Building a Sustainable Food System Together

By Shaun Daniel
Originally printed in Sprout Magazine, Spring 2009

“Whatever we may have liked about the era of cheap, oil-based food, it is drawing to a close.” So asserts Michael Pollan in a New York Times editorial dated before the election. The facts hint at an unsustainable system: the average grocery store food item travels more than 1,500 miles to get from farm to plate; 10 calories of fossil fuel energy are required to produce but a single calorie of supermarket food. Pollan continues, “Even if we were willing to continue paying the environmental or public-health price, we’re not going to have the cheap energy (or the water) needed to keep the system going, much less expand production. But as is so often the case, a crisis provides opportunity for reform, and the current food crisis presents opportunities that must be seized.”

More and more it is becoming apparent that the “business as usual” model of industrial agriculture is in need of an overhaul. The corporate food system is energy intensive, polluting, prone to food safety and national security concerns, indifferent to the importance of rural jobs, and meant to profit corporate investors not communities. The welcome alternative for a growing movement of people – which is in many ways a return to older ways of growing, selling and eating – is a robust local food system.

Oregon Rural Action is part of that movement. Since its inception in 2001, Oregon Rural Action has worked to promote social justice, agricultural and economic sustainability, and stewardship of the region’s land, air and water. We do this by providing the information and tools for local people to use in addressing the issues affecting our communities. We are a long-term, multi-issue organization, where local foods work is but one facet. We also work to promote renewable energy, encourage civic engagement, and to hold our public officials accountable.

In terms of our food campaigns, Oregon Rural Action has worked to revitalize the Oregon Farmers’ Market Association and support markets statewide, developed food and nutrition curriculum for grade schools, compiled a Food and Farm Directory of Northeast Oregon, and hosted renowned author and ecological farmer Joel Salatin at our most recent Annual Convention. We’ve helped local farmers’ markets to accept WIC in order to ensure the inclusion and participation of those with a lower income. Three of our chapters have undertaken community garden projects with some local produce going to the food banks, already over-burdened in these times. We’ve striven to warn of the risks associated with genetically-modified crops for both producers and eaters. We’ve lobbied on the Farm Bill and we’re currently lobbying on behalf of policy that would allow local meat producers (especially in Eastern Oregon) to be able to have their meat inspected without having to drive long distances to have it slaughtered and processed at a USDA inspected facility. We’re looking to conduct food assessments and pursue Farm to School programs in order to better integrate the parts of our local economies which are now oddly separated.

Oregon Rural Action’s members are as diverse as our communities. Some are farmers and ranchers, some are restaurateurs and business owners, some are involved in efforts to develop local food co-ops and CSAs, some serve on the board of local farmers’ markets, some are concerned and empowered consumers. Oregon Rural Action works in concert with six other statewide organizations throughout the West, all belonging to the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC). Together we organize citizens to take action on the decisions that affect their lives. We make the earth-shaking assumption that citizens know their own interests best and are able to create change if they work together. (Many readers outside of Oregon may be interested in looking into our affiliates within the WORC network.)

Local food is not a liberal or a conservative issue. It’s a community issue. As Michael Pollan writes, “It must be recognized that the current food system — characterized by monocultures of corn and soy in the field and cheap calories of fat, sugar and feedlot meat on the table — is not simply the product of the free market. Rather, it is the product of a specific set of government policies that sponsored a shift from solar (and human) energy on the farm to fossil-fuel energy.” If we got ourselves into this mess, we can get ourselves back out. And we need to – our current policies are quite simply unsustainable.

We can’t forget the importance of policy. What would happen if the major supermarket companies, sensing a competitive threat to their profit margins, sought to regulate and hinder farmers’ markets? We have to band together to create the sustainable economy we envision – a sustainable community-based economy that supports small family farms and exchanges fossil fuel for small-scale renewable energy. We envision homegrown prosperity and we can realize that by organizing.

Getting involved in the local foods movement is easy. You can do it by picking up a fork, being more conscious of where your food comes from, and by seeking out and joining organizations like Oregon Rural Action. If there is not a chapter in your area, talk to us; maybe we can work with you to create one. Or, barring that, maybe you can start your own group. What is important is for community members to work together in a strategic fashion to ensure the success of a wholesale transition to a sustainable, local foods system.

Shaun Daniel is a community organizer for Oregon Rural Action. He works with community members in each of four current chapters based in Ontario, Baker City, La Grande and Hermiston. His job allows him the unique opportunity of helping connect interested citizens throughout rural Oregon (and parts of Idaho and Washington along the border). Shaun can be reached at 541-975-2411 or shaun@oregonrural.org.