The number of farmers' markets operating across the country has nearly doubled since the early 1990s. There were more than 4,300 of them in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A survey by the University of Baltimore's Schaefer Center for Public Policy found that 78 percent of Marylanders were more likely to buy produce identified as having been grown by a Maryland farmer, and 44 percent said they were willing to pay a little extra for state-grown food.
Obviously, the message is getting out there. Being a locavore is a good thing, though it still takes more effort than it should.
There are many parts to the solution, and one will be "urban edge agriculture," farming reborn or expanded in the very areas where farming has been dying for the last 50 years, along the borders of cities and suburbs and, farther out, in the exurbs, where continued housing development will become impractical.
Here's how authors Gary Matteson, a flower grower from New Hampshire, and Robert Heuer, a marketing consultant, defined urban edge agriculture in a report for the Farm Credit System: "Transitional agricultural areas located on the outskirts of metropolitan regions nationwide where farming is shifting from lower-value commodity production to higher-value direct-marketed products."
Matteson and Heuer believe farming at the urban edge is ripe for growth: "Urban edge agriculture is the new frontier for young, beginning and small farmers."
What's needed, they say, is a new business model, investment in the infrastructure of food processing and distribution, and creative retail marketing. They want Congress to allow the government-sponsored Farm Credit System to help finance businesses one step removed from farming.
"Business planning and private sector finance are needed to cultivate the development of supply chains that will shorten the geographic distances between the farm gate and dinner table," the report says. "The lack of processing, storage and distribution infrastructure hinders efforts to ramp up the supply of locally sourced foods."
Future-thinkers in the Philadelphia region are working on this.
The Philadelphia Foodshed Study is assessing the food supply within a 100-mile radius and looking at an expansion of agriculture and supporting businesses for economic development. The study considers a farm-to-fork plan for the region. "An increased reliance on local food sources will aid the region in energy conservation, economic and work force development, and improved public health," says a summary of the study.
We should be doing the same in the Baltimore region - conducting a comprehensive inventory of agricultural resources, assessing the possibilities for expansion of farming along the urban edges and streamlining the farm-to-fork process here. Bring back the canneries! The governor could coordinate a full-blown strategic plan for sustainable food in our region. It would be smart and progressive, and look real good on the resume.
dan.rodricks@baltsun.com
Dan Rodricks can be heard on "Midday," Mondays through Thursdays, noon to 2 p.m., on 88.1 WYPR-FM.
