While doing research for the urban agriculture analysis I've been working on, it has become clear to me that, as Wayne Roberts pointed out in one of this week's readings, "...governments put the service and program cart before the policy horse" (Roberts, 2010, p 176). Many of the cities I looked at have sustainability plans and charters that briefly mention locally sourced foods and food access/security issues, and the vast majority of these local governments focus on community garden programs as the main, and often only, strategy to meet their sustainable food goals.
In the state of Florida there appears to be a serious lack of local food policy councils, and those that do exist are generally not a part of any government department or agency, but initiated and supported by non-profit organizations. In this sense, many of the initiatives to create sustainable food policies are undertaken by resource-strapped groups relying on the efforts of volunteers, and this is often the case for programs and services addressing food issues within communities. Roberts makes the point that many food policy councils are not able to create the policy changes they wish to see because governments generally have no legitimate, paid positions for people to do all the work necessary to implement these types of policies (Roberts, 2010). Winne also includes this lack of government attention and resources towards food policy, remarking that no "department of food", or anything like it, exists in any U.S. city, and those departments and agencies that may allude to food in their name have no role addressing comprehensive sustainable food planning and policies, and, as we've discussed in class, food systems planning is just now becoming a recognized issue for planning professionals (Winne, 2008).
I have heard rumors of a food policy workgroup in Tallahassee, but I'm beginning to think that they are unsubstantiated. I first heard it mentioned by a member of Sustainable Tallahassee during the Sustainable You conference, but there seems to be no information about who is involved or what they are doing, or even a strand of evidence that such a workgroup actually exists. I also added my email to a list that was offered for anyone interested in receiving information about food policy issues in Tallahassee. I haven't gotten any emails, so I guess I will just assume that I have not been added to this email list or there is nothing happening at the moment. There was also the mention of policy changes in the works to address and support urban agriculture, which I had also read about in a few local news articles, but again, I could only find very limited information on this process. Supposedly, the new zoning ordinance that will address urban agriculture in Tallahassee is set to be ready sometime this Spring.
Lindsay, I like the way you couched your discussion under the umbrella of the Roberts quote. You really hit the nail on the head when it comes to the disorganization and, often, lack of transparency that comes with organizing food workgroups. I agree -- when I have looked for food policy in a city's comp plan or vision document, it is often one small line item in the "sustainability" section, and may only address one or two aspects of food planning. However, as we have discussed in this class, food encompasses all aspects of planning! I wonder sometimes if food advocates aren't shooting themselves in the foot by focusing on individual projects, rather than system-wide cohesion and change.
ReplyDeleteI also put my name on that email list, and now that you mention it, I'm not surprised I haven't received an email from that listserv. It is interesting that there is no one department in local government that deals with the local food system. This of course makes it hard to implement any changes since there is no one group leading the charge.
ReplyDeleteI think our discussion today about Tallahassee's situation is a good example of this challenge. There are tons of local initiatives, like iGrow and the Tallahassee Food Network. This isn't the problem. The problem is the connections of all these initiatives. What group should lead the way and spearhead the broad Tallahassee food system scene? There needs to be an umbrella group in charge of these connections. And when there are disagreements about who should lead, such as the feud between Sustainable Tallahassee and TFN, then the system remains fragmented. I feel like this is the case with cities all across America. When there is not a local department that takes on the food system, then it is up to the local organizations to figure out the necessary umbrella organization to continue the local food movement.