From nbentley@prairienet.orgWed Apr 5 23:25:23 1995 Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 19:42:37 -0500 (CDT) From: Nancy Lee Bentley To: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu, sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.edu Subject: Foodsheds and Food Circles - corrected post The message is being resent with apologies to sanet-mg and others for technical difficulties and poor transmission of "Foodsheds and Food Circles" message encountered 4/3 and 4/4. Nancy Lee Bentley The Food Circle PO Box 3083 Champaign, IL 61826-3083 (217) 586-3846 nbentley@uiuc.edu xx200@prairienet.org (The Food Circle) _Local Food Security:_ _Foodsheds and Food Circles_ Contents: The Foodshed and The Food Circle More Local Food Security and Food Systems Development Info/Issues References and Resources _The Foodshed and The Food Circle_ The foodshed and the food circle are two concepts gaining recognition as model s or conceptual frameworks for describing local food systems. The foodshed concept, most often attributed to Arthur Getz's in his 1991 Urban Foodsheds article in Permaculture Activist, uses the analogy of a watershed to describe 'the area that is defined by a structure of supply'. Getz used the image of a foodshed to answer the question of "Where our food is coming from and how it is getting to us" and to picture how the local and regional food supply system works. Inherent in this concept, he empha- sized, was 'the suggestion of a need to protect a source, as well as the need to know and understand its specific geographic and ecological dimensions, condition and stability in order for it to be safeguarded and enhanced.' Today the Madison, Wisconsin area Foodshed Working Group along with an active coalition of food coops, csa associations, farmer's markets, producer coops, bakeries and other food processors, a natural food warehouse/ distributor, UWMadison and other active participants is the best example of a local food system identifying with the foodshed concept. The Food Circle is a dynamic, community-based and regionally-integrated food systems concept/model/vision. In effect, it is a systems ecology. In contrast to the current linear production-consumption system, The Food Circle is a production-consumption-recycle model. A celebration of cycles, this model mirrors all natural systems and is based on the fact that all stable, biological and other systems function as closed cycles or circles, carefully preserving energy, nutrients, resources and the integrity of the whole. The graphic model is a wheel of concentric circles, illustrating how an integrated food system flows from ag inputs and production through consumption and waste recycling. Starting with the individual at the center and moving outward through the family and community circles,this model shows the food system and its parts work, integrating political, economic, communication and other factors. For example, the CSA farmer in the production sector is directly across the circle from the CSA consumer members, showing the direct marketing relationship. The goal of The Food Circle is to consciously develop networks of sustainable, community- based and regionally-integrated food systems, capable of providing the basic food needs of their members, providing markets for local food and agricultural producers, providing cooperative communications and trading exchanges as clearinghouses for goods, services and information. Finally, the concept fosters an awareness of food stewardship. The bottom line is energy, values and the preservation of life. In contrast to the current linear food "chain" or food system resembling a gas and energy guzzling snake with two funnels at each end, The Food Circle depicts a fundamental closure, integration and healing of the food system we desperately need. The Food Circle embraces the whole web, including the food system connections, from a regional perspective. The beauty of The Food Circle lies in its addressing a host of associated issues, making it adaptable to a broad range of multidisciplinary interests as an organizing vehicle, a teaching model, a community economic develop- ment and planning model, even an entrepreneurial model. This Food Circle is actually a blueprint model I have been developing and nurturing for a number of years, first publicly used by myself and other organizers of New York's first organic conference, Closing the Food Circle, held at Ithaca in 1984. Since then the concept has grown slowly, organically, through writing, presentations, university research, local organizing projects, local and regional workshops, and now the budding of plans for the first multidisciplinary foodsystem conference, The Food Circle Network: Campaign for Sustainable Food Systems, targetted for 1996. The Food Circle WWW page is also now under construction. Several communities, including Kansas City/Columbia, Missouri and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois are developing local food circles. The Kansas City model incorporates a food policy council and membership in a statewide foodsystems task force, including a developing network of producers, consumers and neighborhood based local food circle projects have been organized. Two yearly conferences have been held. The Champaign-Urbana Food Circle, sprouting shoots in this Silicon Prairie testbed community, is still an informal consortium of csa's, food coop, vegetarian restaurant, farmer's market, farmer's market nutrition coupon project, UIUC, organic/sustainable producers in a Sustainable Agriculture Network and other activists, but also includes the local electronic Prairienet/freenet as a component of its nervous system. Local currency options, especially incorporating electronic information/creditsystems, are being researched. A precedent-setting national "Information Agriculture" conference, including Simulated Electronic Community utilizing The Food Circle model, is scheduled in Champaign -Urbana for June 1995. One key component of the local food circle operating