Storage Earthworks
Two-storey Grazing Chicken/Duck “Tractors”
RURAL DISTRICT
Perennial Polycultures
RURAL DISTRICT
SUBURBAN DISTRICT
Edible Front Yards
Site Plan: East Lake Commons, GA
Subdivision CSA
SUBURBAN DISTRICT
URBAN DISTRICT
Asphalt Removal
Community Gardens
Roof-top Gardening
URBAN DISTRICT
MUNICIPAL STRATEGIES
• Policy Recommendations • Municipal Programs
Legend
Prototype
Start-up Farm
Local Food System Concept: Implementing Cultivation Strategies
• Four other components -processing -distribution -waste management -education
• A food system is more than cultivation
3) ASSEMBLING A WHOLE SYSTEM
ASSEMBLING A WHOLE SYSTEM KEY QUESTIONS for tying all of the components
of a food system together:
• What assets of a food system already exist?
• What are the voids in the system?
• What are appropriate types of infrastructure that fulfill case-specific functions of a local food system?
• Strategize: where should efforts be focused first for the greatest returns and community benefits?
POST-CULTIVATION HUB FACILITIES
Hub CASE STUDY: Healthy City Intiative @ Intervale--Burlington, VT
Gleaning produce to share
Hands-on agricultural training
Community-building
Youth-run farm markets
Legend
Food Hub
Prototype
Food flow
Food feeding Northampton
Start-up Farm
Local Food System Concept: Assembling a Whole System
Change on a Town-by-Town Basis
Municipal food systems in New England working in conjunction with larger-scale food systems
LIMITATIONS & OBSTACLES
• Lack of central coordination or organizing body for a local food system
• Outside economic forces affect the local economy
• Resistance to changing the “business as usual” model
• Using innovative responses to meet the challenges posed to beginning a local food system…
• City departments, non-profit organizations, and food and farming businesses can work together in a coordinated effort to create:
– entrepreneurial endeavors – employment opportunities – community assets – food abundance!
A COMMON EFFORT
Intro to food systems @ Greenfield Community College