AERO KUFM Commentary

Revitalizing our Regional Food System

© 2006 Written by Tom Elliott and read by Molly Holz

August 24, 2006

Something is wrong when 1 billion people are hungry and another billion spend their entire income purchasing just enough food to survive. Something is wrong when rural communities are dying and agricultural producers can't make a decent living. These conditions can be traced in part to the breakdown of local food systems.

Healthy local food systems require vigorous, innovative, interwoven relationships. As Jane Jacobs has said, "In a natural ecology, the more niches that are filled, the more effectively the ecology uses the resources it has available, and the richer it is in life and the means of supporting life. Notice that she said "effective" instead of "efficient." Nature is extravagant—not efficient, but it is incredibly effective.

Collectively, these are the principles Montanans need to use to create a healthy food system. When I design anything, I try to work with underlying principles. I'd like to suggest some principles that can help us in thinking about local food systems:

• 1. Eliminate the concept of waste. In nature, there is no waste; everything is food for something else.
• 2. Use current solar income. Solar energy is the planet's sole source of income. Nature does not mine the past nor borrow from the future.
• 3. Respect diversity. Material flows, biological flows, spiritual flows, cultural flows—we should celebrate and cultivate our differences rather than sameness.
• 4. Recognize interdependence.
• 5. Respect relationships between spirit and matter.

What are some specific strategies and tools for co-creating a local food system?

First, Replace imports. Our local food system will prosper from innovative, exuberant import replacement.

Second, Don't eat their food. It's our first line of defense. Eating traditional foods is taking back power from the trans-nationals.

Third, Support appropriate-scale value-added processing. For the global plantation to function, transnationals must have control of the value added to food through processing and sales, not the farmer. Our food system needs to support the farmer or small processor who adds value through sustainable farming practices.

Fourth, Believe that small is beautiful and bountiful. Our food system has to support small- to medium-sized farms. Contrary to the prevailing belief that small farms are inefficient, there is widespread evidence that the integrated small-farm model consistently produces more total output per unit area than the large farm.

Fifth, Recognize the multi-functional aspects of agriculture. Agriculture is not like a shoe factory that produces a relatively simple good. Agriculture not only produces food, but also contributes to food security, the intactness of open space and habitat, and the maintenance of local community.

Sixth, Use Community Supported Agriculture, or CSAs. CSAs now account for $22 million per year in foodstuff purchases and they keep dollars in local communities.

Seventh, Support organic agriculture. The ethic of organic agriculture puts into practice the strategies I have listed.

Here is AERO's vision for Montana's food system:
Our farmers and ranchers are thriving and our state is full of locally owned processors. Our urban areas are surrounded by hundreds of small farms providing fresh and processed fruit and vegetables, milk, yogurt, and cheese. Our family-sized grain farmers and ranchers have access to local-processing facilities, giving them more market options. Retail grocers stock Montana-grown and processed food, and there are lots of small in-state food distributors. Our schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and universities serve Montana-produced food. There are many new jobs in our revitalized communities."

Does this sound like a food system we might like to work toward? At times the odds of achieving this vision may seem small, but when we can step back and appreciate the multiplication of small efforts, we can see that these are not just isolated projects—they are emerging as part of a new global paradigm.

This Montana public radio commentary was adapted from a speech by Livingston rancher Tom Elliott, and I'm Molly Holz for the Alternative Energy Resources Organization. AERO is a grassroots membership organization working to help create farm, food, and energy solutions for Montana communities.