model is communication. As Food Systems Development Coordinator with U of I , this past year I have been working with the Sustainable Agriculture Network and other groups to develop specialty/organic/ LOVA (locally- owned, value-added) approaches for Illinois and Midwest producers. An electronic marketing information service, including electronic marketing directory and marketing network development, has been proposed. Meanwhile, we are working with the local CCNet (business net) Ag committee to get at least 50 farmers up on Email before the summer, conceivably a lost cause now that "the fields are dry enough to work". The work takes time, growing organically, for the people must develop conviction in the ecological basis for the model and then reorient their working or consuming relationships. Barriers abound, from the centralized, technocratic structure of agriculture to consumer obsession with speed and convenience. Likewise, as emphasized in the June 1994 Defining Sustainable Communities Conference, sponsored by the Tides Foundation, "Sustainable communities require a different value system than the one which predominates in America today". Yet, the change will come, the conversion will happen. Inevitably, whether by choice or through economic collapse, we will end up returning to a locally-based food system. _More Local Food Security and Food Systems Development Issues_ Other approaches to local food security and food systems development have been focused on formation of local/municipal food policy councils. Ken Dahlberg, at the Dept. of Political Science, Western Michigan University, has done extensive research, written several papers on this top-down approach to local food systems development. He is currently coordinating the Local Food Systems Project, funded by W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which has been active in financial support and leadership in this area. Charleston, SC; Kansas City, Mo; Knoxville, TN; Philadelphia, PA; and St. Paul, MN, plus Onondaga County, (Syracuse) NY have or have had food policy councils to coordinate local food systems in their municipalities, with varying degrees of success. Some other cities with strong local food systems are Hartford, CT, Ithaca, NY, and Toronto, Ontario. Food systems developments in Los Angeles and East St. Louis, IL have been spearheaded by Urban and Regional Planners, rather than by food advocates per se. In their paper "Community Food Security: A Food Systems Approach to the 1995 Farm Bill", Andy Fisher and Bob Gottlieb of UCLA's School of Architecture and Urban Planning, brought out key issues to those activists attending the first Community Food Security Coalition's organizational meeting, August 25th, 1994: "... the concept of food security is often associated with the phenomenon of hunger. However, food security differs from hunger in certain crucial ways. First, food security represents a community need rather than an individual's plight, as with hunger. In this context, we define food security as 'all persons obtaining a culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through non-emergency (conventional) sources at all times.' Second, whereas hunger measures an existing condition of depravation, food security is decid- edly prevention-oriented, evaluating the existence of resources -- both community and personal -- to provide an individual with adequate acceptable food... A food security analysis extends .. into an examination of the food system. Questions of equity and sustainability are vital to the development of food security.... A food system offering security should have sustainability such that the ecological system is protected and improved over time.. and equity, meaning as a minimum, dependable access for all social groups". Within the organizing framework of these models, local food systems/ community food security can provide a vehicle for coalition-building among those interested in anti-hunger advocacy, sustainable agriculture, nutrition, urban agriculture, local food policy and community development and other related issues. We are approaching a time of integration, where growing numbers of food, agriculture and other professionals are recognizing the need for an integrated local/regional f ood systems approach to really address, analyze and solve the current challenges in food and agriculture today. In this visually-oriented world, such models are critical tools in this emerging discipline. They can help increase understanding of our current food system, identify barriers and constraints to sustainability and give us a vision and roadmap for realizing -- making real -- an optimum food system. _Resources and References_ A partial listing of References and Resources on foodsheds, food circles, community food security and local food systems issues and information. References: An Introduction to The Food Circle: A Stewardship 'Technology' for the New Paradigm, by Nancy Lee Bentley, EcoCity Journal, Winter 1994, available from The Food Circle. Community Food Security: A Food Systems Approach to the 1995 Farm Bill, by Andy Fisher and Robert Gottlieb, UCLA , for The Community Food Security Coalition. Food for the Future: Conditions and Contradictions of Sustainability, edited by Patricia Allen, 1993. New York, John Wiley. Defining Sustainable Communities, Report from the Conference, June 2-4, 1994, $5.00 from Neighborhood Funders Group, 1001 South Marshall Street, Suite 55, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27101; 910-724-9070. Food Policy Councils: The Experience of Five Cities and One County, by Kenneth Dahlberg, Paper presented to the Joint Meeting of the Agri- culture, Food and Human Values Society and the Society for the Study of Food and Society, Tucson, AZ, June 1994 Hendrix College Project. by Melissa Beck Yazman, available from Gary Valen, Hendrix College, Conway, AR 72032. Local Food Systems: Policies and Values Influencing their Potential, by Kenneth Dahlberg, 1993. National Science Foundation supported project, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. Planting the Future: Developing an Agriculture that Sustains Land and Community, edited by Ann R. Bird, Gordan L. Bultena, and John C. Gardner. 