Opportunities and Challenges in More Localized Food Systems

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Opportunities and Challenges in More Localized
Food Systems
Michael W. Hamm C.S. Mott Professor of
Sustainable Agriculture Depts. of Community,
Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies Food
Science and Human Nutrition Crop and Soil
Sciences Michigan State University
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Why is Sustainability an Important Central Tenet
for Our Work?
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Easter Island A Cautionary Tale

• Key Facts
• Recent volcanic island so fertile soils
• 27 degrees south- overly cool for many things
  like coconuts to do well and water overly cool
  for coral reefs and associated fish abundance
  (about same south as Houston, TX is north)

Map from http//www.mapsouthpacific.com/pacific/i
ndex.html
Picture from http//members.virtualtourist.com/m/
7cbc2/946/
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Food Supply and Ecology

• At time of discovery (Early 1700s )
• Sweet potatoes, yams taro, bananas, sugarcane,
  chickens
• 66 square miles of grassland with no trees or
  bushes above 10 ft.
• No native animals larger than insects
• When early Polynesians first arrived
• The island was forested with diverse understory
• Trees were species that could provide rope
  material, dense firewood and boat making
  materials
• 1/3 of all bones were from porpoises
• Bones of six bird species with at least 25
  nesting species altogether

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Chain of Events

• Wood gets cut
• Cant make many canoes
• Cant go out to hunt
  porpoises
• Find more
  chicken bones

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Chain of Events

• Wood gets cut
• Soil more erodable
• Crop productivity declines

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Social Consequences

• Starvation
• Population Crash
• Cannibalism
• War and Statue Defamation

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American Farmland Trust http//www.farmland.org/fa
rmingontheedge/downloads.htm
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12 Billion Pounds Consumed (Mich)360 Billion
Pounds Consumed (USA)
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The Three Challengesnumber 1 Farmer Loss
From Public Sector Associates Michigan Land
Resources Project (2001)
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The Three Challengesnumber 2 Diet and
Activity Loss
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1985
(BMI 30, or 30 lbs overweight for 5 4
person)
From Overweight and Obesity Obesity Trends
U.S. Obesity Trends 19852005 (downloaded from
http//www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps
/index.htm
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 2005
(BMI 30, or 30 lbs overweight for 5 4
person)
From Overweight and Obesity Obesity Trends
U.S. Obesity Trends 19852005 (downloaded from
http//www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps
/index.htm
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The Three Challengesnumber 3 Job Loss

• 98.4 of the 211,567 businesses in MI are
  classified as small
• MI lost over 2,000 businesses between 2000 2002
• MI 37th in the country in terms of firm formation
  for 2002
• i.e. lots of opportunity and need

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Growth and Development

• Growth an increase in size through material
  accretion
• Development realization of fuller and greater
  potential

Is the Land Grant role at this point primarily
one of growth or development?
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The Land Grant Role

• Help provide a context for decision making about
  alternatives and options

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A Framework
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A Strategy
A diversity of viable farms
Farming
People maintaining a quality standard of life as
they mature and age
Health
Economics
Vibrant rural and urban communities
Environment
Our natural resource base enhanced for future
generations
Picture from SUSTAINABLE POULTRY PRODUCTION
OVERVIEW at http//www.attra.org/attra-pub/PDF/pou
ltryoverview.pdf
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Food Attributes Consumers Are Willing to Pay for
in the Marketplace

• Place (Local - e.g. Select Michigan)
• Organic
• Scale (e.g. small family farm)
• Environmental (e.g. low pesticide use, bird
  friendly)
• Animal friendly/animal welfare
• Heritage breed/variety
• Labor standards and returns (e.g. fair trade)

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Consumers

• Hartman group divides into
• Core (13)
• Mid-level (62)
• Periphery (24)
• 10 years ago
• Organic foods in the core
• Today
• Organic foods in the mid-level
• Local, bio-dynamic, fair food in the core
• Periphery moved to healthier such as natural

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Consumers (cont.)

