Knowledge Commons
Food Planning
Field edited by : Keith Pezzoli
Categories
Planning, Architecture and Urban Design;
Summary
Over the last few years, food has emerged as a major issue in the mainstream press and planning circles. Since World War II, a global system of food production and consumption has emerged that has focused on cheapness (low cost to consumers, high profit margins for corporations) and convenience (easy to store and cook for consumers, easy to grow and transport for corporations). It has increasingly been recognized that other values, especially health, taste and the environment, have been sacrificed in the pursuit of cheapness and convenience: a realization not only made by policy advocates but by the public at large. Influential contributions in this area include Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, Morgan Spurlock’s documentary “Super Size Me”; Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and Gottlieb and Joshi’s Food Justice (one of the volumes in the MIT Press series on Food, Health, and the Environment).
Narrative
There is a movement within planning and among community-based organizations to promote environmentally sensitive cultivation practices and healthier and better tasting food, preferably grown locally. Foodshed is one of the concepts that have emerged out of this movement. The foodshed concept underscores the importance of urban-rural interdependencies and the hidden value of ecosystem services in a bioregional context.
Creating a sustainable foodshed will require establishing mutually reinforcing relationships among growers, food buyers, skilled cooks, and consumers who enjoy food made from whole foods. If, for instance, a school wanted to feed its students healthy food made from local ingredients, it would need (a) to convince local farmers capable of growing whole foods that it is dedicated enough to buy its products (for the farmer would be at financial risk if the school changed its mind), (b) to train its cooks how to cook something other than highly processed foods, (c) construct kitchens that had the right equipment and (d) get the kids to eat it - and find the money to do all these things.
While there is a growing realization of the importance of crafting sustainable foodsheds for our city-regions, we still have a poor sense of the resource flows involved in feeding people. Challenges for research include gaining a “big picture” view of where the food consumed locally comes from nor where the crops grown locally are consumed.
For an article that places food planning in the context of sustainable city-region planning see:
Donald, Betsy. 2008. “Food Systems Planning and Sustainable Cities and Regions: The Role of the Firm in Sustainable Food Capitalism.” Regional Studies 42:1251 - 1262.
[Excerpt from the Introduction]: Over the last few years there has been an explosion of interest in the field of food system planning (sometimes called community food planning) as scholars, planners, policy-makers, activists, dieticians and others point to the possibilities for sustainable development through the lens of new directions in everyday food practices. In particular, these writers refer to innovative developments in sustainable food production, preparation, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste management, in dynamic and evolving cities, towns, and regions across North America. Examples include the growth of community gardens, community-shared agriculture programmes (CSAs), farmers markets, and institutional buying programmes. For many active in food-system planning these examples are seen as part of a new food system for sustaining the environment through better waste, air and water management; adding value to local economies; preserving prime farmland; addressing food access and issues of hunger; tackling obesity and other diet-related health issues; and improving rural and urban connections. As a result, the public policy environment is starting to change – especially at the local level – as more and more cities and regions adopt formalized food system planning approaches (KAUFMAN, 2006; XUEREB and DESJARDINS, 2005). These approaches aim to relocalize the food system for overall economic, social and environmental health. Transforming the current food system is seen as one of the most comprehensive and effective ways to reducing a region’s ecological footprint, addressing issues of hunger, and providing more local jobs; thus ultimately moving toward a more sustainable region in keeping with the three classic pillars of sustainability (GIBSON, 2001; PRETTY and HINE, 2001).
For an article that speaks to the job creation potential and planning aspects of food systems, see:
Dixon, Jane et al. 2007. The Health Equity Dimensions of Urban food Systems. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine. 84(1)118-129.
