Hunter Hartley's presentation discusses the intersection of social justice and food security, emphasizing that everyone deserves access to adequate food and equal opportunities. It highlights the importance of sustainable local agriculture practices and community wealth building, pointing out the limitations of conventional nonprofit structures. To address food deserts and strengthen the local food system, Hartley advocates for innovative farming practices and enhanced coordination among stakeholders.

1. Insuring Social
Justice through Food
Security
Hunter Hartley - Presenter

2. Introduction
Hunter Hartley
• Studied at Virginia Tech
• Helped start a nonprofit
farm and market in NW
Roanoke
• Co-manages a greenhouse
Social Justice
• The view that everyone deserves
equal economic, political and
social, rights and opportunities
• Justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and
privileges within a society
• Issues of social justice can be hidden by how things already are, so
addressing social justice issues directly, by definition, goes against
the established/mainstream living patterns
• Phrases such as “personal responsibility” have been used to diminish
the prospective for realizing social justice by justifying enormous
inequalities in modern society

3. Introduction
Food Security
• Consistent and dependable
access to adequate, safe and
nutritious food for an active
and healthy life. For a region
to be food secure, it must
have an adequate, stable
supply of food even during
drought and other difficult
conditions; and its people
must be able to locate and
afford food, even in the
presence of an abundant
supply.
• The people, activities and resources involved in getting food
from farms, ranches, rivers, oceans and other sources to
consumers’ plates. Major stages along the supply chain
include production, processing, distribution, retail and
consumption.
Food System/Supply Chain

4. Introduction
• Economic Sectors
– Primary – 1.0 operating system(s)
• Extraction or harvesting of product from the earth.
– Secondary - 2.0 operating system(s)
• Production of finished goods, manufacturing, processing and
construction
– Tertiary - 3.0 operating system(s)
• Service industry, sales, transportation/
distribution, insurance, banking, law
– Quaternary – 4.0 operating system(s)
• Intellectual pursuits, education, IT, scientific research, etc.

5. Introduction
• The relational activity between these
sectors may be either sustainable or
unsustainable.
– A region that consumes what it produces will
generally have larger “primary” and
“secondary” sectors.
– Today, many “tertiary” and “quaternary”
economic activities are unsustainable.
– “Primary” and “secondary” economic
activities however, can also be
unsustainable.

6. Community
Wealth Building
• Some of Roanoke’s most concerted efforts in local
agriculture are conducted through nonprofits.
• The conventional working of a 501(c)(3)’s structure may
actually constrict that organization’s capacity to contribute
wealth to the community.
• Consequently, it may also become reliant on donor
contributions to meet operating expenses.
• This reliance on external funds can result in misdirecting the
organization’s efforts and compromising its overall
effectiveness.

7. Micro/Urban Farms
• Pose a viable solution to food deserts
• Are capable of producing large quantities of nutrient
dense vegetables
• Offer the potential of gainful employment
• Higher capital investment can generate year-round
production
• Appropriate technology vs conventional
farming
• Grow more per square foot
• Use 1/10th the water
• Utilize brownfields
• Coordination Deficit
• There aren’t adequate programs in place to cultivate
the required skill sets to sustain local agriculture.

8. Productivity
and Consumption
• Reshape Roanoke to become a net food exporter
• Create greater resilience in our primary and secondary economic
sectors
• Existing revenue streams
- Federal funds help feed a large portion (68.63%) of
Roanoke City Public School students
- $3/lunch** x 9,299 students* = $27,897 each day
 Provide “appealing and nutritionally sound school meals as
economically as possible” – from “Roanoke School Board eyes
outsourcing of food services”
* NSLP Free and Reduced Price Eligibility Report
** Federal Register/Vol.79, No. 136 - Notices

9. Future Trends
• Resettlement
– War and geopolitical instability, ecological change and instability
– Displaced groups already relocating to Roanoke with their Agri-Cultura
• Increase in food prices especially for food that travels
a distance
• Conventional land management techniques
– Loss of pasture to desertification
– Soil depletion and pollution from reliance on inorganic fertilizers
– Water scarcity (California Central Valley drought)
• Global resource depletion necessitates regional self-
reliance

10. Complex Problems
Complex Solutions
• We know schools strive to educate, but informally,
they also strive to keep students fed
• Because it is informal, schools aren’t capable of
meaningfully addressing the issue
• If we want students effectively engaging the world
around them, it involves learning the scope of the
problems they face and the skills relevant to
resolving those issues.
• In addressing complex social issues there are two
essentials:
- Convening the right players, frontline people connected
with one another through the same value chain
- The social technology to shift multi-stakeholder gatherings
from debate to co-creation

11. Ego to Eco
Our Coordination Deficit
1. In the face of disruption, what emerging
future is already possible to discern?
2. How do we lead from the emerging future?
3. What evolutionary economic framework can
guide us forward?
4. How can we create practical strategies that
help us to operate from the future that we
want to create?

12. “U”
Methodology

14. 1.0 – Downloading: our habits of
judgment
2.0 - Precise Listening: noticing
differences
3.0 – Empathic: open heart
4.0 - Generative Listening: reflecting
our emerging future
Listening