10 big questions facing the local food movement

10 Big Questions Facing the Local Food Movement

Who’s in the room?

What is Local Food Cleveland?

An action network connecting the people and organizations working

towards a sustainable local food future in Northeast Ohio

“Commons”

Helping you “Connect, Learn and Do”

On the Web: In Person:

E4S Action Networks

•  Connect with each other

•  Explore the big questions facing local foods in NEO and beyond

•  Learn about local businesses and projects creating innovative solutions to these challenges

•  Evolve the conversation around what it will take to grow a truly sustainable local food system in our region

Why are we here tonight?

•  Meet 5 new people in 10 minutes

•  Ask them:

1.  Why are you here?

2.  What do you want to learn?

Meet somebody new!

I’m making some assumptions

1.  Physical energy is the fundamental enabling and limiting force in any system

5 Assumptions I’m Making about Energy

2. Fossil fuels gave society a one-time gift of high quality energy to fuel our industrial economy

3. Overall net energy flow into human society has already peaked

4. No combination of renewable energies will ever replace the net energy fossil fuels have given to society

5. We must develop biological solutions to our problems that are simpler and use less energy than the technological solutions we are used to

1.  Money is nothing but a token that represents energy available to do useful work (net energy)

5 Assumptions I’m Making about the Economy

2. The economy can only grow so long as the amount of net energy also grows

3. Overall net energy flow into human society has already peaked

4. No matter how much new money (debt) we create, we can no longer “grow the economy” when net energy is decreasing

5. Our economy will continue to contract until we can live in balance with the resources earth can sustainably provide

Has a high energy lifestyle truly brought us more joy and happiness?

Isn’t that kind of depressing?

"As we came across the continent cutting the forests and plowing the prairies, we never knew what we were doing, because we never knew what were undoing. ”

- Wendell Berry

10 Big Questions Facing the Local Food Movement

Question #1 How will we train and mobilize 60 million new farmers in the

next 100 years?

1. How will we train and mobilize 60 million new farmers in the coming decades?

32%

2%

What can we learn from Cuba?


300 million x 20% farming =

1. How will we train and mobilize 60 million new farmers in the next 100 years?

(HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!)

60 MILLION FARMERS!


Yo

un

g f

olk

s M

id-C

are

er

+

Bab

y B

oo

me

rs

Imm

igra

nts

Wo

me

n


Can we accompany this rebirth of farming with a shift in both the

social status of farmers within American culture as well our collective beliefs about the

value of work?

Paradigm shift

Question #2 How can we provide a complete diet

locally through the production of staple crops?

2. How can we provide a complete diet locally through the production of staple crops?

Two Big Opportunities:

1. Local production of annual grains

2. Forest farming

Both provide opportunities for larger-scale traditional farms to transition to more

sustainable production for local markets

Ami Gignac and Tim Fox Breakneck Acres - Ravenna, OH


Appalachian Staple Foods Collaborative Athens, OH


Mark Shepard New Forest Farm - Viola, WI


Alley Cropping


Can we evolve the dualistic and linear worldview that rationalizes

commodity farming and the increasing using of pesticides,

fertilizers and GMOs at the expense of biological life and

human health?

Paradigm shift


Question #3 How will we feed ourselves locally

year round?

3. How will we feed ourselves locally year round?

Three Big Opportunities:

1. Season extension of the farm

2. Local staple and storage crop production

3. Low energy food preservation

Season extension of the farm


Increase production of storage and staple crops


Low-energy food preservation


Can we develop a greater awareness of the seasons and a

willingness to eat in sync with the tilt of the earth and the length

of its day?

Paradigm shift


Question #4 Can the market for local food grow to support an expansion in production?

4. Can the market for local food grow to support an expansion in production?

Farmers’ Market Growth 1992 thru 2010

Local Roots Wooster, OH

4. Can the market for local food grow to support an expansion in production?

Question #5 How will we re-create regional

infrastructure including slaughterhouses, dairy processing,

grain mills and distribution networks?

Question #6 How will we get local food into schools, institutions and larger

markets?

6. How will we get local food into schools, institutions and larger markets?

This a question of institutional engagement and change or a question of local food supply and

market consolidation?

small producer + big market =

big producer + big market =


To serve larger markets we must revive mid-size farms!

Must we scale up the size and complexity of local food

production, or ought we scale down the size and complexity of

our institutions?

Paradigm shift


Question #7 How can local food be accessible

and affordable for all?

7. How can local food be accessible and affordable for all?

Food Spending (% of income)

Healthcare Spending (% of GDP)


What about increased competition and

economies of scale bringing the price down?


1.  We must begin to pay more for food

2. We must all grow as much of our own as

possible

3. We must revive mid-sized farms that can

serve larger markets at a lower price-point

A few other thoughts:

Question #8 What government policies must we

create or dismantle to enable change?

8. What government policies must we enact or dismantle to enable change?

1.  Government policy came into place as a result of same

system conditions (high energy flow into society) and

worldview (rational-linear) that created the industrial

food system

2. Until those system condition change, it’s difficult to see

meaningful transformation of food and farm policy

3. Greater impact can likely be had creating new models

and system on the edges than by attempting a top-down

reform of a system that has no future

HOWEVER!

1.  That doesn’t mean damage control (anti-

subsidy, anti-GMO, anti-one-size-fits-all food

safety regs) isn’t important

2. That doesn’t mean transformation on a farm

and community scale isn’t possible

8. What government policies must we enact or dismantle to enable change?

8. What policies must we enact at the federal, state and local levels to make this happen?

Question #9 How will we create a culture of conscious cooking and eating?

9. How will we create a culture of conscious cooking and eating?

9. How will we create a culture of conscious cooking and eating?

We must begin to see “the whole problem of health in soil, plant, animal, and man

as one great subject”.

Paradigm shift

10. What gifts can each one of us offer towards creating a thriving local food economy and culture

in our place?

Questions, comments, ideas or reflections?

Upcoming local food events

Free Stamp Garden Dedication June 9th – 12pm to 1pm Willard Park – Cleveland, OH

The Dirt on Dirt: Permaculture Strategies to Remediate and Revitalize Urban Soils June 12th – 2pm to 4:30pm Pilgrim Church – Cleveland, OH

Garden Walk Cleveland

June 25th – 11am to 7pm Various Neighborhoods – Cleveland, OH

See all upcoming events on LocalFoodCleveland.org

Upcoming E4S events

Akron Network Kick-Off Meeting June 8th – 5:30pm to 8:30pm Musica– Akron, OH

H2Opportunities June 21st – 5:30pm to 8:30pm GLBC – Cleveland, OH

Biomimicry Education Summit June 27th – 8am to 12pm Cleveland Botanical Garden – Cleveland, OH

See all upcoming events on LocalFoodCleveland.org

Thanks to our sponsors