Integrating Local and Global
Food Systems
Michael W. Hamm
C.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture
Depts. of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and
Resource Studies; Crop and Soil Science; Food
Science and Human Nutrition
Michigan State University
336 Billion Pounds
Population 2000 - 2025
280 – 337 million
2000 - 2050
48 countries water
scarce or stressed
(2025)
54 countries water scarce or stressed (2050)
Community/Local in a
Global/Concentrated Context
Community- a unified
body of individuals;
the people with
common interests
living in a particular
area; an interacting
population of
various kinds of
individuals in a
common location;
Community Food Systems –
Civic Agriculture
• Relationships between
people in the food
system based on a
sense of place
• Includes market
relationships but not
exclusively
• A tool for “grounding
people in common
purpose”
Community Food
Systems–
The Foodshed
• Four characteristics
– A moral economy – restore mutuality, reciprocity and equity as a frame
for human interactions
– The commensal community – respect for our relationships with one
another and ecosystems that support us
– Self-protection, secession, and succession – carve out insulated spaces,
create alternatives, move from existing
– Proximity – not explicitly define “local” but characterize as more local
rather than less
From: Kloppenburg, Hendrickson and Stevenson, “Coming in to the Foodshed” AGHV 13:3, p. 33-42 (1996)
Community Food Systems - Local
Autonomy and Import Substitution
IMPORT SUBSTITUTION
Equity and Democracy
Fair Labor Trade
Environmental Stewardship
Community Food Systems Community Food Security
All community residents obtaining a
culturally acceptable, nutritional adequate
diet through a sustainable food system
that maximizes community self-reliance
and social justice.
Hamm & Bellows (2002)
Farms Are Part of
Communities




Farms
Farming
Farmers
Farmland
The Challenge of Global Environmental
What is a 2,000 mile
tomato in the
Upper Midwest?
– A source of CO2
release
– A source of
lessened nutrition
– A source of transoceanic water
transfer
The Challenge of Global Concentration
• e.g. of concentration in the food industry
(Concentration % of biggest 4) (from Heffernan,
Gronski, and Hendrickson)
– Beef Packers = 79%
– Flour Milling = 62%
– Dry Corn Milling = 57%
– Soybean Crushing = 80%
• e.g. approx. 30,000 items on
grocery shelves – 50%
produced by 10 multinationals
The Challenge of Global Hunger
• Projected by some to go from 774 to
694 million (2000 – 2010)
• But increase in disparity
• Recent global economic slowdown
increasing hunger globally and so may
not realize even the decreases above
• Potential for increased conflict over
food?
American Farmland Trust http://www.farmland.org/farmingontheedge/downloads.htm
North Central Region Change in Number of
Mid-Scale Farms (1997-2002)
50-179
Acres
180-499
Acres
500-999
Acres
>1000
Acres
Illinois
2.0
-13.0
-15.3
13.6
Indiana
-6.1
-16.5
-14.7
10.1
Iowa
-1.1
-14.5
-11.9
28.0
Kansas
14.4
-2.1
-10.8
-0.1
Michigan
6.7
-11.1
-10.8
14.7
Minnesota
11.2
-8.5
-8.1
16.3
Missouri
9.2
0.7
-7.0
4.8
Nebraska
4.3
-10.6
-12.5
1.0
North Dakota
45.6
9.5
-16.2
-8.5
Ohio
2.9
-10.0
-6.1
20.8
South Dakota
18.8
-6.3
-8.7
-2.4
Wisconsin
20.0
-9.9
-2.4
31.5
TOTAL
7.4
-8.5
-10.8
4.8
Michigan has the land
capacity for:
 Building/rebuilding rural communities around vibrant
community-based food systems
 Export agriculture
 Non-food uses of agricultural land (e.g. turf, horses)
% of Michigan Farmland
Acreage Utilized
for Production
Acreage Required
for Production of
Current
Consumption
Acreage Required
for Recommended
Consumption
36.4
35.9
43.2
Today’s Niche –
Tomorrow’s Lost
Market
1966 Exported 63,000 tons
of tomatoes
Adapted from “Exploring the Tomato”
1996 exported 2,000 tons
of tomatoes
Consumer Attitudes
• 71% willing to pay more for food grown
locally
• 71% willing to pay more for food if
meant it could be produced in ways that
protected the environment
• 77% thought government policies
should be oriented towards helping
family, owner-operated farms
• 59% thought that family farms should
be supported even if it meant higher
food prices
Food from Our Changing World: The Globalization of Food and How Americans Feel About It
by Ronald C. Wimberley,et al (accessed at http://sasw.chass.ncsu.edu/global-food/foodglobal.html
Attracting Consumers With Locally Grown Products Food Processing Center, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources,
University of Nebraska- Lincoln (2001) (Phone survey of 500 consumers in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin
Why Community-based and
Local?
