[permaculture] Foodsheds and Food Circles - The Fertile Crescent Concept for Bioregional Food Security

Lawrence F. London, Jr. lflj at intrex.net
Sun Jan 13 19:05:38 EST 2008


 From nbentley at prairienet.orgWed Apr  5 23:26:03 1995
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 19:42:37 -0500 (CDT)
From: Nancy Lee Bentley <nbentley at prairienet.org>
To: sanet-mg at ces.ncsu.edu, sustag at beta.tricity.wsu.edu
Subject: Foodsheds and Food Circles - corrected post

The message is being resent with apologies to sanet-mg and others
for technical difficulties and poor transmission of "Foodsheds and
Food Circles" message encountered 4/3 and 4/4.

Nancy Lee Bentley
The Food Circle
PO Box 3083
Champaign, IL 61826-3083
(217) 586-3846
nbentley at uiuc.edu
xx200 at prairienet.org (The Food Circle)



        _Local Food Security:_
        _Foodsheds and Food Circles_


        Contents:
        The Foodshed and The Food Circle
        More Local Food Security and Food Systems Development Info/Issues
        References and Resources


        _The Foodshed and The Food Circle_
        The foodshed and the food circle are two concepts gaining recognition as
        model s or conceptual frameworks for describing local food systems.

         The foodshed concept, most often attributed to Arthur Getz's in his 1991
        Urban Foodsheds article in Permaculture Activist,  uses the analogy of a
        watershed to describe 'the area that is defined by a structure of supply'.  Getz
        used the image of a foodshed to answer the question of  "Where our food is
        coming from  and how it is getting to us" and to picture how the local and
        regional food supply system works.   Inherent in this concept, he empha-
        sized, was 'the suggestion of a need to protect a source, as well as the need
        to know and understand its specific geographic and ecological dimensions,
        condition and stability in order for it to be safeguarded and enhanced.'

        Today the Madison, Wisconsin area Foodshed Working Group along with an
        active coalition of food coops, csa associations, farmer's markets, producer
        coops, bakeries and other food processors, a natural food warehouse/
        distributor, UWMadison and other active participants is the best example
        of a local food system identifying with the foodshed concept.

        The Food Circle is a dynamic, community-based and regionally-integrated
        food systems concept/model/vision. In effect, it is  a systems ecology.  In
        contrast to the current linear production-consumption system, The Food
        Circle is a production-consumption-recycle model.   A celebration of cycles,
        this model mirrors all natural systems and is based on the fact that all stable,
        biological and other systems function as closed cycles or circles, carefully
        preserving energy, nutrients, resources and the integrity of the whole.

        The graphic model is a wheel of concentric circles, illustrating how an
        integrated  food system flows from  ag inputs and production through
        consumption and waste recycling. Starting with the individual at the center
        and moving outward through the family and community circles,this model
        shows the food system and its parts work,   integrating  political, economic,
        communication and other factors. For example, the CSA farmer in the
        production sector is directly across the circle from the CSA consumer
        members, showing the direct marketing relationship.

        The goal of The Food Circle is to consciously develop networks of
        sustainable, community- based and regionally-integrated food systems,
        capable of providing the basic food needs of their members, providing
        markets for local food and agricultural producers, providing cooperative
        communications and trading exchanges as clearinghouses for goods, services
        and information.  Finally, the concept fosters an awareness of food
        stewardship.   The bottom line is energy, values and the preservation of life.
        In contrast to the current linear food "chain" or food system resembling a
        gas and energy guzzling snake with two funnels at each end,  The Food
        Circle depicts a fundamental closure, integration and healing of the food
        system we desperately need. The Food Circle  embraces the whole web,
        including the food system connections,  from a regional perspective.


        The beauty of The Food Circle lies in its addressing a host of associated
        issues, making it adaptable to a broad range of multidisciplinary interests as
        an organizing vehicle, a teaching model, a community economic develop-
        ment and planning model, even an entrepreneurial model.

        This Food Circle is actually a blueprint  model  I have been developing and
        nurturing for a number of  years, first publicly used by myself and other
        organizers of New York's first organic conference, Closing the Food Circle,
        held at Ithaca in 1984.  Since then the concept has grown slowly,
        organically,  through writing, presentations, university research, local
        organizing projects, local and regional workshops, and now the budding of
        plans for the first multidisciplinary  foodsystem conference, The Food Circle
        Network: Campaign for Sustainable Food Systems, targetted for 1996.  The
        Food Circle WWW page is also now under construction.


        Several communities, including Kansas City/Columbia, Missouri and
        Champaign-Urbana, Illinois are developing local food circles.    The Kansas
        City model incorporates a food policy council and membership in a statewide
        foodsystems task force, including a developing network  of  producers,
        consumers and neighborhood based local food circle projects have been
        organized.  Two yearly conferences have been held.

