CSA in NYC
Is the Local Food Movement Limited By Land
Presenters: David Haight & Jen Small, American Farmland Trust
American Farmland Trust:
1. Research regarding connection between land and food
2. Access to land, government regulations
3. Connection between these issues
The Basics:
- 30,000 farmers in NY State
- 30 million acres of land in NY State
- ¼ of that land is in farming
- ½ of land is in agriculture
- What we do affects the land (water, habitat, environmental)
More about NY State
- Top 5 in fruit production
- 3rd largest wine producer
- 3rd largest milk producer
- 3rd largest in sweet corn
- 2nd in apples
- 1st in cabbage, pumpkins, processed dairy products
- Also a consumer state great microcosm for US consumer patterns
UN Report
- By 2050 there will be 9 billion people in the world
- We’ll have to increase food production by 70%
- 90% of global arable land is already in agricultural production
- What is it used for?
- How do we increase productivity?
- Land and water are critical factors
- Climate change: think thoughtfully about our land
- What are other countries doing?
- Private investors are investing their money acquiring land in other countries to feed people in their own country Some countries’
populations cannot be fed based on amount of arable land
- Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Korea are leasing a million acres of land in Ethiopia and Kenya to feed their own country
US Trends
- 1 million acres of farm land developed each year
- Trends are magnified in pockets
- Farmland is threatened!
- 85% of fruits and vegetables AND 70% of dairy is grown in urban areas and on coasts
- In US, 1 million acres of farmland are lost each year to developments such as housing subdivisions. In 5 years that loss is the size of Vermont.
- 3 of the top 20 most threatened farming regions in the US are in the NYS area
#10: Syracuse-Buffalo region
#11: Hudson Valley
#19: Eastern Long Island- Suffolk County
- Movement of people away from the city into country, increase price of land
- 7 million acres – how much could it feed? (19 million ppl in NY state)
- Atkins: 2 ½ million people
- Low-fat/low meat: 6 million people
- Development erodes future ability to feed ourselves
- The Farmland Protection Program, the premier state program for protecting irreplaceable farmland from development, may be shut down
for at least two years. This program purchases land from farmers who no longer wish to farm, and ensure this land is only used for farming
purposes.
How do we protect the land?
- Private capital to permanent farms available by AFT for farmers to protect their land
- $150 million demanded for funding
- $23 million supply of funds
How can we restore land?
- Who owns the land now? How do we get that to actively produce food? Opportunities to get land back into agriculture?
- NY Farm Link people who own 2nd homes & want to link new farmers to rent
What can local government do?
- Codes have evolved to fit usage that is changing (ex. Beekeeping, food processing on farms, greenhouses)
- Local regulations don’t fit the needs of farmers
Resources:
http://www.newyorkfarmlink.org/
http://www.clctrust.org/
http://www.farmland.org/
http://www.farmland.org/resources/publications/documents/NewYorkLandownerGuide.pdf