1995. available from Iowa State University Press, 2121 S. State Avenue, Ames, IA 50014-8300. Regional Food Guidance: A Tool for a Sustainable Food System, by Jennifer Wilkens, Presented at the joint meeting of the Association for the Study of Food and Nutrition and the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society, Tucson, AZ, May 1994. Sustainable Community Values Project Preliminary Report, Workshop presentation by Verna Kragnes and others, Eating Closer to Home CSA Conference, Dec. 1994. University of Wisconsin, River Falls. The Community Food Security Empowerment Act, January 1995, available from The Community Food Security Coalition c/o Hartford Food System. Urban Foodsheds, by Arthur Getz. 1991, Permaculture Activist: Vol VII, No.3. Resources: The Community Food Security Coalition; Mark Winne, c/o the Hartford Food System, 509 Wethersfield Ave. Hartford, CT 06114. 203-296-9325; 203-296-8326 fax Andy Fisher, Robert Gottlieb, UCLA Department of Urban Planning, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095 310-825-1067; 310-206-5566 fax Kate Fitzgerald, Nessa Richman, Sustainable Food Center, 1715 East Sixth St., Suite 200, Austin, TX 78702; (512) 472-2073; (512) 472-2075 fax; hn2953@handsnet.org Kenneth Dahlberg, Local Food Systems Project;, Department of Political Science, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, (616) 387- 5686; (616) 387-3999 fax Anne deMeurisse, Minnesota Food Project, 2395 University Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55114. (612) 644-2038. Kate Clancy, Department of Nutrition and Food Managerment, 034 Slocum Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York; 13244-1250; (315) 443- 4554. Robert L. Wilson, consultant to City of Knoxville Food Policy Council, (615)-588-7168. or Gail Harris, City of Knoxville, Food Policy Council, PO Box 51650, Knoxville, TN 37950-1650. (615)-546-3500. Sally Leong, Foodshed Working Group, 793A Russell Laboratories, UW-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (608) 262-5309 Nancy Lee Bentley, The Food Circle, The Food Circle Network, PO Box 3083, Champaign, IL, 61826-3083, (217)-586-3846, xx200@prairienet.org for a packet of informational material including graphic linear and Food Circle models and a reprint of the Eco-City Journal "An Introduction to The Food Circle" article, send $6.95 to The Food Circle. Ben Kjelsus, The Food Circle Project, 7121 Park Road, Kansas City, MO 64129. (816) 924-3003. Verna Kragnes, Philadelphia Community Farm, Box 668, Osceola, WI 54020; (715) 294-3136. Rod MacRae, Toronto Food Policy Council, 277 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5B 1W1 416-392-1107: 416-392-1357 fax Nancy Lee Bentley The Food Circle The Food Circle Network PO Box 3083 Champaign, IL, 61826-3083 (217)-586-3846 xx200@prairienet.org For a packet of informational material including graphic linear and Food Circle models and a reprint of the Eco-City Journal "An Introduction to The Food Circle" article, send $7.95 payable to The Food Circle, address above. From sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.eduFri Apr 7 11:17:26 1995 Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 07:39:36 -0700 (PDT) From: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" To: Principles of Sustainable Agriculture Subject: Foodsheds and Food Circles - corrected post (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 21:18:19 -0600 (CST) From: Nancy Lee Bentley To: sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.edu Subject: Foodsheds and Food Circles - corrected post The message is being resent with apologies to the sustag list and others for technical difficulties and poor transmission of "Foodsheds and Food Circles" message encountered 4/3 and 4/4. Nancy Lee Bentley The Food Circle PO Box 3083 Champaign, IL 61826-3083 (217) 586-3846 nbentley@uiuc.edu nbentley@prairienet.org xx200@prairienet.org (The Food Circle) _Local Food Security:_ _Foodsheds and Food Circles_ Contents: The Foodshed and The Food Circle More Local Food Security and Food Systems Development Info/Issues References and Resources _The Foodshed and The Food Circle_ The foodshed and the food circle are two concepts gaining recognition as model s or conceptual frameworks for describing local food systems. The foodshed concept, most often attributed to Arthur Getz's in his 1991 Urban Foodsheds article in Permaculture Activist, uses the analogy of a watershed to describe 'the area that is defined by a structure of supply'. Getz used the image of a foodshed to answer the question of "Where our food is coming from and how it is getting to us" and to picture how the local and regional food supply system works. Inherent in this concept, he empha- sized, was 'the suggestion of a need to protect a source, as well as the need to know and understand its specific geographic and ecological dimensions, condition and stability in order for it to be safeguarded and enhanced.' Today the Madison, Wisconsin area Foodshed Working Group along with an active coalition of food coops, csa associations, farmer's markets, producer coops, bakeries and other food processors, a natural food warehouse/ distributor, UWMadison and other active participants is the best example of a local food system identifying with the foodshed concept. The Food Circle is a dynamic, community-based and regionally-integrated food systems concept/model/vision. In effect, it is a systems ecology. In contrast to the current linear production-consumption system, The Food Circle is a production-consumption-recycle model. A celebration of cycles, this model mirrors all natural systems and is based on the fact that all stable, biological and other systems function as closed cycles or circles, carefully preserving energy, nutrients, resources and the integrity of the whole. The graphic model is a wheel of