[lofo List] can San Francisco feed itself with local food?

[Daryl Hepting <hepting@cs.uregina.ca>]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/can-san-francisco-feed-itself/story.aspx?guid=%7B0DAEBE67-D1D4-4C5E-9A19-91DA6028A4EA%7D&dist=hppr

Can San Francisco Feed Itself With Local Food?

Last update: 10:15 a.m. EDT Aug. 29, 2008
DAVIS, Calif., Aug 29, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ --
AFT Study Shows Plenty of Food, But Significant Challenges to  
Marketing Local Food, Protecting Farmland
Could a major international city such as San Francisco feed itself  
with local food from farms and ranches within 100 miles of its iconic  
Golden Gate Bridge? "No place in the United States, and perhaps in the  
world, is as blessed as San Francisco by an amazing cornucopia of  
products grown nearby," says Ed Thompson, California Director & Senior  
Associate of American Farmland Trust (AFT). "But, the answer to the  
question is a qualified yes because there are challenges to increase  
both the production, marketing and consumption of local food."  
Thompson co-authored the study with Alethea Harper from Sustainable  
Agriculture Education (SAGE) and Sibella Krauss, President of SAGE and  
Director of the Agriculture in Metropolitan Regions Program,  
University of California, Berkeley.
San Franciscans consume 935,000 tons of food each year, and 5.9  
million tons in the Bay area as a whole, while the  
"foodshed" (agricultural operations within 100 miles of the Golden  
Gate Bridge as defined in the study) produces 20 million tons of food  
annually. In all, more than 80 different commodities are represented,  
with only a few not produced in abundance to satisfy the hunger of the  
City and Bay area residents. The study also found that food products  
sold directly to consumers, for example, at farmers markets, are a  
small fraction, 0.5 percent of total regional production. However,  
this sector of the food system is expanding rapidly, with production  
of food for sale directly to consumers up 9 percent a year from  
1997-2002 in the San Francisco foodshed study area.
"It's impossible to determine precisely how much locally-grown food is  
consumed in the City of San Francisco, or in fact, how much of what is  
consumed is produced on local farms and ranches," adds Thompson. "The  
commercial food system in the region, as throughout the United States,  
does not track the origin of what it sells, primarily because  
consumers do not yet demand to know the origin of the foods they eat."  
Most of what is produced in the San Francisco foodshed is grown in the  
Central and Salinas Valleys. Three-quarters of the value of  
agricultural production in this area comes from less than one-fifth of  
the land that is irrigated cropland, the land that is under the most  
pressure from urban development.
"Without local farmland, there can be no local food," says Thompson.  
"New development in this region is consuming an acre of farmland for  
every 9.7 residents -- the epitome of urban sprawl. If we continue at  
this rate, we'll lose another 800,000 acres by 2050, and much of that  
will be an unnecessary waste because of how inefficiently we are  
paving over the best land on earth."
The loss of farmland is one of several significant obstacles that must  
be addressed to increase both the production, marketing and local  
consumption of locally-grown food. Among the challenges:
-- Encourging the traceability of the origin of locally-grown food;
-- Educating consumers about eating foods in-season;
-- Providing capital, expertise and infrastructure to enable growers  
to transition to producing foods for local markets;
-- Assuring access to healthy, local food for low-income consumers.
"Despite the challenges, there are great opportunities to increase  
eating locally in San Francisco and the Bay Area," Thompson adds. "The  
local foods movement has momentum in this region. Public and private  
institutions are starting to source food locally. And as the fossil  
fuel era wanes, local food may gain in advantage in the marketplace  
over food that is processed and shipped long distances."
"No pun intended, we hope this report offers food for thought for San  
Francisco's consumers, area producers and other cities across the  
country," concludes Thompson.
The AFT study, titled "Think Globally-Eat Locally: San Francisco  
Foodshed Assessment" is available on the Internet at www.farmland.org.  
The project was conducted by American Farmland Trust, Sustainable  
Agriculture Education (SAGE) www.sagecenter.org, and Agriculture in  
Metropolitan Regions, a program within the Center for Global  
Metropolitan Studies at the University of California, Berkley,http://metrostudies.berkeley.edu/agmetroedge/program.shtml 
. It was made possible by generous funding from The San Francisco  
Foundation, The Farm Credit Council, U.S. Ag Bank, FCB, American Ag  
Credit, Farm Credit Services of Colusa-Glenn, ACA, Farm Credit West,  
Yosemite Farm Credit, Roots of Change Fund and the members of American  
Farmland Trust.
American Farmland Trust is a national nonprofit organization working  
with communities and individuals to protect the best land, plan for  
agriculture and keep the land healthy. As the leading advocate for  
farm and ranch land conservation, AFT has ensured that more than a  
million acres stays bountiful and productive. AFT's national office is  
located in Washington, DC. The phone number is 202-331-7300. For more  
information, visit www.farmland.org.
SOURCE American Farmland Trust
http://metrostudies.berkeley.edu/agmetroedge/program.shtml

Can San Francisco Feed Itself With Local Food?

