Sorting out foodsheds is a bit complicated. Rather than precise areas on a map, they are best used as a concept to think critically about where our food comes from and its impact on the land and on all that depends on that land, including other people. And by land, we mean the ecosystems including the soils, water, air, climate, and biodiversity. Further, since the health of the ecosystems on which our food is produced is so inter-dependent on the health of surrounding ecosystems, we prefer to think of the whole landscape of an area as the foodshed—the gardens, farms, ranches, and the surrounding ecosystems. Obviously, foodsheds overlap, change over time, and are a matter of opinion. Despite all the uncertainty and fluidity, we feel the foodshed is a useful concept for pursuing sustainability and fairness in our dealings with food.
The “local foodshed” as we view it, is the area that we a) should look to first for our food—not exclusively but deliberately first, and b) that area we are most responsible for—both ethically as it is our backyard and practically since we have more political power closer to home over food and land use policies. It could be considered our own backyard garden, then extending out to local farms and ranches, and then to regional sources. At that point it would be good to pause in our food sourcing and consider the pros and cons of going further afield and pause even more deliberately when crossing national boundaries and oceans as we often do without knowing or thinking of the implications.
This all begs the question—are we not also responsible for the health of distant lands that we appropriate as part of our extended foodshed—of other people’s backyards?
Local food itself may not be the goal, but it is the answer—or at least one key answer to how we can best be responsible in our food choices—personal and policy-wise. Being aware of the well-being of our local foodsheds and all who depend on those lands, as well as taking responsibility for those areas, is so much easier since they are in our own backyard. We may choose not to be aware or responsible, but it is harder to do. The farther our reach for food extends outward, the less we can know about our impacts on those ecosystems, those backyards of others, even if we try. Likewise, the farther afield we reach, the less able we are to protect those lands and ecosystems, even if we want to.
Ironically, however, it could be argued that we in the Western world as a rich people, as rich nations, have much more power to harm the local foodsheds or backyards of many others around the world with our food dollars and policies, than we have the power to protect them (unless, of course, we stay local). To me, this makes local food a crucial answer even if it isn’t the primary goal. Look local first—and when we do reach out for foods from more distant foodsheds, extend the same concern and fairness to their backyards that we do (or should) to our own.
Fairness, as I see it, is the primary goal in our dealings with food. Fairness to ourselves—the health of ourselves and our families, to the health of our local foodsheds, to the health of all people and their backyards, and fairness to the planet and future generations. Ultimately, we might circle back to ourselves and see that our attempt to be fair to all around us is in fact being fundamentally fair to ourselves and our moral well-being.
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