Shifting to Locally Produced Food Gary Edmondson • 713-880-5540 Urban Harvest Inc [email protected] www.urbanharvest.org DR BOB RANDALL • 713-661-9737 [email protected].
Download ReportTranscript Shifting to Locally Produced Food Gary Edmondson • 713-880-5540 Urban Harvest Inc [email protected] www.urbanharvest.org DR BOB RANDALL • 713-661-9737 [email protected].
Shifting to Locally Produced Food Gary Edmondson • 713-880-5540 Urban Harvest Inc [email protected] www.urbanharvest.org DR BOB RANDALL • 713-661-9737 [email protected] Metro Houston’s Productive Potential • Year round growing season, • Balanced rainfall, • Large amounts of potentially productive land. • Can raise nearly any type of food most people have ever eaten (temperate and tropical foods) • Including: highest quality vegetables, fruits, culinary herbs, livestock, fish and dairy animals. H Sheesley photo **Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale Redbor European Kale *Lacinato or Tuscan or Palm Leaf Kale Banana Fig Houston • Spring Farms & Market Gardens Weimer Hockley • Wharton Nutritional Benefits of Local Production • Generally, tastiest fruits, vegetables and edible herbs ship poorly and spoil quickly • And have higher nutrient levels • By contrast, distance-shipped, less tasty foods often need to have fats, sugars, salt or chemicals added to make them tasty. • Blackberry jelly donuts instead of fresh blackberries • Leads to many chronic diseases including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and more. Economic Benefits • With local production, profits go to local businesses. • Income is spent locally and often spent yet again (high multiplier effect). • And by reducing imports, the dollar is stronger • In rural and urban areas without good jobs, young adults typically move away because there are few opportunities. • Local food production could reduce this and stimulate small business growth. Enterprise Incubation • Teens would have part-time jobs as helpers & could train to be farmers themselves • Value added--make something from local produce. • Local businesses buying from local businesses • Bakers common. Candlestick makers? • Musicians at a farmers’ market got more in tips there than at most of the clubs they sang at! • Tourism benefits Keeping Weather Predictable • Some 19% of US fossil fuel is used in food production and distribution. • Local organic could slow climate change by reducing carbon emissions • Encouraging soil sequestration of carbon • And reducing other greenhouse gasses related to fertilizer and animals Other Benefits • Tasty ingredients make tasty cuisine! • By reconnecting food consumers to food producers, food production becomes interactive. • Everyone has a say and everyone gets educated about food choices. • Fake food has competition • And farmers’ markets and other farmer consumer venues give people a sense of place and build community And… • Local farming spreads knowledge of food growing in the population • So food growing becomes more common And • Unsold food can be donated to shelters and pantries thus reducing hunger among children and the elderly Making Food Production Economic for Rural & Urban Farmers • Much food marketed locally is produced in nations that have much cheaper labor or • Produced in other states using inputs from nations with very cheap labor. • Just a day south by truck, Mexican agriculture labor averages 85 cents an hour. Many nations pay ag labor even less. • Farmers here have less shipping costs, • But generally cannot sell at the same price as the cheapest food • Who can work for 85 cents an hour? • But what of the year 2010 or 2020 or 2030 when fuel may be much more expensive • or the dollar much weaker • or greenhouse gases prohibited? • To be secure, our area needs to grow farmers now. Leveling The Playing Field • Good news: today, the best tasting and most nutritious locally produced foods can compete on price with high end products! • Shipped high end products need to be airfreighted, specially handled, and usually refrigerated because they ship poorly and rot quickly • This drives up cost and these costs will likely worsen. • As well, farm businesses can’t do their own marketing. • So produce is sold and resold to businesses that move tons of a single product long distances quickly and cheaply. • To make this profitable for the distant grower, the product needs to be produced and sold in large amounts. • That requires using large acreages, expensive equipment and often large bank loans with interest costs. • Many crops grown on huge farms provide tiny profits per acre. • With a single crop, weather and market price fluctuations create huge risks • So starting a large farm is prohibitively expensive for a newcomer • And operating an old one is financially risky • So there are fewer and fewer big family farms • All these costs drive down the profit and quality of shipped food, • Drive up the cost to the consumer, but • Provide local small growers an opportunity! Marketing Local Farm Products • Small local farms can market quality products using craftsmen like work skills • They have much lower investment costs. • Weather and price risks are reduced by producing many products • If they sell recently harvested food directly to local consumers, • they net a high percentage of the selling price • And get much higher net revenue per unit area than do the shippers. • This is particularly the case in markets where out-of-area production is excluded Some Ways for Farmers to Sell Direct • Selling directly to restaurants • Or someday perhaps schools • Roadside stands • Community Supported Agriculture--various ways for consumers to pay for a share of a farm’s produce • Farm to house deliveries • Food Co-ops • Farmers’ Markets Farmers’ Markets • All of the above are valuable • But the easiest way to increase production metro-wide though is to increase the number of farmers’ markets • In farmers’ markets, someone verifies the claims to being local and self-produced. • This is not easy or cheap to do and requires effort. • But is essential • It counters false claims like “fresh produce”, “farmers’ markets”, “farm stands” and “farm fresh”. • When the products are actually purchased elsewhere and aren’t local or fresh. • Farmers’ markets are a way to sell what there is. Someone will buy it. • Other approaches require the farmer to produce an exact amount to fill an order • or for the customer to be very flexible as to what they will eat. Eggplant problem! • Though all types of direct sales should be encouraged ALSO • Farmers’ markets are fun places to be. • Through local music and seasonal events, markets can be an excellent way for people to meet each other and to build community. • But to have farmers’ markets we need to GROW GROWERS. • The question is HOW? What is Happening Locally • Urban Harvest has the full spectrum of classes that are needed to grow food: – Growing Organic Vegetable Series – Gardening Basics Series – Fall Gardening – Backyard Orchard Series – Home Fruit & Vegetable Gardening – Sell What You Grow at a Farmers Market – How to Start a Community/ School Garden Series – Permaculture Series See www.urbanharvest.org What is Happening Locally • Urban Harvest sponsors the Bayou City Farmers Market What is Happening Locally Braes Interfaith Community Garden in Southwest Houston • There is a large network of community gardens growing food locally Alabama Street Garden What is Happening Locally The City of Houston Urban Garden Manager, Brent Moon is assisting people in using vacant land to grow food. Making Production Economically Rewarding for Farmers in Both Rural and Urban Settings • Policy makers at all levels need to support the conditions necessary for growing food locally to be profitable. – Currently many of the growers are there because they have a passion for what they are doing – It is hard work! – Tax breaks for small, local growers – And… Increasing Food Producers in the Greater Houston • Overcome some of the policy barriers and make the WIC Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program available – The WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) is associated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. Increasing Food Producers in the Greater Houston • Trade Schools training people in the skills needed to farm successfully and profitably. – community college programs – high schools Increasing Food Producers in the Greater Houston Making community certified kitchens available for creation of value added products. Increasing Food Producers in the Greater Houston • Policies to protect the existing productive lands that surround our cities. Development of a food policy council for dialog between policy makers, local growers, and consumers to create a new structure for local food production.