This week’s articles generally discussed the current local
food efforts to promote healthy eating and urban agriculture through community
and regional food planning. The one article that really resonated with me was
the Born & Purcell article, “Avoiding the Local Trap: Scale and Food
Systems in Planning Research”. The local
trap refers to the inclination of food activists and researchers to inherently assume
something about the local scale, which is generally assumed to be more desirable
than larger scales. Born & Purcell went on to explain that scale is a
social construction, therefore, there can be nothing inherent about any
scale. We must view scale not as an end
goal, but as a strategy that is fluid and fixed and relational. Localizing food
systems, therefore, doesn’t lead inherently to greater sustainability or to any
other goal. It leads where those it empowers want it to lead.
Thus as food activists and planners we need to be more
critical of the food policies and planning strategies we utilized when
addressing concerns with ecological sustainability, social justice, food
security, improved nutritional options, freshness and quality. Our end goals
need to be determined first and at that point we can examine which scale would
be best to address the end goal. Born & Purcell gave examples of large scale
strategies, such as changing national agricultural production vulnerable monoculture
methods and increasing funding to food-related bills such as the Farm Bill and smaller scale
strategies, such as increasing every day access to food through regulatory
reform and market incentives.
Our guest lecturer, Lauren Chappell Harris, informed us last
week of Tallahassee’s food movement history and its current state. Tallahassee
has been trying to address local food security concerns for the last 8 years.
Since Tallahassee is also the capital for Florida, it would be awesome if we
are the example city for our state on how to address food insecurity in Florida.
Understanding that each city and county within Florida is different because we
are an agricultural and tourism state, do you have any suggestions on possible strategies
(e.g. policies and initiatives) that can be addressed on a statewide scale?
Statewide scale is tough to manage I would imagine. When you expand the scope to that level I automatically think of economic principles which include the concept of specializations and opportunity cost. To apply this to a Florida statewide food network there would have to be a trade system in place to take advantage of the benefits of the supply. The state could play a role in implementing and enforcing regional/local policy in the region or jurisdiction's respective responsibility within the statewide food network. Technology (inventory, weather, forecasting, storage, logistics) would be crucial for something like this. This is just a quick idea though, did you have anything specific in mind?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kathrena that statewide scale makes things more difficult because Florida has different terrain: from Tallahassee, to the Everglades, to Key West. Policies that would encourage and possibly provide incentive for either growing your own food, creating a community garden, installing a food forest, etc. would help address the food security concern (although maybe not completely solve it). Additionally, I think in an ideal world, a food course would be implemented in the state curriculumn in school which would educate children about all things food from health to cooking.
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