        The Champaign-Urbana Food Circle, sprouting shoots in this Silicon Prairie
        testbed community, is still an informal consortium of  csa's, food coop,
        vegetarian restaurant, farmer's market, farmer's market nutrition coupon
        project,  UIUC,  organic/sustainable  producers in a Sustainable Agriculture
        Network and other activists, but  also includes the local electronic
        Prairienet/freenet as a component of its nervous system.  Local currency
        options, especially  incorporating electronic information/creditsystems, are
        being researched.  A precedent-setting national "Information Agriculture"
        conference, including Simulated Electronic Community  utilizing The Food
        Circle model,  is scheduled in Champaign -Urbana for  June 1995.

        One key component of the local food circle operating model is
        communication. As Food Systems Development Coordinator with U of  I ,
        this past year I have been working with the Sustainable Agriculture Network
        and other groups to develop specialty/organic/ LOVA (locally- owned,
        value-added) approaches  for Illinois and Midwest producers.  An electronic
        marketing information service, including electronic marketing directory and
        marketing network development, has been proposed.  Meanwhile, we are
        working with the local CCNet (business net) Ag committee to get at least 50
        farmers up on Email before the summer, conceivably a lost cause now that
        "the fields are dry enough to work".


        The work takes time,  growing organically, for  the people must develop
         conviction  in the ecological basis for the model and then reorient their
        working or consuming relationships.   Barriers  abound, from the centralized,
        technocratic structure of agriculture to consumer obsession with speed and
        convenience.  Likewise,  as emphasized in the June 1994 Defining
        Sustainable Communities Conference, sponsored by the Tides Foundation,
        "Sustainable communities require a different value system than the one
        which predominates in America today".   Yet,  the change will come,  the
        conversion will happen.  Inevitably, whether by choice or through economic
        collapse, we will end up returning to a  locally-based food system.

        _More Local Food Security and Food Systems Development Issues_
        Other approaches to local food security and food systems development have
        been focused on formation of local/municipal  food policy councils.  Ken
        Dahlberg, at the Dept. of  Political Science, Western Michigan University,
        has done extensive research, written several papers on this top-down
        approach to local food systems development. He is currently coordinating
        the Local Food Systems Project, funded by W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which
        has been active in financial support and leadership in this area.

         Charleston, SC; Kansas City, Mo; Knoxville, TN;  Philadelphia, PA; and St.
        Paul, MN, plus Onondaga County, (Syracuse)  NY have or have had food
        policy councils to coordinate local food systems in their municipalities, with
        varying degrees of success.  Some other cities with strong local food systems
        are Hartford, CT, Ithaca, NY, and Toronto, Ontario.  Food systems
        developments in  Los Angeles and East St. Louis, IL have been spearheaded
        by Urban and Regional Planners, rather than by food advocates per se.

        In their paper "Community Food Security: A Food Systems Approach
        to the 1995 Farm Bill", Andy Fisher and Bob Gottlieb of UCLA's  School of
        Architecture and Urban Planning,  brought out key issues to those activists
        attending the first Community Food Security Coalition's organizational
        meeting,  August 25th, 1994:

        "... the concept of food security is often associated with the phenomenon of
        hunger.  However, food security differs from hunger in certain crucial ways.
        First, food security represents a community need rather than an individual's
        plight, as with hunger.   In this context, we define food security as 'all
        persons obtaining a culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through
        non-emergency (conventional) sources at all times.'   Second, whereas
        hunger measures an existing condition of depravation, food security is decid-
        edly prevention-oriented, evaluating the existence of resources -- both
        community and personal -- to provide an individual with adequate acceptable
        food...

        A food security analysis extends .. into an examination of the food system.
        Questions of equity and sustainability are vital to the development of food
        security.... A food system offering security should have sustainability such
        that the ecological system is protected and improved over time.. and equity,
        meaning as a minimum, dependable access for all social groups".


        Within the organizing framework of these models, local food systems/
        community food security can provide a vehicle for coalition-building among
        those interested in anti-hunger advocacy, sustainable agriculture, nutrition,
        urban agriculture, local food policy and community development and other
        related issues.


        We are approaching a time of integration, where growing numbers of food,
        agriculture and other professionals are recognizing the need for an integrated
        local/regional  f ood systems approach  to really  address, analyze and solve
        the current challenges in food and agriculture today.  In this visually-oriented
        world, such models are critical tools in this emerging discipline.   They can
        help  increase understanding of our current food system, identify barriers and
        constraints to sustainability  and give us a vision and roadmap for realizing --
        making real --  an optimum food system.


        _Resources and References_

        A partial listing of References and Resources on foodsheds, food circles,
        community food security and local food systems issues and information.

        References:

        An Introduction to The Food Circle:  A Stewardship 'Technology'
        for the New Paradigm, by Nancy Lee Bentley,  EcoCity Journal,
        Winter 1994,  available from The Food Circle.