concentric circles, illustrating how an integrated food system flows from ag inputs and production through consumption and waste recycling. Starting with the individual at the center and moving outward through the family and community circles,this model shows the food system and its parts work as a web, integrating political, economic, communication and other factors. For example, the CSA farmer in the production sector is directly across the circle from the CSA consumer members, showing the direct marketing relationship. The goal of The Food Circle is to consciously develop networks of sustainable, community-based and regionally-integrated food systems, capable of providing the basic food needs of their members, providing markets for local food and agricultural producers, providing cooperative communications and trading exchanges as clearinghouses for goods, services and information. Finally, the concept fosters an awareness of food stewardship. The bottom line is energy, values and the preservation of life. In contrast to the current linear food "chain" or food system resembling a gas and energy guzzling snake with two funnels at each end, The Food Circle depicts a fundamental closure, integration and healing of the food system we desperately need. The Food Circle embraces the whole web, including the food system connections, from a regional perspective. The beauty of The Food Circle lies in its addressing a host of associated issues, making it adaptable to a broad range of multidisciplinary interests as an organizing vehicle, a teaching model, a community economic develop- ment and planning model, even an entrepreneurial model. This Food Circle is actually a blueprint model I have been developing and nurturing for a number of years, first publicly used by myself and other organizers of New York's first organic conference, Closing the Food Circle, held at Ithaca in 1984. Since then the concept has grown slowly, organically, through writing, presentations, university research, local organizing projects, local and regional workshops, and now the budding of plans for the first multidisciplinary foodsystem conference, The Food Circle Network: Campaign for Sustainable Food Systems, targetted for 1996. The Food Circle WWW page is also now under construction. Several communities, including Kansas City/Columbia, Missouri and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois are developing local food circles. The Kansas City model incorporates a food policy council and membership in a statewide foodsystems task force, including a developing network of producers, consumers and neighborhood based local food circle projects have been organized. Two yearly conferences have been held. The Champaign-Urbana Food Circle, sprouting shoots in this Silicon Prairie testbed community, is still an informal consortium of csa's, food coop, vegetarian restaurant, farmer's market, farmer's market nutrition coupon project, UIUC, organic/sustainable producers in a Sustainable Agriculture Network and other activists, but also includes the local electronic Prairienet/freenet as a component of its nervous system. Local currency options, especially incorporating electronic information/creditsystems, are being researched. A precedent-setting national "Information Agriculture" conference, including Simulated Electronic Community utilizing The Food Circle model, is scheduled in Champaign -Urbana for June 1995. One key component of the local food circle operating model is communication. As Food Systems Development Coordinator with U of I this past year, I have been working with the Sustainable Agriculture Network and other groups to develop specialty/organic/ LOVA (locally-owned, value-added) approaches for Illinois and Midwest producers. An electronic marketing information service, including electronic marketing directory and marketing network development, has been proposed. Meanwhile, we are working with the local CCNet (business net) Ag committee to get at least 50 farmers up on Email before the summer, conceivably a lost cause now that "the fields are dry enough to work". The work takes time, growing organically, for the people must develop conviction in the ecological basis for the model and then reorient their working or consuming relationships. Barriers abound, from the centralized, technocratic structure of agriculture to consumer obsession with speed and convenience. Likewise, as emphasized in the June 1994 Defining Sustainable Communities Conference, sponsored by the Tides Foundation, "Sustainable communities require a different value system than the one which predominates in America today". Yet, the change will come, the conversion will happen. Inevitably, whether by choice or through economic collapse, we will end up returning to a locally-based food system. _More Local Food Security and Food Systems Development Issues_ Other approaches to local food security and food systems development have been focused on formation of local/municipal food policy councils. Ken Dahlberg, at the Dept. of Political Science, Western Michigan University, has done extensive research, written several papers on this top-down approach to local food systems development. He is currently coordinating the Local Food Systems Project, funded by W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which has been active in financial support and leadership in this area. Charleston, SC; Kansas City, Mo; Knoxville, TN; Philadelphia, PA; and St. Paul, MN, plus Onondaga County, (Syracuse) NY have or have had food policy councils to coordinate local food systems in their municipalities, with varying degrees of success. Some other cities with strong local food systems are Hartford, CT, Ithaca, NY, and Toronto, Ontario. Food systems developments in Los Angeles and East St. Louis, IL have been spearheaded by Urban and Regional Planners, rather than by food advocates per se. In their paper "Community Food Security: A Food Systems Approach to the 1995 Farm Bill", Andy Fisher and Bob Gottlieb of UCLA's School of