• Economics
• Public Health
• Environmental restoration
Jobs in Rural
Communities
Contract
FarrowingFinishing
1992 MIR Hog*
Production Units
1.00
4.50
Sows
600
Pigs/year
11,900
$Investment B&E
1,005,000
1,192,500
$Total Assets
1,005,000
2,452,500
$Sales
1,368,500
1,306,071
Total Labor
4.25
12.60
Jobs Displaced
8.35
Multiplier
2.22
2.22
Total Employment
9.44
27.97
Jobs Displaced
18.54
*1992 Management Information Records
John E. Ikerd, The Economic Impacts of Increased Contract Swine Production in Missouri
(accessed at http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/papers/con-hog.htm)
Purchasing Power
Creates
Opportunities
Population or
Households
in
Michigan1
Basis2
10% from Michigan2
Consumption relative to
dollar expenditures ($)
(food at home-family)
3,785,661
$7,336,050,740
$733,605,074.02
Consumption relative to
dollar expenditures
(ideal $) (Food at
home- family)
3,785,661
$9,231,805,856
$923,180,585.60
$1,895,755,116
$189,575,512
Difference between current
and recommended
1From
U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000
2Poundage
based on Table 1 current poundage intake; Dollar expenditures based on U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of
Labor Statistics (2002)
Ratio of Fresh Vegetable Imports to
Exports in US
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
•And on average imported have higher levels of pesticide residues than domestic in a
particular product category*
Taken from http://www.fas.usda.gov/scriptsw/bico/bico.asp?Entry=lout&doc=1270
* C. Benbrook “ Minimizing Pesticide Dietary Exposure Through the Consumption of Organic Food: An Organic
Center State of Science Review” (2004)
Sprawl and Obesity
Most sprawled vs. Least Sprawled
Metropolitan Areas
6.3 pounds differential of body weight
Ewing, R., Schmid, T., Killingsworth, R., Zlot, A., Raudenbush, S. (2003) Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and
Physical Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity. Am. J. Health Promotion Vol. 18 47-57.
Opportunity – Rural Urban
Mutual Development
FOOD FROM FARM TO URBAN
CONSUMER
Rural Farming
Communities
Create relationships based on
mutual trust, benefit, and respect
Rural Development & Health
Urban Communities
Urban Development
& Health
Select Michigan
Community-based as a Vehicle for
Rethinking the Global/National Fair Trade
Taken from Fair Trade Federation http://www.fairtradefederation.com/2003_trends_report.pdf
Scale of Farm and Marketing
Strategies
• Smaller Scale- Direct Marketing
Primarily
• Medium Scale- Potentially
mixture of direct marketing and
wholesale/institutional/processing
• Larger Scale- Primarily
wholesale/institutional/processing
There are Numerous Strategies to Increase
Economic and Social Vitality While
Improving Individual Health Indicators
Direct to consumers
 Farmers Markets
 Farmstands
 Community Supported
Agriculture Farms
Indirectly to consumers
 Institutional Buying
 Restaurant Connections
 Supermarket and grocery stores
 Farm to School
Either
 Urban Farms
 Value-added Processing
THE
END
“…You can’t predict the future, but you can
create it...With this principle, we can make
the future’s inherent unpredictability become
a positive, not a negative. We just have to
create the future from the future instead of
predicting it from the present.”
Paul Dolan True to Our Roots