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Community Food Security

© Bob Ewing

Food is a basic human need. Yet for most of us living in Canada and the United States, it is merely an inexpensive commodity that we take for granted. Our fast food, convenience society demonstrates this. Issues surrounding how, where, or by whom it is grown are not generally the topic of conversation around the dinner table. Considering the current situation in agriculture, perhaps they should be. Family farms are disappearing. Industrial food factories are replacing them. Monocropping, the growing of a single crop and/or variety, means the end of the diversity that a healthy ecosystem thrives on and a farm is an ecosystem.

In North America, it is estimated that food travels an average of 1,300 miles from the farm to the market shelf. How fresh and healthy is it when it arrives on your table? What impact does this 1,300 mile journey have on our environment? How secure is your food supply? How many days of food do you have on hand? How many days will the supermarket supply last if the transportation lines are cut? Can you picture the competition for that last can of beans as supplies dwindle? These and other questions go to the heart of the food security issue. Food security can be defined as taking place when all people at all times can acquire safe, nutritionally adequate and personally acceptable foods that are accessible in a manner that maintains human dignity. (Canadian Dietetics Association, 1991)The answer to these questions is to find ways to produce food sustainably, in other words to develop a form of sustainable agriculture that is appropriate for the region where you live.

Food security is the main benefit of a local food production and distribution system. There are a number of ways to develop a community food system which can insure the community's food security. In previous articles, I have discussed a number of the possibilities. One of the most productive ways to encourage local food production is through the establishment of a community supported agriculture (CSA) project. The CSA involves the consumers and the producers in the process. The consumers take some of the risk and the responsibility and in return get fresh, locally grown produce as well as the opportunity to see where their food comes from. The farmers are no longer on their own, trying to sell food in an uncertain market. If we are to achieve a food secure society we must create a food culture where food matters and is not just something you toss on a plate before settling down in front of your television set.

The copyright of the article Community Food Security in From Field To Table is owned by Bob Ewing. Permission to republish Community Food Security in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.