Local Food and Agriculture

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The strategies on the following pages guide our path to meeting our climate goals for the Local Food and Agriculture sector. Each strategy is supported by a series of detailed actions to be explored and undertaken to carry out the vision and goals.

There are currently 5 operating community gardens in La Crosse and 2, regularly occurring, farmers markets. County wide, there are 144,334 acres of agricultural land (a -9% 5-year change in land use rates) with a 9.4% food insecurity rate of all county residents.

Increase the production of and access to local food, particularly serving low-income and food insecure individuals.

As a national system, the US agriculture system is also vulnerable to regional climate impacts. Pacific states are particularly sensitive to reduced water supplies, warmer winters, and more variable spring weather. Grain production is vulnerable to more variable weather, warmer winters, heat waves, hot summer nights, and flooding in the Great Plains and the Midwest. Beef, pork, and poultry production is vulnerable to increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather in the Great Plains and the Southeast as well as sensitive to interruptions in feed, water, and power supplies that can occur with extreme weather events and other cli- mate change drivers.

Although all community members may feel effects of climate change impacts on the food system, individuals who are already experiencing low-income or food insecurity will very likely experience these effects more profoundly. Increased local food system capacity can help increase resilience, food security, job creation, and community wealth building benefits.

The recommended actions in the CAP are:

Revise local zoning ordinances to increase permitted food production activities (e.g., front yard and rooftop vegetable gardens, community gardens, urban farms, beekeeping, and poultry keeping), and communicate changes to residents.
Establish baseline measurements and regular updates for metrics to measure progress for this strategy. Recommended metrics for measure of progress include land area used for gardening, as well as annual and total number of permits for chickens and bee hives.
Integrate food production, such as edible landscaping food forests, and gardens, into park plans (and core values of the parks board).
Encourage schools to replace lawns with community food gardens and food forests for example pilot projects.
Create policies and procedures for the prioritization of climate-friendly, locally-sourced food purchased for City-sponsored meetings, events, and facilities; advocate for these policies and procedures at other organizations.
Map potential community garden and farm sites in close proximity to minority and low-income populations.
Advocate for EBT matching token program like Minnesota’s Hunger Solutions Market Bucks program.
Incentivize the inclusion of gardens in new development.
Support the creation of a garden tool lending program and garden bounty exchange program.
Provide guidance for neighbors or organizations to create temporary community gardens on vacant land.
Enable home-based or cottage food businesses, and incentivize those owned by minorities and those that serve low-income populations and communities of color.
Collaborate with organizations that educate on the benefits of a low-carbon diet.
Update code to require developers to preserve topsoil.

Reduce food waste and hunger, achieve a 50% reduction in food insecu- rity community-wide by 2030.

Nationally, 30-40% of the food supply is estimated to be wasted. There is an estimated 8,700 tons of food waste in La Crosse’s solid waste stream annually. In addition to the greenhouse gas emissions generated, this food waste represents an economic loss of over $11 million every year. Beyond reducing economic loss, food that is wasted could have benefited families in need. Climate change is likely to diminish food security through production disruptions that lead to local availability limitations and price in- creases, interrupted transport conduits, and reduced food safety among other causes. Reduction of food waste supports La Crosse’s CAP Waste Management sector goals, improves the overall sustainability of the community, and could reduce food insecurity within the community.

The recommended actions in the CAP are:

Establish baseline measurements and regular updates for metrics to measure progress for this strategy such as quantity of food given to food shelves and quantity of food distributed from food shelves.
Establish a communication and education campaign promoting healthy, low-carbon food choices and food waste reduction.
Advocate for continued assistance for residents enrolling in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program and other food assistance programs.
Help find a safe, clean, affordable, and visible location for the Winter Farmers Market (November-December) on Saturday mornings and close to downtown.
Support the creation of neighborhood food-buying clubs and co-ops for existing organizations and vulnerable communities.
Support training programs for residents on how to grow, process, and market local foods; focus on low-income and minority residents.

Protect and preserve agricultural land while increasing its resilience to climate shocks.

Regional farms provide the opportunity for increased local food production and resilience, while agriculture and forestry land uses alone could provide as much as 20% to 30% of the mitigation needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Unfortunately, climate disruptions to agricultural production have increased over the past 40 years and are projected to rise further, with increasingly negative stressors on agricultural lands and the farmers managing them. These growing stressors are occurring at a time when the United States is losing over 80 acres of farmland to development every hour. Protecting and preserving the region’s agricultural land is an important component of supporting the resilience of local food systems.

The recommended actions in the CAP are:

Advocate for increased use of cover crops and no-till methods to control agricultural runoff, conserve water, and prevent soil erosion and sedimentation.
Incentivize the use of soil best management practices for urban lawns, gardens, parks, open spaces, prairies, environmentally-sensitive areas, and agricultural lands.
Advocate for the use of regenerative agriculture systems (e.g., perennial groundcover, alley cropping, silvopasture, succession planting, rotational grazing practices) .
Use extraterritorial jurisdiction to deny new development in areas outside the city limits with USDA prime soil.
Advocate for the development of a carbon credit program to compensate farmers for demonstrating increases in carbon sequestration.
Encourage mapping of existing and potential crop varieties against future climate projections such as extreme heat, drought, and flood risk to support the selection of those that are better-adapted to future conditions.
Advocate for low-emissions crop nutrient management practices, such as precision agriculture, reduced nutrient application, manure and compost utilization, nitrogen stabilizers/inhibitors, carbon amendments, mulching, and gypsum amendments.

Why is Transportation and Mobility Important?

Transporting and refrigerating food across long distances burns GHG emitting fossil fuels. The less transportation and refrigeration needed to supply our food, the more sustainable it becomes.

Buying food from local sources reduces our GHG emissions while also supporting the small business local economy. Studies have indicated that nearly 32 jobs are created for every $1 million in revenue generated by produce from farms involved in a local food market. This is compared to only 10.5 jobs for those involved in whole- sale channels exclusively. Mean- while, community gardens support physical and social activity. Increased gardening in neighbor- hoods increases social cohesion, provides multigenerational activity, supports outdoor low-impact exercise, and support plant/ animal/pollinator habitat. Our food system is also vulnerable to impacts of climate change like extreme precipitation and heat, climate induced invasive species, and livestock vulnerabilities.

Food insecurity—disruption of nutrition availability because of lack of money, access, or other re- sources—is inequitably felt. People experiencing low-income are nearly three times more likely to experience food insecurity. We should anticipate that the climate change vulnerabilities of our national food system will exacerbate the inequities of food security in all communities.

Climate Hazards to Agriculture

Hazards to the local food and agriculture system include reduced crop quality and yield, vulnerability to pests, changes in soil moisture from droughts and floods, fluctuation in availability, and food price volatility.

Opportunities

Increased capacity of local food and agriculture systems and improved farm-to-table approaches can reduce community food insecurity while creating local jobs and improved community resilience.

Equity Considerations

People in low-income neighborhoods may have limited access to full-service supermarkets or grocery stores—an area known as a “food desert.”
Studies have also shown that communities with fewer resources often have more out- lets that promote unhealthy dietary behaviors such as fast food restaurants, and little access to affordable nutritious food. This condition is known as a “nutrition desert.”
New programs created in local food systems may perpetuate inequities that are defined by the dominant population. These programs often unintentionally leave out the same voices as the industrial food system. People who cannot afford to “buy local” or organic may be excluded.