Architecture and Urban Planning, brought out key issues to those activists attending the first Community Food Security Coalition's organizational meeting, August 25th, 1994: "... the concept of food security is often associated with the phenomenon of hunger. However, food security differs from hunger in certain crucial ways. First, food security represents a community need rather than an individual's plight, as with hunger. In this context, we define food security as 'all persons obtaining a culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through non-emergency (conventional) sources at all times.' Second, whereas hunger measures an existing condition of depravation, food security is decid- edly prevention-oriented, evaluating the existence of resources -- both community and personal -- to provide an individual with adequate acceptable food... A food security analysis extends .. into an examination of the food system. Questions of equity and sustainability are vital to the development of food security.... A food system offering security should have sustainability such that the ecological system is protected and improved over time.. and equity, meaning as a minimum, dependable access for all social groups". Within the organizing framework of these models, local food systems/ community food security can provide a vehicle for coalition-building among those interested in anti-hunger advocacy, sustainable agriculture, nutrition, urban agriculture, local food policy and community development and other related issues. We are approaching a time of integration, where growing numbers of food, agriculture and other professionals are recognizing the need for an integrated local/regional f ood systems approach to really address, analyze and solve the current challenges in food and agriculture today. In this visually-oriented world, such models are critical tools in this emerging discipline. They can help increase understanding of our current food system, identify barriers and constraints to sustainability and give us a vision and roadmap for realizing -- making real -- an optimum food system. _Resources and References_ A partial listing of References and Resources on foodsheds, food circles, community food security and local food systems issues and information. References: An Introduction to The Food Circle: A Stewardship 'Technology' for the New Paradigm, by Nancy Lee Bentley, EcoCity Journal, Winter 1994, available from The Food Circle. Community Food Security: A Food Systems Approach to the 1995 Farm Bill, by Andy Fisher and Robert Gottlieb, UCLA , for The Community Food Security Coalition. Dietary Guidelines for Sustainability, by Joan Gussow and Kate Clancy, Journal of Nutrition Education, Vol.18, 1, 1986. Food for the Future: Conditions and Contradictions of Sustainability, edited by Patricia Allen, 1993. New York, John Wiley. Defining Sustainable Communities, Report from the Conference, June 2-4, 1994, $5.00 from Neighborhood Funders Group, 1001 South Marshall Street, Suite 55, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27101; 910-724-9070. Food Policy Councils: The Experience of Five Cities and One County, by Kenneth Dahlberg, Paper presented to the Joint Meeting of the Agri- culture, Food and Human Values Society and the Society for the Study of Food and Society, Tucson, AZ, June 1994 Hendrix College Project. by Melissa Beck Yazman, available from Gary Valen, Hendrix College, Conway, AR 72032. Local Food Systems: Policies and Values Influencing their Potential, by Kenneth Dahlberg, 1993. National Science Foundation supported project, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. Planting the Future: Developing an Agriculture that Sustains Land and Community, edited by Ann R. Bird, Gordan L. Bultena, and John C. Gardner. 1995. available from Iowa State University Press, 2121 S. State Avenue, Ames, IA 50014-8300. Regional Food Guidance: A Tool for a Sustainable Food System, by Jennifer Wilkens, Presented at the joint meeting of the Association for the Study of Food and Nutrition and the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society, Tucson, AZ, May 1994. Sustainable Community Values Project Preliminary Report, Workshop presentation by Verna Kragnes and others, Eating Closer to Home CSA Conference, Dec. 1994. University of Wisconsin, River Falls. The Community Food Security Empowerment Act, January 1995, available from The Community Food Security Coalition c/o Hartford Food System. Urban Foodsheds, by Arthur Getz. 1991, Permaculture Activist: Vol VII, No.3. Resources: The Community Food Security Coalition; Mark Winne, c/o the Hartford Food System, 509 Wethersfield Ave. Hartford, CT 06114. 203-296-9325; 203-296-8326 fax Andy Fisher, Robert Gottlieb, UCLA Department of Urban Planning, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095 310-825-1067; 310-206-5566 fax Kate Fitzgerald, Nessa Richman, Sustainable Food Center, 1715 East Sixth St., Suite 200, Austin, TX 78702; (512) 472-2073; (512) 472-2075 fax; hn2953@handsnet.org Kenneth Dahlberg, Local Food Systems Project;, Department of Political Science, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, (616) 387- 5686; (616) 387-3999 fax Anne deMeurisse, Minnesota Food Project, 2395 University Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55114. (612) 644-2038. Kate Clancy, Department of Nutrition and Food Managerment, 034 Slocum Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York; 13244-1250; (315) 443- 4554. Robert L. Wilson, consultant to City of Knoxville Food Policy Council, (615)-588-7168. or Gail Harris, City of Knoxville, Food Policy Council, PO Box 51650, Knoxville, TN 37950-1650. (615)-546-3500. Sally Leong, Foodshed Working Group, 793A Russell Laboratories, UW-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (608) 262-5309 Nancy Lee Bentley, The Food Circle, The Food Circle Network, PO Box 3083, Champaign, IL, 61826-3083, (217)-586-3846, xx200@prairienet.org for a packet of informational material including graphic linear and Food Circle models