Subject: [permaculture] Study of local community food enterprises published
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:38:28 -0600
Well, the announcement below doesn't directly mention permaculture, but
I think it is interesting from an "invisible structure" viewpoint, also
those of us into urban permaculture have to think and work a lot on ways
to produce and distribute food in and to cities, and the community food
enterprises (CFE) profiled have something to contribute in that regard.
In consideration of full disclosure, however, I will also say that one
of the CFEs profiled in the study is the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, of
which I am the president. Note that the study is available free as a
download from the internet, it profiles 12 CFEs in the US and 12 outside
of the US.
If you want to start a local food coop in your area, you can have our
software for free under the general public license system --
http://www.localfoodcoop.org/ .
Bob Waldrop
www.energyconservationinfo.org
www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org
NOW AVAILABLE! The Wallace Center at Winrock International, in
partnership with the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies
(BALLE), announces the release of Community Food Enterprise: Local
Success in a Global Marketplace, profiling 24 locally owned food
businesses from around the world, and providing detailed analyses of
their financial, social, and environmental performance.
Community Food Enterprise (CFE) helps build the case that local
ownership of food businesses can help more people access healthy,
sustainably grown food, and strengthen local economies by fostering
income, jobs, and resources within the community.
KEY REPORT FINDINGS:
* CFEs harness the advantages of local ownership. Local food is not just
the proximity of production location and short supply chains. Equally
important is local ownership of food enterprises, which stimulates local
income, wealth, jobs, taxes, charitable contributions, tourism, and
entrepreneurship.
* CFEs take many shapes and sizes. CFEs defy common assumptions. They
are not necessarily small, they are not naïve about business, they often
reach into global markets, and they effectively take on myriad business
frameworks (for-profit, non-profit, co-op, public-private partnership,
sole proprietorship).
* CFEs are competing effectively. CFEs are deploying more than a dozen
interesting strategies for competing effectively against multinational
enterprises. Many CFEs take characteristics that were once regarded as
liabilities – smaller size, limited capital, high social standards – and
turn them into competitive assets.
* CFEs are going global. The local food movement, once thought to be a
phenomenon in a few wealthier countries, is taking root globally.
* CFEs are strategic economic development tools. Economic developers,
both in the U.S. and internationally, would be wise to give CFEs greater
priority as vehicles for creating new jobs and ownership opportunities;
improving job quality in traditional economic sectors like farming;
generating individual and community wealth; and improving public health
and community well-being.