Community food systems
MAPPING THE COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEMS
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communities providing for themsleves WHAT ARE COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEMS? Community food systems are a do-it-yourself way to obtain the food we prefer to eat. They can be social enterprises, small businesses or community initiatives. As small scale local enterprise, community food systems reduce packaging waste, make fresh food available and support regional food economies.
MANY BENEFITS
TRY THIS Read the label next time you shop for food to discover where the food you bought comes from. ■ try to estimate how the food reached you — how many journeys there might have been by truck, ship or aircraft and which of these would have contributed the most to fossil fuel use and carbon emissions ■ is there a closer source of the same type of food that would deliver it fresher? Is there a farmers or organic market near where you live? ■ how could you organise your schedule to buy from a farmer’s or organic foods market? ■ ask farmers’ market sellers where their produce is grown and processed; do they contribute to the regional food economy?
Is there a food cooperative near where you live? ■ list the benefits of joining the food co-op and the barriers to your membership ■ what changes would you have to make to buy from the coop? ■ how would the volume of food packaging waste you produce be affected by shopping at the food coop?
Want to avoid shopping trips to buy food? ■ is there a communitysupported agriculture scheme close by which links you straight to local farmers? ■ is there a food hub which aggregrates the produce of regional farmers and home-delivers weekly?
Before you go shopping, make a list of your needs. At the shop: ■ are there foods produced closer to where you live that could be substituted for those imported from overseas or interstate? ■ are there products packaged in recyclable materials? how would buying them reduce the amount of packaging waste you have to dispose of?
Unless we eat a completely seasonal diet, not all of the food we eat can be produced in the region in which we live. Buying what foods are available from our region supports local farmers, food processors and distributors.
Community Gardens Australia PRODUCED by… Community Gardens Australia DESIGN, TEXT & PHOTOS by… Russ Grayson
University of NSW permaculture community garden
DISTRIBUTED by…
SUPPORTING LOCAL
By doing this, we support our local economy and make our food supply more resilient to resource and environmental disruption and price increases stemming from regional and global events.
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International Public License. http://creativecommons.org Community gardens, non-government educational, advocacy, local government, sustainability educators and community organisations may reproduce and distribute this brochure under this same Creative Commons licence. This Creative Commons notice must appear on the document. Please inform us if you reuse the brochure: info@communitygarden.org.au
Community food systems: ■ support regional growers, food processors and businesses ■ sustain local and regional economies ■ support community enterprise ■ provide good, fresh food ■ establish direct links between grower and eater ■ encourage citizen cooperation and self-help ■ are a creative, do-it-yourself form of community development ■ make our food supply more secure ■ increase the resiliency of our towns and cities when faced with food shortages due to disruption by weather, drought or the disruption to long food supply chains.
Candelo Bulk Wholefoods Co-op in Bega on the NSW South Coast supplies a range of fresh and minimally packaged foods.
...there are an infinite number of entry points into the local food economy... the opportunity for rebuilding local foodsheds [a region from which food is supplied] is vast... this work will depend most on motivated individuals searching for a more secure livelihood, a stronger community or simply a delicious meal... every successful effort around the world to rebuild a local foodshed ultimately began with the work of an individual or small group... Eat Here — Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket; 2004, Brian Halweil; Worldwatch Institute, Washington DC. ISBN 0-393-32664-0
IDEAS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING IN THE CITY… publication produced by Community Gardens Australia
Community gardens & city farms
Food cooperatives
Community gardens and city farms are a do-it-yourself approach to your food. As well as fresh, nutritious food they bring social values such as a sense of place and, over time and with the cooperation they encourage, they help to develop a sense of community.
Food Coops are member-owned and operated buying schemes providing affordable, bulk goods and fresh produce with minimal packaging waste. Some coops operate as box schemes in which a group of members buys what other members order and packs the orders into boxes that are collected from a central point.
Some community gardens and city farms become centres educating people in the skills of sustainable urban living — they offer workshops and courses and demonstrate the technologies and techniques that are part of sustainable city lifestyles. Importantly, they can help develop the people skills that we need to live and cooperate successfully.
Others food coops manage a shopfront in which members obtain their discount according to the amount of time they volunteer in running the coop — it’s a great way to keep prices down. If there’s no coop near you, get together with friends and neighbours to buy bulk your food and save money.
Community gardens and city farms help develop a sense of local culture.
Home gardening
Farmers’ markets
Why be a consumer when you can be a producer? And why waste valuable space and water on lawn when you can make your home garden into a productive place — you don’t need much space to grow some of your own herbs and vegetables.
Supermarkets are everywhere but in none of them will you meet the people who grow the food you eat, as you will at any of the farmers’ markets that are now found all over the country.
Live in an apartment? A container garden on your balcony can be surprisingly productive and supply you with those tasty herbs that give your meals a dash of culinary excitement. Small fruit trees take little space and an edible landscape combining herbs, vegetables, fruit and flowers is more interesting - and tastier than lawn.
Options for your alternative urban food system
Farmers’ markets bring farmers better prices, the food is fresher and nutritious and it is cheaper. And... there are none of those hundreds of metres of aisles to walk with their outgassing of chemicals and odours, mind numbing music and products placed carefully to induce you to buy! Farmers’ markets contribute most to communities when the food is grown within the region in which it is sold and when the market is held frequently enough (weekly) to match the shopping habits of eaters.
You can even save the seeds from your open-pollinated, non-hybrid vegetables and herbs. You’ll be helping to conserve irreplaceable genetic diversity and eating the freshest food there is.
Box schemes
Community supported agriculture (CSA)
Fresh, local produce, delivered to your door!
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) builds direct links between producers and eaters.
There are different types of box schemes ...some are small organic food businesses that buy directly from farmers, others work on a cooperative model in which groups of people buy together in bulk and collect their week’s order from a central place. Some farmers organise their own box schemes. The food is either delivered to households or collected from a pickup point. Whatever scheme suits you, make sure it supports local growers.
Small business Green grocers and organic small business shops are sources of fresh food from the region. When the businesses themselves are locally owned they contribute to local economic development
CSA is an farmer-eater arrangement in which members pay a subscription in return for an ongoing share of the harvest. CSAs are also known as ‘subscription farms’. Produce may be collected at the farm or from a collection in point in the city. CSAs produce a sense of shared responsibility for our food and are another source of locally-grown produce.