appendix a:
next steps towards a local food system (cont’d)
food for thought: visionary planning Visionary projects that will require long-term commitment and adept political maneuvering, money, and resources are listed below.
Feeders Suburban Neighborhood Gardens: • Identify a suburban neighborhood that is open-minded and inclined towards local food. • Initiate a shared neighborhood harvest—homeowners grow specific crops for trade with neighbors cultivating other crops.
Hubs Village CSA Incubator at Hospital Hill (city-owned land in APR): • Develop a project for a village farm CSA to serve surrounding suburban neighborhoods with food. • Establish meat and dairy production on site. • Spearhead a farmers market that vends non-CSA produce, dairy, and meat.
Mineral Hills Food Hub (city-owned land): • Develop management protocol for introducing and keeping livestock. • Bring animals on to site and integrate them with food forests. • Expand food forest and tree crops. • Build processing pavilion to serve as a hub for turning the fruit and nut crops into value-added products, and provide a site for a mobile slaughterhouse. It will take 5-10 years for tree crops to grow into a production stage. Integrating livestock will require a farm manager or overseeing body. Establishing a processing facility depends on the demand from the surrounding farm operations.
Tri-County Fairground Food Hub (city-owned property): • Lobby Fairground Commission to hire a consultant that can help implement the infrastructure that supports local food production. The current estimated cost of the fairground redevelopment plan is $40 million; provide new financial calculations and building schemes for integrating food-related infrastructure and new possible sources of revenue.
Education Worker Training Program at Hampshire County Jail: • Recommend to the sheriff to allow an organization (new or existing) to build a garden on the jail grounds that prisoners can work at to learn job skills.
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Feed Northampton Appendices