Last update: 10:15 a.m. EDT Aug. 29, 2008
DAVIS, Calif., Aug 29, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- AFT  
Study Shows Plenty of Food, But Significant Challenges to Marketing  
Local Food, Protecting Farmland
Could a major international city such as San Francisco feed itself  
with local food from farms and ranches within 100 miles of its iconic  
Golden Gate Bridge? "No place in the United States, and perhaps in the  
world, is as blessed as San Francisco by an amazing cornucopia of  
products grown nearby," says Ed Thompson, California Director & Senior  
Associate of American Farmland Trust (AFT). "But, the answer to the  
question is a qualified yes because there are challenges to increase  
both the production, marketing and consumption of local food."  
Thompson co-authored the study with Alethea Harper from Sustainable  
Agriculture Education (SAGE) and Sibella Krauss, President of SAGE and  
Director of the Agriculture in Metropolitan Regions Program,  
University of California, Berkeley.
San Franciscans consume 935,000 tons of food each year, and 5.9  
million tons in the Bay area as a whole, while the  
"foodshed" (agricultural operations within 100 miles of the Golden  
Gate Bridge as defined in the study) produces 20 million tons of food  
annually. In all, more than 80 different commodities are represented,  
with only a few not produced in abundance to satisfy the hunger of the  
City and Bay area residents. The study also found that food products  
sold directly to consumers, for example, at farmers markets, are a  
small fraction, 0.5 percent of total regional production. However,  
this sector of the food system is expanding rapidly, with production  
of food for sale directly to consumers up 9 percent a year from  
1997-2002 in the San Francisco foodshed study area.
"It's impossible to determine precisely how much locally-grown food is  
consumed in the City of San Francisco, or in fact, how much of what is  
consumed is produced on local farms and ranches," adds Thompson. "The  
commercial food system in the region, as throughout the United States,  
does not track the origin of what it sells, primarily because  
consumers do not yet demand to know the origin of the foods they eat."  
Most of what is produced in the San Francisco foodshed is grown in the  
Central and Salinas Valleys. Three-quarters of the value of  
agricultural production in this area comes from less than one-fifth of  
the land that is irrigated cropland, the land that is under the most  
pressure from urban development.
"Without local farmland, there can be no local food," says Thompson.  
"New development in this region is consuming an acre of farmland for  
every 9.7 residents -- the epitome of urban sprawl. If we continue at  
this rate, we'll lose another 800,000 acres by 2050, and much of that  
will be an unnecessary waste because of how inefficiently we are  
paving over the best land on earth."
The loss of farmland is one of several significant obstacles that must  
be addressed to increase both the production, marketing and local  
consumption of locally-grown food. Among the challenges:
-- Encourging the traceability of the origin of locally-grown food;
-- Educating consumers about eating foods in-season;
-- Providing capital, expertise and infrastructure to enable growers  
to transition to producing foods for local markets;
-- Assuring access to healthy, local food for low-income consumers.
"Despite the challenges, there are great opportunities to increase  
eating locally in San Francisco and the Bay Area," Thompson adds. "The  
local foods movement has momentum in this region. Public and private  
institutions are starting to source food locally. And as the fossil  
fuel era wanes, local food may gain in advantage in the marketplace  
over food that is processed and shipped long distances."
"No pun intended, we hope this report offers food for thought for San  
Francisco's consumers, area producers and other cities across the  
country," concludes Thompson.
The AFT study, titled "Think Globally-Eat Locally: San Francisco  
Foodshed Assessment" is available on the Internet at www.farmland.org.  
The project was conducted by American Farmland Trust, Sustainable  
Agriculture Education (SAGE) www.sagecenter.org, and Agriculture in  
Metropolitan Regions, a program within the Center for Global  
Metropolitan Studies at the University of California, Berkley,http://metrostudies.berkeley.edu/agmetroedge/program.shtml 
. It was made possible by generous funding from The San Francisco  
Foundation, The Farm Credit Council, U.S. Ag Bank, FCB, American Ag  
Credit, Farm Credit Services of Colusa-Glenn, ACA, Farm Credit West,  
Yosemite Farm Credit, Roots of Change Fund and the members of American  
Farmland Trust.
American Farmland Trust is a national nonprofit organization working  
with communities and individuals to protect the best land, plan for  
agriculture and keep the land healthy. As the leading advocate for  
farm and ranch land conservation, AFT has ensured that more than a  
million acres stays bountiful and productive. AFT's national office is  
located in Washington, DC. The phone number is 202-331-7300. For more  
information, visit www.farmland.org.
SOURCE American Farmland Trust
http://metrostudies.berkeley.edu/agmetroedge/program.shtml
--
Daryl H. Hepting, Ph.D.
Associate Professor  * Computer Science Department * CW 308.22
University of Regina * Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada S4S 0A2
dhh@cs.uregina.ca    * http://www.cs.uregina.ca/~hepting
tel: (306) 585-5210  * fax: (306) 585-4745 * cell: (306) 596-6312


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