Local or Community Food Systems
When we think of food systems that existed hundreds or thousands of years ago we see that local or community food systems are not new. Their history dates back as far as the early agricultural systems.
The term 'food system' does not refer just to the production of food but is instead, used to refer to all processes involved in providing our bodies with food: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consuming and disposing of food. The inputs needed and the outputs generated at each step are also included. The food system does not operate in isolation but rather it operates within and is influenced by, social, economic and natural environments. It is also influenced at each step by human resources that provide labour, research and education.
We need to work to enhance our local or community food system. It is the ideal - a food system in which food production, processing, distribution and consumption and waste are integrated to enhance the environmental, economic, social and nutritional health of a particular geographic location. Local or community food systems can operate at the bioregion level or at neighbourhood level or at any level in between. The use of the word 'community' instead of 'local' puts the emphasis on 'community' and on strengthening or developing the relationships between all components of the food system.
Globalised food systems differ from community food systems in four areas, ie in the distance between farmer and consumers; degree of self-reliance fostered; contribution to food security, and sustainability.
- Distance between farmer and consumers. The distance between different components of the food system is smaller in community food systems. This increases the degree of connection and increases the likelihood that relationships between different stakeholders in the system will last.
- Degree of self-reliance fostered. The extent to which a community can meet its food requirements determines its self-reliance. The aim of community food systems is not to create self-sufficient communities but the degree to which they can meet their food requirements determines the cohesion and sustainability of the community as a whole and of its food system.
- Contribution to food security. Community food security focuses on access to food within the community, especially by disadvantaged groups. Increasing community food security is one of the key goals of the community food system.
- Sustainability. Community food systems are more sustainable. Reducing the scale of teh food system to the local level and using organic techniques is a mechanism by which we can improve the sustainability of the production system.
Many current food production systems are unsustainable. The returns to the farmer are too low because, over time, the value of food has been increasingly captured by manufacturers, processors, and retailers, leaving little for the producer. The farmer is getting less for their produce and the consumer is paying more. The middle is where the money is going. This means less money to the rural communities, many of which enter rural decline as a result.
The aim of local and regional food systems is to create more direct links between farmers and consumers by growing food or raising livestock close to the markets where they are purchased. This results in the following advantages:
- Consumers know where their food comes from
- Consumers know how their food is grown (or raised)
- Trust and connectedness is developed in the foodsheds
- Farmers and consumers benefit economically by keeping money within the community
- Environmental damage caused by transporting food over long distances is minimised.
- Farmers especially young farmers are more likely to stay on the land that their family has nurtured for generations.
There is too much 'fat' in the middle. Systems need to change or new systems need to be put in place to take back more from the middle of the production-consumption cycle, so economic benefits can be spread more to communities and local economies. There are various ways we can localise food - community supported agriculture, box schemes, farmers groups, consumer groups and cooperatives, farmers markets, you-pick-it farms, community gardens, clear labelling, food webs and local shops, and slow food systems.
There are a number of possible blocks on the growth of community food systems. The chief one relates to competition policy that favours the growth of larger companies and farm holdings. Smaller local farms tend to be marginalised because of the structure of state and corporate support for large intensive. As a social movement community food systems may give way to the wider forces of globalisation. Therefore we, the consumers, need to support them.