Integrating Local and Global Food Systems
Michael W. HammC.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture
Depts. of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies; Crop and Soil Science; Food
Science and Human NutritionMichigan State University
336 Billion Pounds
Population 2000 - 2025
9.9 to 10.4 million
280 – 337 million
6.3 – 7.8 billion
2000 - 2050
54 countries water scarce or stressed (2050)
48 countries water scarce or stressed
(2025)
Community/Local in a Global/Concentrated Context
Community- a unified body of individuals;
the people with common interests
living in a particular area; an interacting
population of various kinds of individuals in a
common location;
Community Food Systems – Civic Agriculture
• Relationships between people in the food system based on a sense of place
• Includes market relationships but not exclusively
• A tool for “grounding people in common purpose”
Community Food Systems–
The Foodshed
• Four characteristics– A moral economy – restore mutuality, reciprocity and equity as a frame
for human interactions– The commensal community – respect for our relationships with one
another and ecosystems that support us– Self-protection, secession, and succession – carve out insulated spaces,
create alternatives, move from existing– Proximity – not explicitly define “local” but characterize as more local
rather than less
From: Kloppenburg, Hendrickson and Stevenson, “Coming in to the Foodshed” AGHV 13:3, p. 33-42 (1996)
Community Food Systems - Local Autonomy and Import Substitution
IMPORT SUBSTITUTION
Equity and Democracy
Fair Labor Trade
Environmental Stewardship
Community Food Systems - Community Food Security
All community residents obtaining a culturally acceptable, nutritional adequate
diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance
and social justice.
Hamm & Bellows (2002)
Farms Are Part of Communities
Farms Farming Farmers Farmland
The Challenge of Global - Environmental
What is a 2,000 mile tomato in the
Upper Midwest?
– A source of CO2 release
– A source of lessened nutrition
– A source of trans-oceanic water transfer
The Challenge of Global -Concentration
• e.g. of concentration in the food industry (Concentration % of biggest 4) (from Heffernan, Gronski, and Hendrickson)
– Beef Packers = 79%– Flour Milling = 62%– Dry Corn Milling = 57%– Soybean Crushing = 80%
• e.g. approx. 30,000 items on grocery shelves – 50% produced by 10 multinationals
The Challenge of Global - Hunger
• Projected by some to go from 774 to 694 million (2000 – 2010)
• But increase in disparity• Recent global economic slowdown
increasing hunger globally and so may not realize even the decreases above
• Potential for increased conflict over food?
American Farmland Trust http://www.farmland.org/farmingontheedge/downloads.htm
North Central Region Change in Number of Mid-Scale Farms (1997-2002)
50-179 Acres
180-499 Acres
500-999 Acres
>1000 Acres
Illinois 2.0 -13.0 -15.3 13.6
Indiana -6.1 -16.5 -14.7 10.1
Iowa -1.1 -14.5 -11.9 28.0
Kansas 14.4 -2.1 -10.8 -0.1
Michigan 6.7 -11.1 -10.8 14.7
Minnesota 11.2 -8.5 -8.1 16.3
Missouri 9.2 0.7 -7.0 4.8
Nebraska 4.3 -10.6 -12.5 1.0
North Dakota 45.6 9.5 -16.2 -8.5
Ohio 2.9 -10.0 -6.1 20.8
South Dakota 18.8 -6.3 -8.7 -2.4
Wisconsin 20.0 -9.9 -2.4 31.5
TOTAL 7.4 -8.5 -10.8 4.8
Michigan has the land capacity for:
Building/rebuilding rural communities around vibrant community-based food systems Export agriculture Non-food uses of agricultural land (e.g. turf, horses)
Acreage Utilized for Production
Acreage Required for Production of
Current Consumption
Acreage Required for Recommended
Consumption
% of Michigan Farmland 36.4 35.9 43.2
Today’s Niche – Tomorrow’s Lost
Market
1966 Exported 63,000 tons of tomatoes 1996 exported 2,000 tons
of tomatoesAdapted from “Exploring the Tomato”
Consumer Attitudes
• 71% willing to pay more for food grown locally
• 71% willing to pay more for food if meant it could be produced in ways that protected the environment
• 77% thought government policies should be oriented towards helping family, owner-operated farms
• 59% thought that family farms should be supported even if it meant higher food prices
Food from Our Changing World: The Globalization of Food and How Americans Feel About It by Ronald C. Wimberley,et al (accessed at http://sasw.chass.ncsu.edu/global-food/foodglobal.html
Attracting Consumers With Locally Grown Products Food Processing Center, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska- Lincoln (2001) (Phone survey of 500 consumers in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin
Why Community-based and Local?