and a reprint of the Eco-City Journal "An Introduction to The Food Circle" article, send $7.95 to The Food Circle. Ben Kjelsus, The Food Circle Project, 7121 Park Road, Kansas City, MO 64129. (816) 924-3003. Verna Kragnes, Philadelphia Community Farm, Box 668, Osceola, WI 54020; (715) 294-3136. Rod MacRae, Toronto Food Policy Council, 277 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5B 1W1 416-392-1107: 416-392-1357 fax Nancy Lee Bentley The Food Circle The Food Circle Network PO Box 3083 Champaign, IL, 61826-3083 (217)-586-3846 xx200@prairienet.org For a packet of informational material including graphic linear and Food Circle models and a reprint of the Eco-City Journal "An Introduction to The Food Circle" article, send $7.95 payable to The Food Circle, address above. From sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.eduFri Apr 7 15:32:37 1995 Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 10:35:34 -0700 (PDT) From: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" To: Principles of Sustainable Agriculture Subject: Re: Foodsheds and Food Circles - corrected post (fwd) [Nancy: If you get this, you are on :-) TH] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 11:44:33 -0500 From: nbentley@uiuc.edu To: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" Subject: Re: Foodsheds and Food Circles - corrected post (fwd) Actually, I would like to become a subscriber to your newsgroup. I have been wanting to ever since I found out about it --- I believe I had tried to subscribe once and was unsuccessful. For one thing, it sounds like the discussions in your group are a little more "real" if you'll excuse the expression -- or at least are more assertedly involved in "getting to the core" of issues than some of the others. I'm learning alot about this new vehicle of communicating over the Net, having literally plunged headlong into it only within the past few months. Yet, even in this "progressive" arena of sustainable agriculture, as in so many arenas in our contemporary life, discussions are often limited to "what the traffic will bear", especially within the scientific community which must necessarily "prove" biodynamics, for example. Yet, I know from my many long, painstaking years of dedication to this work and the nurturance and refinement of this "Food Circle" vision, -- in its essence a bridge to new paradigm --- that our traditional reductionist thinking will only take us so far. Even within this scientific community, there must ultimately be a recognition of the validity of an integrated, wholistic, systems approach in solving our current problems, paradoxes and dilemnas in food and agriculture. Yes, Virginia there _is_ a connection, in fact a continuum, between agriculture, food, nutrition, the health of our bodies and the health of the planet. Even the spirit of life. All are interrelated and interdependent. In fact, my analysis is that we are on the verge of a time when we will witness the bridging of the spiritual and scientific. Biodynamics is into this. This is really what the Food Circle is ultimately about also. Which is one of the reasons why the time is only now right for this model to emerge. It will be a process, but I know many people of consciousness who are ready for this. Perhaps some of the dynamics of this can come out on your listserv. As Yeats says, "Progress in minute particulars"... I would appreciate it if you would either put me on the group list or email me the correct commands to become a subscriber. Thank you for your work. Nancy Lee Bentley >I look forward to getting it. Try setting your left margin to 0 before >saving it to an ascii file. Also use a 12 point font, that should keep >the number of characters/line down below 75. > >Good luck, >Tom > > From tjakin@pssci.umass.eduFri Apr 7 22:04:31 1995 Date: Fri, 07 Apr 1995 16:54:41 -0400 From: tjakin@pssci.umass.edu To: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu Subject: food security postings from SUSTAG-L Greetings SANET-ters: Below are some of the local food security/foodshed messages sent to SUSTAG-L which were not copied to SANET, and one or two that were sent directly to me. Thanks to everyone who responded; I hope that the sharing of knowledge among the grassroots food systems projects from around the country will continue. It seems like the re- connection of the consumer and the local producer is a win-win situation. Best regards, Tom Akin ------------------------------------------------------- begin forwarded messages Fri, 31 Mar 1995 16:36:05 -0600 (CST) >From: William T Vorley Subject: Foodsheds To: tjakin@pssci.umass.edu Message-id: <9503312236.AA15826@isum2.iastate.edu> X-Mailer: EasyVincent 3.0 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT May I draw your attention to 2 articles Joel Salatin in New Farm: Sept/Oct 91 8-12 and Jul/Aug 94 47-48. His "FARM" organization in Willis VA looks very interesting. -- Bill Vorley wtvorley@iastate.edu Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, 3216 Agronomy Hall, Iowa State University, Ames IA Tel. (515) 294 7853, Fax. (515) 294 9696 >From: WLockeretz@Infonet.Tufts.Edu Date: Wed, 5 Apr 95 10:36:15 EDT Subject: Foodsheds (again) The characteristic of a watershed (American usage) that makes it precisely definable and useful is that not only does a particular body of water always receive its water from a particular area, but also the reverse: that the water running off from a particular place always follows the same course (i.e., the line of steepest descent) and always ends up in the same body of water. Is that supposed to apply to a "foodshed" too? That is, must a given farmer always sell everything through a single channel, to be consumed in a single place? If a farmer produces both wheat and vegetables, and sells the vegetables in a local farmers' market, must the wheat be sold there too? A stream of water doesn't split and go to two places. Unless we want to impose the same restriction on where farmers sell, maybe we need a "wheatshed," a "vegetableshed," and