What does a Secure and Resilient Food System look like?
First to define some terms:
Community Food Security
According to Mike Hamm and Anne Bellow, community food security refers to:
a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice (1).
Resilience
Walker, et al. (3) define resilience as:
the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change, so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity and feedbacks (p. 5).
Resilient systems are adaptable, diverse, self-reliant, and collaborative.
What makes our local food system secure and resilient?
Eames-Sheavly and Wilkins discuss how our food system changes when we shift to a "community" focus:
A community food system is a food system in which food production, processing, distribution and consumption are integrated to enhance the environmental, economic, social and nutritional health of a particular place...by including the word "community" there is an emphasis on strengthening existing (or developing new) relationships between all components of the food system. This reflects a prescriptive approach to building a food system, one that holds sustainability - economic, environmental and social - as a long-term goal toward which a community strives (2).
Community Food Security
According to Mike Hamm and Anne Bellow, community food security refers to:
a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice (1).
Resilience
Walker, et al. (3) define resilience as:
the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change, so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity and feedbacks (p. 5).
Resilient systems are adaptable, diverse, self-reliant, and collaborative.
What makes our local food system secure and resilient?
Eames-Sheavly and Wilkins discuss how our food system changes when we shift to a "community" focus:
A community food system is a food system in which food production, processing, distribution and consumption are integrated to enhance the environmental, economic, social and nutritional health of a particular place...by including the word "community" there is an emphasis on strengthening existing (or developing new) relationships between all components of the food system. This reflects a prescriptive approach to building a food system, one that holds sustainability - economic, environmental and social - as a long-term goal toward which a community strives (2).
_Diagram from the UW Farm website, found at: http://students.washington.edu/uwfarm/2011/05/18/food-and-justice-inserting-equity-into-our-food-system/.
Key features of a "community food system" include equity, sustainability, self-reliance/empowerment, and personal and communal wellness.
A secure and resilient community food system is one that:
- Promotes health and reduces risk of diet-related diseases among community members;
- Provides access for all community members to an adequate, affordable, nutritious diet;
- Encourages consumption of seasonally available foods;
- Supports a sufficient and stable base of local farms;
- Engages in integrated production and other farming practices that promote environmental quality;
- Honors existing farmers by promoting equitable and quality employment
- Strengthens farm to community connections by creating more direct links between local farms and consumers, and consequently shortens the distances food travels and supports consumption of local foods;
- Is supported by multiple governmental and non-governmental agencies, organizations, and businesses, all working in coordination and collaboration around common goals that promote local food;
- Supports multiple food and agriculture-related businesses, creating jobs and keeping money in local communities;
- Involves full public participation in food and agricultural policies, efforts, and community planning;
- Recognizes local food systems as one component operating within societal, cultural, and political systems; and
- Promotes self-reliance and empowerment to provide for one's own food needs.
_Sources cited
1. Community Food Security Coalition (n.d.) What Is Community Food Security? Found at http://www.foodsecurity.org/views_cfs_faq.html
2. Eames-Sheavly, M., J. Wilkins. (n.d.) A Primer on Community Food Systems: Linking Food, Nutrition and Agriculture, In Discovering the Food System: an experiential learning program for young and inquiring minds. Cornell University, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Department of Horticulture. Found at http://www.discoverfoodsys.cornell.edu/primer.html
3. Walker, B., C.S. Hollinger, S.R. Carpenter, A. Kinzig. (2004) Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability in Social-ecological Systems. Ecology and Society 9 (2) p.5
1. Community Food Security Coalition (n.d.) What Is Community Food Security? Found at http://www.foodsecurity.org/views_cfs_faq.html
2. Eames-Sheavly, M., J. Wilkins. (n.d.) A Primer on Community Food Systems: Linking Food, Nutrition and Agriculture, In Discovering the Food System: an experiential learning program for young and inquiring minds. Cornell University, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Department of Horticulture. Found at http://www.discoverfoodsys.cornell.edu/primer.html
3. Walker, B., C.S. Hollinger, S.R. Carpenter, A. Kinzig. (2004) Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability in Social-ecological Systems. Ecology and Society 9 (2) p.5