AERO KUFM Commentary Archives

AERO KUFM Commentary

March 2005

Food Security = Local Food

by Laura Garber

Food security, we have all heard that phrase, but it can have different meaning for everyone. Some people hear the words FOOD SECURITY and think about food safety and they are right. Their concern is about food being free from germs such as e. coli that can cause illness. They also worry about food being free from any dangerous outside influence. To many, thinking about food security means having concern over terrorism though food.

Many other people hear the words food security and begin to think about access to food. To them food security is making sure everyone has access to affordable, healthy foods. It is making sure children are fed nutritional meals each day and that no one goes to bed hungry. Food security is then concern over the social welfare of everyone living in a community.

Both of these definitions of food security touch on very important issues of our time. We all want to feel safe, and we all deserve to have proper nutrition. There is yet another definition of food security that is more all encompassing, and even more pertinent to us in this day and age. It is perhaps, far from the minds of many, though.

At one time it was that not having a garden was seen as unpatriotic. Our grandmothers knew though teaching and observation how and when to plant potatoes, the best way to shell peas, and the easiest way to store carrots, not to mention the knowledge of how to save seeds. Families often depended on the simple backyard gardens for their nutrition and sustenance. They traded with local farmers for crops they couldn t grow, but kitchen gardens for quick, easy access to favorite vegetables were prevalent. They used the whole foods that were locally available to prepare delicious meals that brought warmth and comfort to all.

Once, everyone pitched in to bring in the harvest. Fall was a time for working together to help the farmer bring in the crops. It was a time to recognize the hard work and tireless efforts of farmers who supported their surrounding communities with food for all seasons. Harvest days were not meerly a day off from work and school to enjoy the last bit of summer left, they were days of community labor to ensure the survival and good health of many.

We live in an area that has a rich history tied to food. The Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys once played host to farmers growing food for their own families as well as for those living and working as miners and laborers in large communities such as Butte. Large backyard gardens and small truck farms dotted Western Montana. Missoula isn t nicknamed the Garden City for nothing- at one point Missoulians grew locally over three quarters of the food they consumed!

This cultural heritage of working together to help the area farmers and sharing a backyard garden has been forgotten, and so we are at a loss for food security. Today we depend heavily on imported foods and foods that have traveled thousands of miles from the farmersí field to our plate.

I suggest we must begin looking at food security as the actual knowledge and ability to grow food, as well as a deeper connection to those who grow the foods we eat. Food security is knowing how to plant a seed, take care of it, and reap the benefits of that plant. Thinking about food security as a conscious effort to learn about the food you are eating, where it comes from, who grew it, and when it is in season locally brings your closer to a true understanding of what is means to be food secure as an individual.

Growing your own food used to be so second nature to citizens of this coes from the farmers field to our plate. The transportation costs and fuel requirements associated with moving our food across the country and across the world are heavily subsidized, giving us an unrealistic understanding of the true cost of our food. Fossil fuels are burned at an alarming rate to serve our palate s fancy with repercussions including foreign wars. We rely on low paid, under protected farm laborers, often migrants working far from their homes and families, to provide our basic food needs.

Large industrial farms, supplant the small family farm, and grow mass quantities of food, often with monocrops such as acres and acres of corn and soybeans. They use soil depleting farming practices and pollute with petrochemical fertilizers and pest controls. The convenience-based marketing schemes of corporate manufacturers have taught us to look to them to provide us with easy to prepare, processed foods.

Reliance on these convenient yet socially, environmentally, and nutritionally costly sources has slowly bled us of our knowledge and understanding of food, nutrition, and community interdependence. Children assume everything comes from the grocery store or the fast food restaurant. They have forgotten, or better stated, we have forgotten to show them that a hamburger was once a living cow, cherries aren t really bright red, and marshmallows aren t part of a healthy diet.

So what can each of us do to help us regain our food security? Our local food heritage is ready for a full revival. You can shop your local farmers markets. Join a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture farm. A CSA membership provides individuals and families with a weekly supply of fresh local produce each week of the summer. You can look and ask for Montana grown foods at the store. And of course, you can grow a garden. Most importantly, share these adventures in food security with everyone else, especially children. Start small and just think of the impact if everyone planted just 5 tomato plants along the side of their house. We would not be relying solely on the safety and security of a far-traveled food, or the affordability of a red-ripe summer treat, and we would be beginning to build our own food security network right here in Montana!

Montana is lucky to have growers of nearly all the agricultural products we have become accustomed to using and wanting. Montana farmers and ranchers can provide us with seasonal vegetables, meats, cheeses, grains, legumes, and finished, valued added products such as pastas, breads, soup mixes, and much more. For more information about what Montana is growing, consult AERO, the Alternative Energy Resources Organization. AERO works at connecting farmers and consumers as a grassroots membership organization based in Helena. AERO welcomes your comments and perspectives and is working to help create farm, food, and energy solutions for communities throughout Montana. Call them at 406-443-7272. You can also contact the Montana Department of Agriculture for more information on Montana grown foods.

For AERO, the Alternative Energy Resources Organization, this is Laura Garber wishing you a spring full of peace and a summer of fresh, local eating.