• Some core consumers saying local more important
• 50 of consumers said locally grown affected
  purchases
• 38 of consumers said organic affected purchases

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Case Study - Fruits and Vegetables in Michigan
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Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables

• 7 of population achieves 5-7-9 servings or more
  when french fries and potato chips are excluded

Produce for Better Health Foundation State of
the Plate
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• And on average imported have higher levels of
  pesticide residues than domestic in a
• particular product category

Taken from http//www.fas.usda.gov/scriptsw/bico/b
ico.asp?Entryloutdoc1270 C. Benbrook
Minimizing Pesticide Dietary Exposure Through the
Consumption of Organic Food An Organic Center
State of Science Review (2004)
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What if Consumers in Michigan Ate 5 Servings of
Fruits and Vegetables Per Day?

• Nearly 100 pounds of fruits and vegetables per
  adult more

And now we are recommending 7 -9 servings a day
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Maximum crop acreage adjustments implied by full
adoption of selectrecommendations from the 2005
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
J. C. Buzby, H. Farah Wells, and G. V. Possible
Implications for U.S. Agriculture From Adoption
of Select Dietary Guidelines (ERS Report 31,
2006)
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Nutritional Considerations
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Production Strategies
Marionberries
Strawberries
conventional (gray bars), organic (white
bars), or sustainable (black bars) agricultural
practices
Corn
D. K. ASAMI, Y.-J. HONG, D. M. BARRETT, AND A. E.
MITCHELL J. Agric. Food Chem. 2003, 51,
1237-1241
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Variety Variation

• E.g. Brown et al at Univ. of Illinois have found
  significant variation in phytochemical
  concentration due to genotype

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• Authors
• Patty Cantrell
• David Conner
• George Erickcek
• Michael Hamm

Download at mottgroup.msu.edu or mlui.org
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Potential Market Changes
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Economic Impacts

• Up to 1,889 jobs
• 187 million in new, personal income

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Improved Diet

• Iowa- 25 of current consumption of 37 fruits and
  vegetables shift to being grown in Iowa
• Approx. 2300 net new jobs if all direct markets
• Approx. 1200 net new jobs if 50 direct markets
• Iowa- all Iowans consume 5 servings per day
• Approx. 4000 net new jobs
• Iowa- all Iowans consume 7 servings per day
• Approx. 5600 net new jobs

D. Swenson (2006) The Economic Impacts of
Increased Fruit and Vegetable Production and
Consumption in Iowa Phase II (downloaded at
http//www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/staff/health/h
ealth.htm)
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Michigan Farmers Markets in relation to Urban
Areas (2000)
Socio-Ecological and Geographical Analysis of
Michigans Agriculture Toward a Policy and
Planning Tool for Sustainable Agriculture in
Michigan Jim Bingen, Manuel Colunga, and Stuart
GageResource Development and Computational
Ecology and Visualization Laboratory (Entomology
Department)
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Greenhouse and High Tunnel Production-
Sustainably Expanding the Season and the Markets
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Organic Market

• 10 billion in 2003
• 2 of total grocery sales BUT growing 8 times
  faster than grocery sector as a whole
• Projected 32.3 billion by 2009
• Will likely exceed 20 growth rate in future

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Recent Growth Patterns in the U.S. Organic Foods
Market. By C. Dimitri and C. Greene USDA-ERS
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Recent Growth Patterns in the U.S. Organic Foods
Market. By C. Dimitri and C. Greene USDA-ERS
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Recent Growth Patterns in the U.S. Organic Foods
Market. By C. Dimitri and C. Greene USDA-ERS
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What does this mean for Michigan?

• About 66 million of organic fruit and vegetable
  sales
• About 22 million of organic bread and grain
  sales
• About 15 million of organic milk sales

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What might this mean for farmers?
Recent Growth Patterns in the U.S. Organic Foods
Market. By C. Dimitri and C. Greene USDA-ERS
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Access for All Members of a Community
Food Desserts
Taken from K. Pothukuchi, The Detroit Food System
(2003)
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Household Expenditure for Fruits and Vegetables
From Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer
Expenditure Survey http//www.bls.gov/cex/home.htm
top
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New Farms Seeding Economies
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Food Is a Homeland Security Issue
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The End
mottgroup.msu.edumhamm_at_msu.edu