“In many cities, thousands of positions of paid employment could be created through the establishment of sustainable and self-sufficient local food systems, including urban agriculture and food processing initiatives, food distribution centers, healthy food market services and urban planning that provides for multiple modes of transport to food outlets.” [quote cited in Zajfen, Vanessa 2008. “Fresh Food Distribution Models for the Greater Los Angeles Region: Barriers and Opportunities to Facilitate and Scale Up the Distribution of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. Findings from an Action Research Project of the Center for Food & Justice, a division of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College. December 2006-March 2008.”, Los Angeles.] http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/cfj/index.htm
Multimedia
Bee Farm
http://www.youtube.com/theglobalarc#p/u/2/WVZc5biaE_U
Jeremy Brown, a Fisherman providing fish to local resturant
http://www.youtube.com/theglobalarc#p/u/10/ivGqJfbjT-c
UBC Farm—Tour by Mark Bomford, Program Coordinator
http://vimeo.com/14728762
The Story of Zenger Farm -by Steve Johnson
http://vimeo.com/14703278
Growing Power Conference, Sept. 10-12, 2010, Wisconsin State Park Fair
Building the Good Food Revolution National-International, Urban and Small Farm
Lead organizer: Will Allen http://www.growingpowerfarmconference.org
Photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/theglobalarc/sets/72157623693269294/
References
Knowledge Commons Authors
[enter here works of participating members of The Global ARC]—could be links to off site files by said author, or to an uploaded file added by the fields editor
Other Sources
Web sites
Listserves
Academic Journals:Agricultural Systems, Agriculture and Human Values, Ecology of Food and Nutrition, International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment, Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition, Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, and Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems.
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD): http://www.agdevjournal.com/about.html
Donald, Betsy, Meric Gertler, Mia Gray, and Linda Lobao. 2010. “Re-regionalizing the food system?” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3:171-175.
Hanjra, Munir A. and M. Ejaz Qureshi. 2010. “Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change.” Food Policy 35:365-377.
Kneafsey, Moya. 2010. “The region in food—important or irrelevant?” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3:177-190.
Morgan, Kevin and Roberta Sonnino. 2010. “The urban foodscape: world cities and the new food equation.” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3:209-224.
Morris, Carol and James Kirwan. 2010. “Food commodities, geographical knowledges and the reconnection of production and consumption: The case of naturally embedded food products.” Geoforum 41:131-143.
Paula Tarnapol Whitacre, Adam P. Fagen, Jo L. Husbands, Frances E. Sharples;, Planning Committee on Achieving Research Synergies for Food/Energy/Environment Challenges: A Workshop to, Explore the Potential of the New Biology;, and National Research Council (U.S.). 2010. “Implementing the New Biology: Decadal Challenges Linking Food, Energy, and the Environment: Summary of a Workshop, June 3-4, 2010. PREPUBLICATION COPY-SUBJECT TO FURTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTION. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/13018.html.”
Tirado, M. C., R. Clarke, L. A. Jaykus, A. McQuatters-Gollop, and J. M. Frank. 2010. “Climate change and food safety: A review.” Food Research International 43:1745-1765.
Wolfert, J., C. N. Verdouw, C. M. Verloop, and A. J. M. Beulens. 2010. “Organizing information integration in agri-food—A method based on a service-oriented architecture and living lab approach.” Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 70:389-405.
BooksAllen, Patricia. 2010. “Realizing justice in local food systems.” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3:295-308.
Clark, Jill K., Darla K. Munroe, and Becky Mansfield. 2010. “What counts as farming: how classification limits regionalization of the food system.” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3:245-259.
Committee on a New Biology for the 21st Century: Ensuring the United States Leads the Coming Biology Revolution; National Research Council. 2009. A New Biology for the 21st Century: Ensuring the United States Leads the Coming Biology Revolution. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.
Gottlieb, Robert and Anupama Joshi. 2010. Food justice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Marcotullio, Peter J. , Ademola K. Braimoh, and Takashi Onishi. 2008. “Chapter 10: The Impact of Urbanization on Soils.” Pp. 201-250 in Land use and soil resources, edited by A. K. Braimoh and P. L. G. Vlek. New York: Springer.
Marsden, Terry. 2010. “Mobilizing the regional eco-economy: evolving webs of agri-food and rural development in the UK.” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3:225-244.
Pollan, Michael and Scott Brick. 2006. “The omnivore’s dilemma a natural history of four meals.” New York: Penguin Audio,.
Worldwatch Institute. 2008. State of the world 2008 : Innovations for a sustainable economy. New York: W.W. Norton.