Challenges to a local food system in Northampton Food security, as considered here, is a condition in which all community residents can obtain abundant, reliable, safe, nutritious, local food that comes from an ecologically and socially responsible system in which residents are involved, educated, and empowered. In Northampton, as in communities nationwide, the general reliance on food delivered from a global foodshed supplied by an industrial food system has come at the expense of losing the ability to provide food on the home front. Since the middle of the twentieth century, farmland has steadily declined in the Pioneer Valley and in some cases has become permanently altered by residential and commercial development. Many of
There are few remnants of the past local food system that once fed the Pioneer Valley. The gaping holes pose several challenges to the creation of an effective food system that builds on the past while responding to the current climate of twenty-first-century conditions. The chart below outlines some of the immediate challenges to creating a condition of food security in Northampton.
spatial challenges
cultural challenges
Diminishing Agricultural Land
Negative Cultural Attitudes
Growth patterns in Northampton reflect developers’ preferences for land that is flat and cleared. However, land that is optimal for most types of residential and commercial development is sometimes also optimal for food cultivation. In the past fifty years the population of Northampton has shrunk by 1,500, from 30,000 in 1960 to 28,400 in 2007 (U.S. Census Bureau), yet the amount of developed residential land has increased by 50% (Russell 2010).
Voids in Infrastructure In Northampton and the greater Pioneer Valley, the food distribution system that provides local food to producers, distributors, and buyers is limited. There is also a lack of infrastructure, such as processing centers, storage facilities, and waste management sites. These infrastructure pieces are important for an efficient and effective food system, and need to be planned carefully to support more types of agriculture than the industrial model.
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the sites for food processing and distribution have dwindled or been re-appropriated for other uses. Large numbers of people have lost the knowledge of food cultivation that their ancestors once knew out of necessity for survival.
Some people have a negative view of farming as a profession because of the immense amount of work it entails and the low financial returns it often provides. There is a lack of awareness in the general public about many new and innovative approaches to growing food that can be sustainable and financially lucrative.
Legal Barriers on Raising Livestock Zoning restrictions in Northampton require a minimum area of 30,000 square feet for raising three animals of any type, and 10,000 square feet for each additional animal. This limits the amount of potential protein sources (eggs, meat, dairy, etc.) that can be produced by residents on small lots.
Education Many people do not know how to farm or start a garden. People who do garden and even some farmers may lack the business knowledge to effectively sell their products. Sustainable agriculture methods like food forestry, no-till gardening, cover crops, and permaculture design are not well understood by the general public.
Feed Northampton Challenges to a local food system in northampton