Increase farm profitability through enhanced local food efforts and growing urban/rural relationships.
Authors: Dave Abler
Other contributors: Lisa Wainger
A transformation toward localized food economies enabling farms to pivot to high-value specialty crops and direct-to-consumer regional markets.
Scenario 4 reflects the goal of increasing farm profitability through enhanced local food efforts and growing urban/rural relationships. In this scenario, consumers embrace the local agricultural community and engage in a more localized food system. Many of the current farmers are young or have transitioned from other careers to farming and grow food that can be directly consumed or used by local businesses, such as hops or grains used by local breweries. Consumer interest and increased market demand for locally grown food products provide the agricultural community with the opportunity to diversify their products to include more specialty crops and value-added products. The food supply chain adapts to these changes by creating local aggregation centers and community kitchens, and increasing the number of meat processing facilities. The growing use of technology enables farmers to access new markets and increases consumer confidence in food origin and safety by enabling buyers to accurately trace a product's origin. Farmers continue to implement best management practices (BMPs) on their land. Local consumers acknowledge farmers' stewardship of the land by paying more for their products. Local and regional branding, such as a Chesapeake Bay Watershed brand, becomes established. These brands are well recognized by consumers for promoting agricultural and environmental resilience, which has led to increased market share. Establishment of local and regional Food Policy Councils creates opportunities for stakeholders to use food as a focal point to discuss and galvanize decisions on land use, urban food deserts, hunger and poverty, education, and the environment in their communities.
Interest in this scenario was spurred by the project timing. The Thriving Ag project scenarios were developed during the COVID pandemic, which disrupted food supply chains and caused farms and consumers to make more use of food marketing channels that favored local producers. Consumers were grateful for options that included pickups at farms, farm stands, farmers markets, and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), and stakeholders wanted to build on that momentum. However, some project stakeholders questioned whether such consumer interest could be sustained in the post-pandemic era, given that preferences can be fickle.
A potential benefit of more farm-consumer interactions was that residents living near farms would be more understanding and accepting of normal farm operations, enabling farms to conduct sound management. Current relationships between farms and consumers are often patchy, including positive feelings but also tensions. Along the rural-urban continuum, where farms and residential developments often sit side-by-side, residents may complain about farm odors, noise, dust, spray drift from crop protection products, and slow-moving farm vehicles, while farmers may face issues like trespassing, vandalism, and harassment of livestock by pets.
Currently, local food supply can be limited by a lack of processing infrastructure. For example, a lack of crop and meat processing capacity causes farms to face long wait times at local facilities or incur the time and expense of transporting crops or livestock long distances to be processed. This scenario envisions a future where the local infrastructure is sufficient to support local food efforts. This assumes that processors are confident enough of future demand to invest in expansion. It also assumes that zoning allows for expansion of local processing, and that licensing and other business approvals by federal, state, and local agencies are in place and potentially streamlined.
This scenario assumes that existing local food branding by farms expands into sales channels beyond farmers markets and CSAs, including grocery stores and restaurants. For a local or regional branding initiative, a key question raised by project stakeholders was the role of sustainable practices. Branding could require that farm production practices match consumer concerns (such as promoting animal welfare), to promote trust and brand value. Alternatively, branding could be based on location alone, like state programs such as PA Preferred, Maryland's Best, and Virginia Grown. This latter option assumes that consumers are more interested in supporting local farms than the production practices on those farms.
An overarching question raised by the Thriving Ag project stakeholders was the definition of "local". Definitions vary widely. For example, stakeholders asked whether large, global companies like Perdue with operations and farm suppliers in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed should be considered local, which ran counter to the idea of small farms providing local food. A clear definition could counteract misleading packaging, labeling, and branding of local and sustainable food. Stakeholders acknowledged that local sourcing could require consumers to shift priorities around price, convenience, and out-of-season availability. The affordability of local food for low-income families was also a concern, as were the challenges of finding labor to support operations. However, supporting local farms was seen as a path towards strengthening rural-urban connections, which included improving the prospects of small and family-owned farms located within the watershed.