        Community Food Security: A Food Systems  Approach to the 1995 Farm
        Bill, by Andy Fisher and Robert Gottlieb, UCLA , for The Community
        Food Security Coalition.

        Food for the Future: Conditions and Contradictions of Sustainability,
        edited by Patricia Allen, 1993.  New York, John Wiley.

        Defining Sustainable Communities, Report from the Conference, June 2-4,
        1994, $5.00 from  Neighborhood Funders Group, 1001 South Marshall
        Street,  Suite 55,  Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27101; 910-724-9070.

        Food Policy Councils:  The Experience of  Five Cities and One County,
        by Kenneth Dahlberg, Paper presented to the Joint Meeting of the Agri-
        culture, Food and Human Values Society and the Society for the Study of
         Food and Society, Tucson, AZ, June 1994

        Hendrix College Project. by Melissa Beck Yazman,  available from
        Gary Valen, Hendrix College, Conway,  AR 72032.

        Local Food Systems: Policies and Values Influencing their Potential,
         by Kenneth Dahlberg, 1993. National Science Foundation supported
        project, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI.

        Planting the Future:  Developing an Agriculture that Sustains Land
        and Community, edited by Ann R. Bird, Gordan L. Bultena, and
        John C. Gardner.  1995.  available from Iowa State University Press,
        2121 S. State Avenue, Ames, IA 50014-8300.

        Regional Food Guidance:  A Tool for a Sustainable Food System, by
        Jennifer Wilkens,  Presented at the joint meeting of the Association
        for the Study of Food and Nutrition and the Agriculture, Food and
        Human Values Society, Tucson, AZ, May 1994.

        Sustainable Community Values Project Preliminary Report, Workshop
        presentation by Verna Kragnes and others,  Eating Closer to Home CSA
        Conference, Dec. 1994. University of Wisconsin, River Falls.

        The Community Food Security Empowerment Act, January 1995, available
        from The Community Food Security Coalition c/o Hartford Food System.

        Urban Foodsheds,  by Arthur Getz.  1991,  Permaculture Activist:
        Vol VII, No.3.



        Resources:

        The Community Food Security Coalition;  Mark Winne, c/o the Hartford
        Food System, 509 Wethersfield Ave. Hartford, CT 06114.  203-296-9325;
        203-296-8326  fax

        Andy Fisher, Robert  Gottlieb, UCLA Department of Urban Planning,
        405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095 310-825-1067; 310-206-5566 fax

        Kate Fitzgerald, Nessa Richman,  Sustainable Food Center, 1715 East
        Sixth St., Suite 200, Austin, TX  78702; (512) 472-2073; (512) 472-2075
        fax;  hn2953 at handsnet.org

         Kenneth Dahlberg, Local Food Systems Project;, Department of Political
        Science, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI  49008, (616) 387-
        5686;  (616) 387-3999 fax

        Anne deMeurisse, Minnesota Food Project, 2395 University Avenue, Saint
        Paul, MN 55114.  (612) 644-2038.

        Kate Clancy,  Department of Nutrition and Food Managerment, 034 Slocum
        Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York;  13244-1250; (315) 443-
        4554.

        Robert L. Wilson,  consultant to City of Knoxville Food Policy Council,
        (615)-588-7168.  or Gail Harris, City of Knoxville, Food Policy Council, PO
        Box 51650, Knoxville, TN 37950-1650. (615)-546-3500.

        Sally  Leong,  Foodshed Working Group, 793A Russell Laboratories,
        UW-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin  53706 (608) 262-5309


        Nancy Lee Bentley, The Food Circle, The Food Circle Network, PO Box
        3083, Champaign, IL, 61826-3083, (217)-586-3846,  xx200 at prairienet.org
        for a packet of informational material including graphic linear and Food
        Circle models and a reprint of  the Eco-City Journal "An Introduction to The
        Food Circle" article,  send $6.95 to The Food Circle.

        Ben Kjelsus, The Food Circle Project, 7121 Park Road, Kansas City, MO
        64129.  (816) 924-3003.

        Verna Kragnes, Philadelphia Community Farm,  Box 668, Osceola, WI
        54020;  (715) 294-3136.

        Rod MacRae, Toronto Food Policy Council, 277 Victoria Street, Toronto,
        Ontario  Canada  M5B 1W1 416-392-1107: 416-392-1357 fax




        Nancy Lee Bentley
        The Food Circle
        The Food Circle Network
        PO Box 3083
        Champaign, IL, 61826-3083
        (217)-586-3846
        xx200 at prairienet.org

        For a packet of informational material including graphic linear and Food
        Circle models and a reprint of  the Eco-City Journal "An Introduction to The
        Food Circle" article,  send $7.95 payable to The Food Circle, address above.




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