Exploring the Coming Edible Landscape

In an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance food security, and address food deserts, the focus is shifting towards localized and community-specific food systems. These systems prioritise sustainability, equity, and resilience.

Margaret Brown, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, stresses the importance of local and state-level pressure to enforce White House commitments to reform the food system. Ken Cottrill, the editorial director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, discusses research into local retailers relying on local producers for fresh food, but notes costs as a major barrier.

Key strategies for this transformation include diversifying agricultural production, supporting sustainable farming practices, building community governance, reducing food waste, enhancing local food processing and distribution, and incorporating sustainability assessment tools across the entire food lifecycle.

Diversifying agricultural production involves growing a broad range of plant and animal species adapted to local conditions. This approach improves soil health, builds supply resilience, and reduces reliance on high-impact monocultures like rice. Supporting sustainable, ecologically regenerative farming practices minimises chemical use and emphasises soil and ecosystem health over maximising calorie output.

Building community governance and control over local food systems democratises decision-making, improves food justice, and better meets the needs of underserved populations in food deserts. Empowering local stakeholders helps design food access solutions tailored to specific community conditions.

Reducing food waste and creating circular food economies optimises supply chains to keep food from farm to table sustainable and minimises wasted resources and emissions. Enhancing local food processing and distribution infrastructures shortens supply chains, reduces transportation emissions, and improves access in areas lacking grocery options.

Incorporating sustainability assessment tools across the entire food lifecycle is crucial to significantly cutting the food sector’s substantial share (approximately one-third) of global carbon emissions. This comprehensive approach is necessary to achieve a more just, resilient, and low-carbon food future for the US.

The food industry has faced challenges during the pandemic, with severe worker shortages and essential workers, such as agricultural and meat laborers (often migrant workers), coming to the forefront. Approximately 30% of food in the US is thrown out, and schools, a vital source of meals for children, have been affected by their closures during the pandemic.

Affordability is another significant issue. Amber Tamm, a Black farmer in the food justice space, aims to make food free. Tamm also points out the difficulty of affording nutritious meals when compared to cheaper, less healthy alternatives. Families in poverty may choose unhealthy meals over expensive, nutritious options due to financial constraints.

President Joe Biden has promised to decarbonize the agriculture and food sector by investing in new research technologies and creating job opportunities for farmers and ranchers of colour. In 2019, a coalition of 10,000 farmers and ranchers supported a Green New Deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the food sector and create well-paying jobs.

Communities, particularly those in food deserts, have long been aware of these issues. In New York City, Tamm envisions more community fridges and farm-to-people programs. In the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, a more sustainable and equitable food system could involve mobile food pantries, outdoor food markets, and community-run grocery stores. The goal is to create food systems that are tailored to community needs and cultures, focusing on healthy meals and economic opportunities.

Native Hawaiians are working on creating more taro patches to revive ancestral food traditions. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the poor functioning of the current food system. The transformation of America’s food system depends predominantly on expanding localized, diversified, ecologically sound food systems governed democratically with community focus, informed by comprehensive sustainability frameworks that span the entire food lifecycle.

Margaret Brown, in her role as a senior attorney, highlights the significance of local and state-level pressure for enforcing White House commitments to reform the food system.
Amber Tamm, a Black farmer in the food justice space, aspires to make food free, addressing the affordability issue that often results in families choosing cheaper, less healthy options over nutritious meals due to financial constraints.
The transformation of America's food system involves incorporating sustainability assessment tools across the entire food lifecycle, a crucial step for significantly reducing the food sector's carbon emissions.
President Joe Biden has promised to decarbonize the agriculture and food sector by investing in new research technologies and creating job opportunities for farmers and ranchers of color, as part of his efforts to address climate change.
Ken Cottrill, the editorial director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, discusses costs as a major barrier for local retailers relying on local producers for fresh food.
In New York City, Tamm envisions more community fridges and farm-to-people programs, reflecting a goal to create food systems that are tailored to community needs and cultures, focusing on healthy meals and economic opportunities.