so on (maybe even a "Not-otherwise-Classified-shed." And if the farmer also raises cows, would they be sold in the cowshed? William Lockeretz ---------- Forwarded message --------- Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 09:55:50 CST >From: Greg McIsaac To: sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.edu Subject: Re: Linguistics (fwd) On Wednesday April 5 Alasdare McKay described some confusions around the term "watershed" in the English speaking world and argued that using the term "foodshed" may create similar confusions. Being an engineer who works with water movement and watersheds, I am in agreement with Mr. McKay. However, it seems to me that much of the confusion over watershed terminology occurs on the international level and it is not surprising that the objections to the term are coming from outside the US. In the US, the term "watershed" is most often used to describe an area that sheds water to a particular outlet, which is what everyone else in the English speaking world refers to as a "catchment." The ridges that divide catchments are referred to "watershed divides" in the US. However, people in the US will still use the phrase "watershed" to refer to events or periods of time in which some great change occurred (e.g. "It was a watershed in American History"). In that usage they are using the term "watershed" to refer to the divide. Nancy Lee Bently prefers the term food circle to describe what seems to be a similar set of concepts, and this term may eliminate some of the confusion about foodshed terminology on the international level. However, I don't particularly care for the term food circle, for two reasons. A circle is a rather precise, rigid, two dimensional geometric form, that does not capture the dynamic, flexible, multidimensional character of food systems. The ecologists have had the term "food web" for quite some time and that seems to capture what much of what foodsheds and food circles seem to be about. Why not use that terminology, since it seems to be fairly well established, is ecologically oriented and may circumvent some confusion on the international scene? Gregory McIsaac Agricultural Engineer University of Illinois > Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 07:02:58 -0700 (PDT) > Reply-to: sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.edu > From: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" > To: Principles of Sustainable Agriculture > Subject: Linguistics (fwd) > > > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 10:40:24 -0300 > From: Alasdair McKay > To: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" > Subject: Linguistics > > > > Presumably those folks having trouble with 'foodshed' and even > >'watershed' have equal trouble comprehending 'software' (Duh, is > > that a fabric treatment or something..?) and 'floppy.' > > No very great problem with "foodshed" as an alternative to > "store" "barn" "larder" "pantry" or the like, but when you associate it with "watershed" - which means different things to different people, the intended meaning becomes very obscure. > > > The 3 1/2" floppies must cause apoplexy, because they're not > > very bendable. > > Some people have no curiosity -- try dismembering one. > > "Watershed" to me (and many others in the English-speaking world) > means "a line on either side of which surface water flows under > gravity into different river systems". This is a precise concept > and I have no difficulty in understanding it. The use of "shed" > in this sense has also long been used to describe the parting of > hair on the head in hair-styling circles ( left shed; middle shed >; right shed ). > > I am also very well aware that there are many other people in the > English speaking world who use the term "watershed" in quite a > different way - usually to describe what I would call "catchment > area", but in arid areas, where flow under hydraulic pressure > may be more important than surface runoff and where no river > system develops such that one cannot speak of its catchment > area, other definitions must be used. I have often thought that > this second usage of the term "watershed" must have come about > through sloppy application of the first usage (arising out of a > mis-understanding of the concept), but I am open to correction on > that point by anyone who has good linguistic historical evidence > on the matter. After a time, one can get used to this Babel, > just as one contends with other foreign languages. > > > C'mon, people. I speak several languages, and the ongoing > > beauty and strength of English is its very maleability and > > adaptability; borrowing, adapting, adopting, shaping, modifying > > words to expand and introduce meaning. > > Undoubtedly - but most languages can do this. If they could not, > they would never have evolved in the first place. Probably the way in which > English differs to some extent is in the facility to commute the function > of a word without altering its structure to fit verbal or other inflection : > > E.g. Shakespeare's use of "spaniel" as a verb. > > - But words which have been hammered out of words whose meaning > is different to different people do begin to cause problems. > Technical terminology will arise spontaneously when even the rich > English vocabulary of "words to use when you don't know what to > call something" prove inadequate for the situation. In very > narrow technical fields, only a few people need ever understand > such terms. > Children, over the generations, have also invented vocabularies > for themselves. Usually these are left behind as things of > childhood, but some pickings may survive to enrich the language. > > > English has become the language of preference for > > international communication in large measure precisely > >_because_ its speakers can (and do) coin words like 'foodshed' > > to explain a concept. > > Come on! English is now an international language because the > two dominant Imperial powers of the last three centuries - > Britain and