Download to read offline
Food System Organization and Community Impacts
- 1. Food System Organization andCommunity Impacts Mary Hendrickson, PhD Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology
- 3. Goldschmidt Hypothesis –Lobao & Stofferhan Detrimental effects in 82% of 51 studies reviewed Greater income inequality & poverty Decreased retail trade and diversity of retail firms Population declines Negative health effects of large livestock operations
- 4. Financialization is thegrowth of the financial sector, its increased power over the real economy, the explosion in the power of wealth, and the reduction of all of society to the realm of finance. (Roosevelt Institute) Financialization is 1) process that opens up new arenas for capital accumulation; 2) increasing prioritization of returns to shareholders over other values in corporate management and 3) permeation of financial values and activities into the everyday practices of social provisioning. (Clapp & Isakson, 2018) Ex: “In addition to taking on more debt, farmers are also increasingly encouraged by private financial institutions, neoliberal states and international organizations to purchase derivatives to hedge against price-based risks and insure against weather-related losses.” – Clapp & Isakson, 2018
- 6. Source: Cornelia Floraand Jan Flora, Iowa State University Natural Capital Financial Capital Built Capital Human Capital Social Capital Political Capital Cultural CapitalEconomic Security Healthy Ecosystem Vibrant Communities Strong Families Successful Youth Healthy People BuildingCommunityCapitals
- 7. Comprehensive Wealth Creation Creatingwealth that is “rooted in place through local ownership and control and building more self-reliant and resilient economy.” Build lasting livelihoods – the capabilities, the assets - both material and social resources - and the activities required for a means of living https://www.nado.org/measuring-rural-wealth-creation-a-guide-for-regional-development-organizations/ Think in terms of Net – Measuring both what creates and what takes away from the capitals
- 8. 8 Declining Resource Dependent Chronically Poor Amenity Driven Growth with Resource Base Decline AmenityRich (Not included) Carsey Institute Typology Economic impact of local foods production versus traditional agricultural production? Collected primary data from 33 farmers located in these regions Examined net benefits as we explored both forward and backward linkages • How much and where revenues were generated • Expenses and where they bought their inputs. Traced the flow of money from each dollar of consumer purchases of food through ‘conventional’ supply chain, with the flows generated by purchases of local foods.
- 9. Key Takeaways fromthis Study • Larger impacts of local food systems not surprising given a lot of conventionally produced food consumed here is produced elsewhere. • Economies of size at the farm level and specialization at the regional level mean that most types of food products are produced in a relatively few places. In general, local food systems generated more sales, employment and GDP than conventional food sales • Local food producers retained a relatively small share of GDP, but the larger community enjoyed more value added because of the direct and indirect employment and the indirect sales generated by local food systems. Total contribution to local GDP by local food systems was greater than the contribution of conventional food systems. • Farms in the region must be able to produce the quantities and quality of food that local consumers demand and the communities must generate sufficient demand to induce farmers to produce for the local market. Magnitude of economic benefits from local food systems depends on the region. 9
- 10. Human Capital: Theexisting stock of skills, understanding, physical health, and mental wellness in a region’s people Leadership capacity Wisdom Knowledge & Skills Self-Efficacy Health Indicators • Increase the number of food and farm businesses employing new and innovative techniques • Improve a health outcome for a target population • Increase the number of transactional partners (businesses, producers, growers) participating in an educational program • Increase the number of business people and consumers participating in educational programs Strategies • Technical assistance on latest techniques • Providing educational opportunities, including mentoring and networking • Community leadership programs that explore community assets
- 11. Interactions Among Groups Collective Identity Senseof Shared Future Indicators • Increase the number of partners in a value chain • Increase diversity of partners (number of economic sectors represented, demographic diversity, or other metric of interest to region) involved in leadership roles in the value chain • Increase number of low-income people who engage with/influence/make decisions in the value chain • Increase the number of volunteers in a project Strategies • Community leadership programs that explore community assets • Opportunities and spaces for interactions among diverse stakeholders in the food system • Place-building and space-making Social Capital: The existing stock of trust, relationships, and networks in a region’s population
- 12. Water Quality Soil Health NaturalBeauty Diversity of animals and plants Indicators • Increase the number of acres of land growing produce for a market opportunity • Increase the number of acres or sites where residents and visitors can enjoy natural amenities • Improve regional air quality or water quality measured by national standards • Increased volume of waste recycled, such as glass in value chains focused on bottled products Strategies • Encourage farmers to diversify operations through new market opportunities • Provide on-going technical assistance on sustainable soil and water management strategies Natural Capital: The existing stock of natural resources in a region’s places
- 13. Civic engagement Decision-making broadly shared Groupscan influence standards, regulations and enforcement Indicators • A broad range of consumers become active in food and farm policy at local, state and national levels • Increase the number of value chain stakeholders on nonprofit boards of directors related to value chain work and on citizen’s advisory committees or task forces at area educational institutions, healthcare institutions, or other regional anchors • Increase the number of opportunities to communicate value chain priorities to elected officials, such as through site visits, meetings or phone calls, testimony • Increase the number of new policies supporting value chain strategies and outcomes Political Capital: The existing stock of goodwill, influence and power that people, organizations and institutions in the region can exercise in decision-making
- 14. “Maybe at firstyou come because you think the food’s better for you. Before you know it you find yourself curious, finding yourself with questions. How was it grown? Were chemicals used? How were the animals treated? And at places like farmers’ markets you get to ask those questions, to people who actually have answers for you. . . . Pretty soon you start caring more about things like sustainability than you might have before. (Julian, farmers’ market)” Carolan 2016 Perhaps in this sense especially—in growing citizens attuned to justice— we can say some of these spaces are engaging in a political project, versus practicing politics as usual. While citizenship-as membership governs conduct within social groups, more- than-active citizens seek bridges across social groups.
