Food Systems Planning

October 15, 2015

Overview

*The Status Quo

*The Right to Grow

*The Right to Access

*Local Food as Activism

“The relationship between food and cities is endlessly complex, but at one level is utterly simple. Without farmers and farming, cities would not exist”

- Carolyn Steel in Agricultural Urbanism, 2010

How Food Shapes Cities

http://www.ted.com/talks/carolyn_steel_how_food_shapes_our_cities.html

Food System

The path food travels from field to fork (and beyond!)
Chain of activities and processes related to the production, processing, distribution, consumption, and disposal of food

Source: http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1204/what-s-wrong-with-our-food-system/transparency.jpg

Other Traditional Food System Issues

Leading cause of prime farmland loss is land development. 24 million acres of ag land lost since 1982. Size of Indiana and Rhode Island combined
Building form and city code regulations lost relationship to food and even often exclude agriculture
Landscape and open space design largely ignore edible plants (https://fallingfruit.org/)

The Right to Grow

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/garden/gardeners-fight-with-neighbors-and-city-hall-over-their-lawns.html

Outlaw Gardens

Orlando cited the Helvenstons for violating section 60.207 of Orlando’s Land Development Code (failure to maintain ground cover on property) and set a deadline of Nov. 7, 2012 to comply
Ultimately, city lawyers decided Monday to drop the code-enforcement case because Orlando's zoning rules were too vague on gardens to prove the Helvenstons had done anything wrong.
In the meantime, planners were working on changes to the code that would specifically allow front-yard gardens but only if certain restrictions were met (screening, setbacks, height limitations, and maximum lot coverage %.)

The Right to Access

Food Deserts

Food Swamps

Food Security FTW

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
At heart, an issue of sovereignty. The right to grow. The right to access. The right to exercise ecologically sustainable methods.

Community Food Systems as Solution?

Health benefits from local food, as well as healthcare cost benefits
Economic development and community empowerment through food
100 mile diet often used as a local rule of thumb, but definitions of local are highly variable

Urban Gardens & Markets as Local System Building Blocks

Increasingly important approach to provide food in urban areas, especially at risk neighborhoods
18,000+ urban gardens in the U.S.
Farmers markets on the rise nationwide, but slowing in recent years (could be sign of maturing)
8,268 farmers markets in U.S. (2014), up 180% since 2006
From 2007 to 2012, the number of food hubs increased 288 percent
Since 2006, number of school districts with farm-to-school programs rose 430%

Goals include reducing food miles and increasing accessibility

Often run as co-op model: Community Supported Ag (CSA)

The Planning Approach

Conduct Community Food Assessment
Explore connections and analyze impact of current planning regulations and code on local food system
Include food security in comprehensive plan goals
Engage stakeholders in active, collaborative food policy councils

Leon County's Approach

FSU DURP conducts regional food assessment
County organizes Food For Us summit, over 300 community stakeholders and citizens attend
Tallahassee Food Network forms, runs iGrow and Collards and Cornbread

Leon County Growing Green:
http://www.growinggreen.org/Green-Topics/Sustainable-Food

DURP Food Assessment:
http://fpdl.coss.fsu.edu/Studios/Preliminary-Community-Food-Assessment

Leon County Approach Cont.

County establishes gardening program to apply for space and micro-grants to operate on public land. 14 gardens have opened so far
Launched Seed Library Program at local libraries
Currently drafting ordinance adjustments to allow more flexibility

Growing Green Local Resource Map:
http://agsinter.leoncountyfl.gov/LeonGrowingGreen/index.html