the United States - both used English. An over-rapid > evolution of the English language at the present day would > threaten its utility as the lingua franca of, say, the Orient > rather than perpetuate it. > > > If you want to stand up and wave the flag for integrated, > >corporate, centralised, and heavily subsidised agriculture, by > >all means do it, and it can be discussed in those terms. > > I have no desire whatsoever to do this. > > > Please don't, however, set > > up a term such as 'foodshed' as a straw-man and attack the term > > rather than discussing the concept. > > The discussions about food supply are both interesting and > important and should be conducted in a language which as many >people as possible can understand readily. In this particular > topic, the invention of a lot of new technical terms may be > unwise unless they are genuinely necessary for precise and > succinct discussion by some very specialised group of people. If > nothing else, the proliferation of new terms makes me suspicious > that someone is trying to "pull the wool" (if you get my drift). > I know "straw-men" in various guises from the West and the > Orient, but do not quite understand the relevance of the > term here - although the meaning is fairly clear from the > context. I presume that this particular straw man comes from > some bit of literature with which I am unfamiliar. > > > Why don't I knock you up tomorrow morning and we'll go out and > have a look at this food shed of yours and then we'll find > somewhere nice where you can eat on me? > > (Possibly offensive to some, but immediately recognisable by > others as nothing but an indication of willingness to come by at > an early hour for a pre-prandial stroll around the foodshed > followed by an invitation to breakfast a good restaurant.) > > Alasdair McKay > ---------- Forwarded message --------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 21:49:02 -0700 >From: Bruce Gregory To: sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.edu Subject: Re: Linguistics (fwd) On Wednesday April 5 Greg McIsaac described some alternative word useage to "foodshed" presenting the ideas: >the term "watershed" in the English speaking world and argued that using the >term "foodshed" may create similar confusions. Being an >engineer who works with water movement and watersheds, I am in >agreement with Mr. McKay. However, it seems to me that much of >the confusion over watershed terminology occurs on the >international level and it is not surprising that the objections > to the term are coming from outside the US. In the US, the term > "watershed" is most often used to describe an area that sheds > water to a particular outlet, which is what everyone else in >the English speaking world refers to as a "catchment." The > ridges that divide catchments are referred to "watershed >divides" in the US. However, people in the US will still use the phrase "watershed" to >refer to events or periods of time in which some great change occurred >(e.g. "It was a watershed in American History"). In that usage they are >using the term "watershed" to refer to the divide. > >Nancy Lee Bently prefers the term food circle to describe what seems >to be a similar set of concepts, and this term may eliminate >some of the confusion about foodshed terminology on the international >level. However, I don't particularly care for the term food circle, >for two reasons. A circle is a rather precise, rigid, two >dimensional geometric form, that does not capture the dynamic, >flexible, multidimensional character of food systems. The ecologists have had >the term "food web" for quite some time and that seems to capture what >much of what foodsheds and food circles seem to be about. Why not >use that terminology, since it seems to be fairly well established, >is ecologically oriented and may circumvent some confusion on the >international scene? A better alternative word has been buzzing through my mind of late, most often as another description on the "foodshed" idea. How about "foodnet"? The growing, transportation on the local, interstate or international scale all depend upon a system of networks, (such as the media we are using now. . .) Networks of natural systems, human made systems, you get the idea. Bruce Gregory Mitchell Bay Farm rbgreg@pacificrim.net (8U ---------- Forwarded message --------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 10:03:30 -0400 (EDT) >From: jhaskett@asrr.arsusda.gov To: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" Cc: Principles of Sustainable Agriculture Subject: Re: Foodsheds (again) (fwd) Maybe its not is shed but a web. Jonathan Haskett On Wed, 5 Apr 1995, Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup) wrote: > From: WLockeretz@Infonet.Tufts.Edu > Date: Wed, 5 Apr 95 10:36:15 EDT > Subject: Foodsheds (again) > > The characteristic of a watershed (American usage) that makes it precisely > definable and useful is that not only does a particular body of water always > receive its water from a particular area, but also the reverse: that the > water running off from a particular place always follows the same course > (i.e., the line of steepest descent) and always ends up in the same body of > water. Is that supposed to apply to a "foodshed" too? That is, must a given > farmer always sell everything through a single channel, to be consumed in a > single place? If a farmer produces both wheat and vegetables, and sells the > vegetables in a local farmers' market, must the wheat be sold there too? A > stream of water doesn't split and go to two places. Unless we want to impose > the same restriction on where farmers sell, maybe we need a "wheatshed," a > "vegetableshed," and so on (maybe even a "Not-otherwise-Classified-shed." > And if the farmer also raises cows, would they be sold in the cowshed? > > William Lockeretz > > Thomas Akin Extension Educator Plant & Soil Science Dept. Bowditch Hal Box 30910 University of Massachusetts TEL: (413) 545-5236 Amherst, MA 01003-0910 FAX: (413) 545-0260