A sustainable food system includes buying locally, minimizing waste, helping the hungry
On Sept. 25, my wife and I had the pleasure of attending the Local First Harvest Dinner, held under a tent on the west lawn of the Smiley Building. It was a lovely affair on a mild, early autumn evening, with four courses creatively prepared from local ingredients by some of our outstanding local chefs. Each course had a pairing of local or regional wines.
The event was both a celebration of our local food ecosystem and a fundraiser for Local First, the alliance of local independent businesses. At a time when online retailers and national corporations siphon off more and more local spending, Local First highlights locally owned or controlled businesses. The goal is to enhance the local economy by recirculating a larger share of spending in the community than possible for national franchises such as fast-food outlets or supermarkets, much less online purchases.
Focusing on local food is especially important because a small number of large corporations dominate the national food system, leaving growers with just 15% of final supermarket revenue. Since the founding of the Durango Farmers Market about 25 years ago, burgeoning efforts have supported regional agricultural growers with local markets. Besides farmers markets, examples include the Farm to School project, community gardens and linking growers to restaurants locally. Last weekend’s Apple Days Festival celebrated gleaning backyard bounty to serve the whole community. The Good Food Collective seeks to coordinate and expand these initiatives.
The potential monetary value of local agriculture is large. La Plata County residents and visitors spend more than $150 million on food each year. If local growers received just 10% of this revenue, the annual value to the economy would amount to about $15 million. Purchasing locally grown food supports livelihoods for neighbors. The food also is fresher and more nutritious.
Ironically, the Harvest Dinner reflected a darker component of the local food system. Tickets represented a donation that exceeded the cost of a meal at a fine restaurant and far beyond the resources of many of our neighbors. According to the Food Bank (http://durangoareafoodbank.org/hunger-in-our-community/), 6,400 people, 14% of the county population, are food insecure – missing at least one meal per day. Moreover, about half of these people earn sufficient income to make them ineligible for Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP) payments. They then rely on local agencies such as the food bank and Manna soup kitchen to help fill their nutritional needs, while other programs enable SNAP recipients to buy local foods at the farmers markets and elsewhere.
Food insecurity is a global issue, afflicting about 10% of the world’s population, even as a third of the world’s agricultural production goes to waste. Despite America’s wealth, the rate of food security and the level of food waste here is comparable to that elsewhere. Besides food waste, both globally and locally, one of the key elements of food insecurity is lack of economic access. We grow more than enough food to feed the world, but sell at a price that many cannot afford to pay. The dilemmas of the food system are deep, and they persist even in America’s affluent society.
The challenge of food insecurity is projected to grow with global population, complicated further by climate change. Recognizing these challenges, the United Nations convened a World Food Summit on Sept. 23.
Locally, recognizing that a sustainable food system is critical for a healthy future, we can act on three fronts discussed here: buying local food to the extent that we can, minimizing food waste and supporting needy neighbors through such local agencies as the Durango Food Bank and Manna.
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October 23, 2021 at 10:58AM
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Our View: Bread of life - The Durango Herald
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