• Economics
• Public Health
• Environmental restoration
Jobs in Rural Communities
*1992 Management Information Records
Contract Farrowing-Finishing
1992 MIR Hog*
Production Units 1.00 4.50
Sows 600
Pigs/year 11,900
$Investment B&E 1,005,000 1,192,500
$Total Assets 1,005,000 2,452,500
$Sales 1,368,500 1,306,071
Total Labor 4.25 12.60
Jobs Displaced 8.35
Multiplier 2.22 2.22
Total Employment 9.44 27.97
Jobs Displaced 18.54
John E. Ikerd, The Economic Impacts of Increased Contract Swine Production in Missouri (accessed at http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/papers/con-hog.htm)
Purchasing Power Creates
Opportunities
Population or Households
in Michigan1
Basis2 10% from Michigan2
Consumption relative to dollar expenditures ($) (food at home-family)
3,785,661 $7,336,050,740 $733,605,074.02
Consumption relative to dollar expenditures
(ideal $) (Food at home- family)
3,785,661 $9,231,805,856 $923,180,585.60
Difference between current and recommended
$1,895,755,116 $189,575,512
1From U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000
2Poundage based on Table 1 current poundage intake; Dollar expenditures based on U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (2002)
Ratio of Fresh Vegetable Imports to Exports in US
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Taken from http://www.fas.usda.gov/scriptsw/bico/bico.asp?Entry=lout&doc=1270* C. Benbrook “ Minimizing Pesticide Dietary Exposure Through the Consumption of Organic Food: An Organic Center State of Science Review” (2004)
•And on average imported have higher levels of pesticide residues than domestic in a particular product category*
Sprawl and Obesity
Most sprawled vs. Least Sprawled Metropolitan Areas
6.3 pounds differential of body weight
Ewing, R., Schmid, T., Killingsworth, R., Zlot, A., Raudenbush, S. (2003) Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and
Physical Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity. Am. J. Health Promotion Vol. 18 47-57.
Opportunity – Rural Urban Mutual Development
Create relationships based on mutual trust, benefit, and
respect
Rural Development & Health
Urban Development & Health
FOOD FROM FARM TO URBANCONSUMER
Rural Farming Communities
Urban Communities
Select Michigan
Community-based as a Vehicle for Rethinking the Global/National -
Fair Trade
Taken from Fair Trade Federation http://www.fairtradefederation.com/2003_trends_report.pdf
Scale of Farm and Marketing Strategies
• Smaller Scale- Direct Marketing Primarily
• Medium Scale- Potentially mixture of direct marketing and
wholesale/institutional/processing• Larger Scale- Primarily
wholesale/institutional/processing
There are Numerous Strategies to Increase Economic and Social Vitality While
Improving Individual Health IndicatorsDirect to consumers Farmers Markets Farmstands Community Supported Agriculture Farms Indirectly to consumers Institutional Buying Restaurant Connections Supermarket and grocery stores Farm to School Either Urban Farms Value-added Processing
“…You can’t predict the future, but you can create it...With this principle, we can make the future’s inherent unpredictability become a positive, not a negative. We just have to create the future from the future instead of predicting it from the present.”
Paul Dolan True to Our Roots
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