- 15. Aggregation and distribution Processing plants Roadimprovement Broadband Indicators • Increase the capacity of regional infrastructure • Improve storage capacity for regionally produced products, such as square feet of cold storage • Grow the regionally owned/controlled processing capacity for value chain products, • Increase the locally controlled distribution points or points of sale for regional products or services, such as regional food hubs, local retailers selling local foods or beverages, or businesses offering specialized services Strategies • Developing private-public partnerships • Investing in public goods like community owned processing or storage – or marketing and internet access Built Capital: The existing stock of constructed infrastructure—for example, buildings, sewer systems, broadband, roads—in a region’s places
- 16. Resilience Capacity of the system toabsorb shocks and bounce back • Longer, specialized, centralized and consolidated supply chains are vulnerable to disruption Tornados Hurricanes Floods Pandemics Global trade
- 17. Hurricane Matthew – NorthCarolina 2016 Flooding in Pitt County from Hurricane Matthew, photo by National Weather Service “When Hurricane Matthew hit, the eye went directly over Simply Natural Dairy. They are grass fed, so didn’t lose feed and could keep feeding. In the past, they had received two USDA Value- Added Producer Grants to put in bottling and to establish ice cream production. Their milk is in stores, and they also have a on-farm ice cream store with agrotourism. When the hurricane hit, theirs was the only bottled milk in the local stores for over a week. This is one of the benefits of the VAPG. And this is also part of the loss of transportation and infrastructure in the hurricane.” – Scott Marlow, RAFI-USA, Pittsboro North Carolina
- 18. Mary Hendrickson, PhD Universityof Missouri 200 B Gentry Hall Columbia, MO 65211 Tele: 573-882-7463 Email: HendricksonM@Missouri.edu Web: https://localfoodlinkages.wordpress.com/ https://maryhendrickson.wordpress.com/
Editor's Notes
- #8 In conceptualizing livelihoods, attention is no longer solely focused on the individual farmer or farm entity and the way s/he makes a living, but also on the social, political and physical resources that are required and that are accessible to the individual and household. The concept of livelihoods places farmers and households within the context of their natural environment (ecology), their community and region, and the political systems in which they exist. Sustainable livelihoods occur when households can handle shocks – like a drop in global prices or loss from violent weather – and still maintain their standard of living without hurting their physical environment. In sum, sustainable livelihoods happen when households are resilient, which will be the topic of Module 5. Reference: FAO: http://www.fao.org/docs/up/easypol/581/3-7-social%20analysis%20session_167en.pdf
- #9 SE Nebraska High out migration (1988-2008) in Nemaha, Pawnee, & Richardson, all non-metro counties adjacent to non-metro counties Pawnee & Richardson identified as farm dependent Otoe and Johnson are non-metro adjacent to metro counties Overall medium to low urban influence Old Trails Chariton is non-metro adjacent to non-metro; high out migration (1988-2008) Carroll is non-metro adjacent to metro counties; high out migration (1988-2008) Saline identified as micropolitan; manufacturing dependent Ray & Lafayette identified as metro counties Overall high to medium urban influence N. Ozarks Overall low levels of education; persistent poverty (1970-2000) in Texas, Shannon, & Reynolds; no counties in the area are identified as recreation or farm dependent Shannon & Crawford identified as manufacturing dependent Reynolds & Iron identified as mining dependent Phelps identified as a micropolitan county; Federal/State Government dependent Iron & Crawford are non-metro adjacent to metro counties; all other are non-metro adjacent to non-metro counties Overall medium to low urban influence Based on the reported sales of producers in our survey, we generated a basket of locally produced goods worth $1 million to consumers. These goods were mostly purchased at farmer’s markets or through CSAs, but a portion was marketed through local retailers in which case the consumer expenditures included the retailer’s margin. Next, we generated a similar $1 million basket of conventionally produced food. As indicated in Figure 1, the majority of the foods in these baskets were vegetables and melons (63 percent). Survey respondents reported their purchases of goods and services used as inputs, along with expenses for labor and their profits. With these values we generated a vector of local input purchases comparable to input purchases of conventional producers reported in the IMPLAN input-output model. Finally, we scaled our vector of input purchases to equal $1 million of local food sales. We created a similar vector representing a $1 million conventionally produced and marketed basket of goods as depicted in Figure 1. This approach assumes that the sale of locally produced beef, for example, displaces an equal value (though not necessarily equal volume) of conventionally produced beef.
- #18 Basically, the longer and more concentrated and specialized the supply chain, the more vulnerable it is and the longer it takes to renew. Following Hurricane Katrina, the Crescent City Farmers Market was feeding folks in downtown NO months before any grocery store opened. Last year when Hurricane Matthew hit, there was a dairy called Simply Natural Creamery that the eye went directly over. They are grass fed, so didn’t lose feed and could keep feeding. The got 2 VAPG grants, 1 to put in bottling and 1 to put in ice cream production, and they have a significant ice cream store / agrotourism thing. When the hurricane hit, theirs was the only bottled milk in the local stores for over a week. This is one of the benefits of the VAPG. And this is also part of the loss of transportation and infrastructure in the hurricane. But core to that is that production was not interrupted. I was talking with a series of vegetable producers last week about this issue. In the hurricane, they had to start production over so it was months before they had stuff. Some products had to come from areas outside of the destruction zone. But with mixed vegetables, their turn around was relatively quick compared to corn / soy / cotton farmers who have to wait for the next year.