02031 What is your foodshed?
That food in the United States travels an average of 1300 miles and changes hands half a dozen times before it is consumed (The Packer, 1992) is deeply problematic. What is eaten by the great majority of North Americans comes from a global everywhere, yet from nowhere that they know in particular. The distance from which their food comes represents their separation from the knowledge of how and by whom what they consume is produced, processed, and transported. If the production, processing, and transport of what they eat is destructive of the land and of human community — as it very often is — how can they understand the implications of their own participation in the global food system when those processes are located elsewhere and so are obscured from them? How can they act responsibly and effectively for change if they do not understand how the food system works and their own role within it? — Coming in to the Foodshed, Jack Kloppenburg, John Hendrickson, G.W. Stevenson
The term “foodshed” was first used 70 years ago to describe the flow of food from farms through processing facilities and thence to the final consumer. It was coined by a researcher concerned about the impact of a threatened rail strike on the food supply of New York City. Like its sister term “watershed,” it describes the source of food for a particular location.
Generally, the foodsheds of most households in the United States incorporate the entire world.
However, many people are concerned — with good reason — about the constancy, persistence, and resilience of our present food system. Understanding the sources of your food is an important step toward sustainability.
Your local foodshed consists of —
- household food production,
- foods grown/sourced in your regional area.
“Region” could be defined by an organization such as the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, or a farmers’ market, which aggregate food from a region and make it available to your household. Or it could be an arbitrary line of (for example) 100 to 150 miles from your household. Or it could be a defined bio-region or watershed around your community.
Everything else is your “world foodshed” — the foods that come to your household from outside of your local foodshed.
This structure helps you identify and describe your household’s foodshed as it is now. If you are not satisfied with the present description of your foodshed, it will help you to set goals for evolving your personal foodshed in a more sustainable, frugal, and resilient direction consistent with the ethics of permaculture.
Persons living on campus in dormitories can consult with their campus’ food service provider to research the foodshed of the campus. It might be an interesting project for a geography or food-studies class.
If not satisfied with the results, organize to encourage the school’s administration to make changes in the way the school food system sources food for the campus cafeterias.
Understanding your foodshed and using it as a tool of sustainability is important to the process of developing a permaculture design for your life.
One tool that may help it to make a diagram of your local foodshed and world food dependencies so you can visualize what’s going on in your food life. You are at the center of the diagram. Draw a circle around “you.” label it "local food," and identify the foods you get locally from farmers or locally owned aggregators of local production. Estimate what percent of your diet is within your local food shed.
Draw a larger circle around the local foodshed circle. This is your regional foodshed. These are the foods you buy from locally owned stores, supermarkets, and restaurants that originate in your region.
A third, larger circle, is for your world foodshed. Illustrate it with the foods you eat that come from the world foodshed. Estimate the amount of your diet that comes from the world foodshed. This includes foods bought from national chain stores and national brands, as well as foods imported from other countries.
This won't necessarily be an easy process at first because you probably don't have all the data you need. Because people typically don't buy a lot of local production, that might be the easiest to start with. As part of your observation, you will be developing records of your grocery purchases so as time goes by you can make this diagram more accurate.
Visualization helps make abstract concepts concrete. It's fine to say "Yeah, we like local foods," but once you get finished with your diagram, and you discover that about 1% of your food comes from a local source, you have a graphic illustration of the problems of your own personal foodshed.
Over time, the decisions you make in the permaculture design for your life will help you reduce your dependency on the world foodshed and bring your food "closer to home." Most people will start initially with shifting from national to regional and that is a fine place to start. Most areas don't have enough local production to accommodate a sudden surge in demand for local meats and vegetables and other foods. But everyone can start buying some local production, which helps build the local market over time.'
Understanding your foodshed is a critical aspect of the observation phase of the permaculture design for your life.