Toward a Regional Food Economy for Northeast Ohio

1
Toward a Regional FoodEconomy for Northeast Ohio

• Presented by
• Brad Masi,
• Northeast Ohio Food Congress
• April 5, 2003

2
Northeast Ohio Region

• Northeast Ohio region includes seven county
  metropolitan area surrounding Cleveland
• Major challenges
• Urban decay/brownfields
• Outmigration from urban cores
• Loss of farmland/open space/greenfields
• Economic challenges for local agriculture

3
Regional Land-Use Issues

• Connection between
• Urban Decay
• Loss of Viable Farms
• Urban Sprawl
• Current projections
• By 2010, the Cleveland metropolitan area will
• Lose 3 of its population
• Occupy 30 more land for residential/commercial
  development

4
Regional Food System Assessment

• Regional food assessment conducted for Northeast
  Ohio at Cleveland State
• Observations
• 6.7-6.9 billion in aggregate food purchases
  (homeout) for seven county area
• 254 million total agricultural sales in same
  area
• Key question how to increase slice of regional
  purchases going to local farmers?

5
A Tale of Two Food Systems
6
Facts About Modern Food System

• Average food molecule travels about 2,000 miles
  from farm to plate
• Every calorie of food requires 3 calories of
  energy for growing and 6.8 calories of energy for
  distribution and processing
• Energetics
• 10 calories of energy to provide 1 calorie of
  food

7
Economics of Food System

• About 5-20 of every food dollar spent goes to
  the farmer
• The remaining 80-95 is tied up in a vast system
  of distribution, processing and transport
• Billions of taxpayer dollars support large
  monocultures that sell at subsidized prices

8
National Food System DesignCradle to Grave
A Brief Moment of Indulgence
Food Waste Disposal
Food Transport
Food Packaging
Food Waste Transport
6.8 calories of energy
Atmospheric Carbon Accumulation
Food Processing
Waste Accumulation
LANDFILL
Food Transport
Methane
Food Grown Farm 1,300 miles away
Carbon dioxide
3 calories of energy
Soil erosion
Nutrient/Chemical pollution
9
Whole Food System

• Direct Marketing
• CSAs
• Farmers Markets
• Roadside Stands
• Direct Sales

• Demand-Side
• Restaurants
• Grocery Stores
• Institutions

• Transaction Side
• Food Distribution
• Local Food Marketing
• Processing
• Packaging

• Supply-Side
• Organic Farms
• Transitional Farms
• New Farms

• Food Waste
• In-vessel systems
• Urban Gardens
• Back to farms

10
Building a Reigonal Food SystemThe Oberlin Model
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Local Food Purchasing at Oberlin

• Connect farmers to dining halls and coops at
  Oberlin College
• 10,000 purchased from farmers in 1991
• Purchases between dining coops and dining halls
  equaled 120,000 in 2001
• College invested several thousand to buy
  dispensers for local, organic milk
• Figure represents about 3 of total purchases
• How to get to 40 as achieved by Bates College in
  Maine?

12
Back at the Farm

• Farm Program
• Community Supported Agriculture
• Applied Research and Education
• Direct Marketing to Oberlin College
• Innovations in Soil Restoration

13
Restoring Soil with a Chicken Tractor
14
Chicken Tractor at Work
15
Accelerating Topsoil Formation
16
Oh yeahand Eggs Too!
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Farm as Microcosm

• Use farm as grounding point for broader regional
  vision
• Innovations in small-scale agriculture and
  land-use
• Use of compost and chicken tractors to revitalize
  degraded soils
• New economic relationships
• New materials economy (strawbale construction)
• Ecological sustainability

18
Building a Vision for a New Food Economy for
Northeast Ohio
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Vision for Change

• What is needed
• Innovation and entrepreneurial activity across
  all sectors of the food economy
• Demand side
• Supply side
• Transaction side
• Broader network and closer connections between
• Farmers
• Food sector businesses
• Consumers

20
Northeast Ohio Food Congress

• Overall purpose of Congress
• Build collaborations across all sectors of the
  local food economy
• Farmers
• Distributors
• Processors/Manufacturers
• Eaters
• Increase profitability across food sector through
  creation of new markets in Cleveland metropolitan
  area

21
Sequence of Events

• Identification of personal visions
• Articulation of key barriers and obstacles
• Identification of practical strategies/next steps
• Eaters/Consumers
• Transactions/Markets
• Farmers/Producers

22
Agriculture as an Urban Issue

• Key elements
• Agriculture IS an urban issue
• Agriculture belongs in a metropolitan economic
  development strategy
• Farmland is not undeveloped land
• Regional food system integrates ecology and
  economics
• Regional food system IS farmland protection