Strategies for Supporting Sustainable Food Systems Session 6

Local Farmers’ Markets Positives Healthy and fresh food. Strengthens local economy. Direct profit for farmers Community interaction; grows trust. Seasonal eating follows a natural ecological cycle. Challenges Zoning regulations: can effect growing or selling of food. Seasonality: markets may operate only part of the year. Real estate development: Farmland sold for developments. Economics: Policy that favors large commodity farming.

Urban Gardening Positives Access to fresh food for people living in urban areas. Strengthens local economy. Physical exercise. Intergenerational knowledge exchange and learning. Strengthens community; grows trust and interdependence based on relationships. Recovery of healthy soils. Challenges Contaminated soil Zonings regulations: can effect growing/selling of food. Access to equipment. Knowledge: gardening, farming experience, soil revitalization. Water is expensive.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) Positives Supports local farms; economic partnership. Direct ties between producer and consumer; knowledge of how food was grown. Management is done collectively. Distribution style can vary to serve the local community. Challenges Consumer adjustment to eating seasonally; knowledge of how to cook with new produce. Risks of poor weather and other factors that can impact harvest. Prices may be higher than grocery stores. Farm capacity to maintain records/management.

Farm to Schools programs Positives Supports local economy. Healthy food for schools. Students have an opportunity to learn from the farmer and farm. Schools and local farmers build relationships. Challenges Distribution: Food and safety regulations differ state to state. Preparation: Produce comes uncut and not portioned out. Government subsidies for pre-existing lunch programs can impact a schools ability to purchase and the need. ? Large quantities of produce can be hard to acquire at one time from local farms.

Fair Trade Positives No use of pesticides, child labor, genetically modified organisms, and exploitive working conditions. Supports small farmers and cooperatives; a fair wage is paid for what is purchased. Direct relationship between importer and grower or cooperative. Products are available all year round. Challenges Consumer awareness. Access: many mainstream food suppliers do not supply Fair Trade products. Fair Trade can be costly Packaging is necessary. Fair Trade can require miles of transportation.

Organic Positives No use of genetically modified organism. Access is becoming more widely available. Greatly decreases the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Can help to conserve healthy farmland. Seasonal and regional. Challenges Large organic productions can threaten smaller more localized organic productions. Large scale distribution uses heavy fuels. Transitioning into organic farming practices can take years and pose high economic risk for farmers. Price and availability.

Pasture Raised Animals Positives Better quality of life for animals. Often from a local farm. Can support the health of surrounding ecosystems. Quality of meat and dairy can be improved. No use of hormones and antibiotics can help improve water systems around farmland. Challenges Overgrazing can degrade the natural habitat and stress the ecosystem. Deforestation: Forests are cleared for grazing. Consumer expectation: Consumption of pasture raised meat can mean a decrease in the amount of meat in diets.