October 8, 2009

Speaker: Food system needs to shift to be more sustainable

LEXINGTON—It’s time to shift our food system to make it more economically, environmentally and nutritionally sustainable.

That was the message delivered at a Sept. 30 conference on “Cultivating Sustainability” at Washington & Lee University.

Larry Yee, director emeritus of the University of California Cooperative Extension’s Ventura County Office, told participants that “food is fundamentally connected to everything else” and that it’s time to put it on a more sustainable path.

“We need to de-industrialize our food system,” Yee said. “Right now our food system favors bigness and uniformity.

“I see a future with a wide diversity of farming operations, including small-, medium- and large-scale.”

He said there’s room for organic and traditional farming, but there need to be more mid-size farms—those whose operators earn a gross income of $50,000 to $500,000.
In the 1930s, Yee said, there were 7 million farms, and most were mid-size. Today, there are 2.2 million farms. The majority are large or small.

Yee joined other speakers who addressed school nutrition and food service personnel, school and university officials, legislators, administrators, farmers and food system development employees. The one-day conference was intended to discuss the critical role institutions can play in the development of a regional food system and strategic directions for forming regional food systems. It was sponsored by Washington & Lee; the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation and Sustainability; Shenandoah Resource Conservation & Development; Virginia Farm Bureau; Virginia Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education; Virginia Cooperative Extension, Whole Foods Market and Standard Produce Co.

Yee said there will be leadership, marketing and infrastructure challenges, but a change can be made.

He suggested that communities create producer groups, such as food hubs, and partner with processors and suppliers.

Contact Eric Benfeldt, Extension community viability specialist, at 540-432-6029.