News in Context
The USDA has published an interesting report on food systems. The results can be used to “inform policy, investment and action towards more stable and sustainable food systems.” It outlines their research on affordability, availability, quality/safety, and climate risk responsiveness.
Strong food systems and soil health are homeland security. We need to be able to feed our people, neighbors, communities, kids, elders, ourselves. Protecting our resources — water, soil, people, ecosystems — treating them with respect, making sure our practices are ones that will help us stand the test of time in growing our own food and feeding ourselves — that’s resilience.
While this report is a global one, we’ve seen the impact of extreme weather as recently as this month’s flooding and last year’s ice storm right here in Michigan. Farms are significantly impacted by these events.
We’re looking forward to diving into this publication more, but here are a few things that popped out to me right away:
· One of the key insights is around building climate-resilient food systems. “Climate risk responsiveness is the weakest pillar in the index, leaving food systems exposed to intensifying climate shocks and growing pressure on land, water and biodiversity.” While this report is a global one, we’ve seen this as recently as this month’s flooding and last year’s ice storm right here in Michigan. Farms are significantly impacted by these events. How can farms stay resilient in this changing landscape?
· The index points to ways healthy diets can be more affordable. Groundwork is tracking such opportunities. They include fiscal policy that shifts prices toward nutritious foods, dietary guidelines that align health, sustainability, and access, and broadening availability of nutrient-dense foods. Our cooking classes that emphasize using local food also take into consideration dry goods and other foods that are commonly found in food pantries, crafting recipes that are attainable for our neighbors.
· One more point of interest to us in a sea of information in the report, is that cold-chain infrastructure is a need, along with dedicated policy and investment for end-to-end cold chain capacity. This means keeping food stored properly along the journey from farm to plate. Our Building Resilient Communities program addresses this on a small scale by offering stipends to sites that need that small amount of funding to purchase a refrigerator or freezer to maintain the freshness of locally grown food. Our state is in need of this type of support, like funding for refrigerated trucks, and other storage that is necessary to get fresh or frozen food moved around the state efficiently. (Also food waste — “Cutting food loss and waste: the fastest resilience gain hiding in plain sight”)
“The challenge is less about inventing new solutions than about connecting what already works and delivering it at scale.” We feel that at Groundwork. Changing the food system takes time. Sometimes lots of time. We stay the course and build upon the things that we know work.
Economist Impact – RFSI Index – Resilient Food Systems Index (RFSI)
Jen Schaap, Groundwork Food & Farming Program Director
jen.schaap@groundworkcenter.org
