Support Community Based Agriculture For Food

Walk up La Luz a mile or two and look down. Our sprawling Albuquerque started as a farming community — a small settlement embedded in land capable of supporting the population. As Albuquerque grew larger and industry moved in, farmland was taken over to build houses, busi-nesses, and roads to move people from home to work. The population grew so it could no longer be sustained by the farmers in the area. This process, repeated across the country, resulted in the creation of gigantic industrial farms absolutely divorced from population centers.

These huge corporations (four firms produce 50% of all chicken eaten in this country) have incredible control over what we eat and how it is produced.

Farming is viewed as an “extractive” industry like mining. Soil is depleted and eroded. Quick “fixes” such as genetic engi-neering are touted as the solution to increasing production with no regard to the consequences for human health or the environment. Diversity and wildlife habi-tat is lost as populations spread.

The communities that receive the “benefit” of this ill-produced bounty find their neighborhood groceries replaced by superstores that only sell food produced, pro-cessed, and shipped by corporations. Small local farmers lose their markets; water rights are bought up; jobs are lost. The community loses the circular flow of locally-produced resources as money flows to out-of-state bank accounts.

Returning Control to the Community
The Community Food Security (CFS) movement is attempting to address these questions and return control over food production and distribution to local communi-ties. Community Food Security is defined by the CFS Coalition as “all persons obtaining at all times a culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through local, non-emergency sources.”

Obviously, a first step is preserving the urban farmland that is remaining. This means supporting local farmers so they can continue to farm, and con-serving urban farmland as public open space. Reclaiming urban land that has fallen into disuse and building community gardens is another way. The WIC (Women and Infant Children) Farmers’ Market Program that provides women and children (at risk for poor nutrition) with coupons to buy from local farmers is another important step. When you are shopping at the Co-op, remember to support local producers. You eat every day. Every day you can vote with your fork to support local, sustainable food production. The following outlines some ways you can get involved:

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s).
CSAs offer consumers an opportunity to link with farmers and receive produce in return for financial shares and/or work on the farm. CSAs in the Albuquerque