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EUGENE, Ore. (May 15, 2005) -- There's "food for thought," and soon Lane County will have some thoughts on food.
Specifically, a new organization will start thinking and talking about food - everything from growing, processing and selling it, to feeding the hungry and child obesity, to nutrition, food stamps, food safety and waste.
If it relates in any way to food, the issue may land on the plate of the Food Policy Council, a citizen-government advisory body that will recommend policies to strengthen the local food economy and improve access to healthy, nutritious food.
"This is an attempt to view the food system as a whole and bring all of the players to the table so they can take a more comprehensive approach to dealing with our food issues," said Jessica Chanay, the assistant director of FOOD for Lane County, the local food bank.
FOOD for Lane County, the Lane County Food Coalition and other organizations hope to launch the council in the next six months. Similar groups have sprouted up in dozens of U.S. communities, including Portland. Residents in various food-related roles meet regularly to work on food issues.
One issue the local council is likely to take up is moving toward self-reliance. Communities that produce much of the food they consume strengthen their economies and are better prepared for disasters that sever supply lines, Chanay said. "The more local our food source is, the more our dollars stay in the community, and the less reliant we'll be on food coming in from long distances," she said.
The council also may work to expand demand for locally grown food by encouraging schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions to buy from local growers first. That's one way to fill busy kitchens and cafeterias with fresh, healthy produce, Chanay said.
"We know parents are real concerned about the food their children are consuming at school," she said. "And it's a natural way of really providing another market for our local farmers."
The Springfield School District is already moving in that direction. It buys from Emerald Fruit and Produce Co., a Eugene-based distributor that buys from local farmers, mostly in spring and summer.
"Our goal is to make sure where we can, we do" buy locally grown food, said Russ Schallock, district food services supervisor. "Everybody believes we should support the local economy where we can."
Emerald, which also supplies Cottage Grove and Creswell schools, turns to farmers outside the Northwest in fall and winter, including those in California, Arizona, Florida and South America.
"We are trying to get a tighter handle on what we use," Schallock said, adding that schools also are encouraging students to eat more vegetables and are offering expanded salad bars.
Another area ripe for discussion by the food council is the near evaporation of food processing plants in the area. For decades, farmers sold vegetables to the Agripac grower's cooperative in Eugene, but that went bankrupt in 1999.
Chiquita Processed Foods bought Agripac's operations in Oregon and Washington and closed several processors, including canneries in Eugene and Salem.
Apart from some berry processors and other specialty businesses, no major processors serve farmers in the county. Green beans, carrots, corn, beets and other crops are trucked elsewhere.
Many farmers simply switched gears, converting their fields to growing grass seed, flower seed and vegetable seed.
"We're growing less food here now than when Agripac was here," said Ross Penhallegon, a horticulture agent with the Lane County Extension Service. "A lot of people have just totally changed their farming operations."
From 1994 to 2004, about 6,000 acres of farmland in the county shifted away from growing primarily vegetables, Penhallegon said.
Additional prime agricultural land was lost to urban growth, road building and land use changes, he said.
The council could explore new ways to counter that trend, Chanay said.
"We know we rely on a certain amount of land to grow food," she said. "So to protect our resources, we must make sure farmers have markets or make sure there are processing facilities around to take the food to."
The key, Penhallegon said, is finding ways to provide safe, fresh food for residents of the county.
"How do we make it so we can not only provide the fresh products, but also the processed, canned and dried materials that are also a critical part of food production?" he said. "We can produce a lot of food here. The facilities to make that happen have not been established yet."
Council members also may jump into the debate over how to make more room for Eugene's farmers market, including the idea championed by some to establish a permanent, regional market, such as Seattle's famed Pike Place.
Advocates for a food policy council have been laying the foundation for the new group for several years. The preparation included a food planning summit with community leaders a year ago. From that, a 30-member work group and a smaller design team did more fine-tuning.
The Lane County commissioners voted last month to support the council, which may have 15 to 25 members who meet monthly.
"This is not going to be a regulatory body or one that works on making laws," Chanay said. "It will look at existing policies and figure out if there are ways we can do it differently to strengthen the local food system."
Contacts:
Scott Maben, Reporter, The Register-Guard
smaben@guardnet.com
Terry Kirby, Communications Director, FOOD for Lane County
(541) 343-2822
tkirby@foodforlanecounty.org
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