Toward a Sustainable Food System for the City Beautiful

Lucas Fernando Lopes DCP 4290 — Capstone Project in Sustainability and the Built Environment College of Design, Construction and Planning Spring 2016

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 1 Table of Contents

3 Abstract

4 Introduction

5 Connecting Sustainable Food Systems with a Sustainable Built Environment

6 Research Methodology and Objective

8 Project Background and Beginnings

9 What is Urban Agriculture?

14 Orlando: The City Beautiful

18 New York City

26 Seattle

32 Los Angeles

35 Moving Forward

40 Acknowledgments

41 Citations

***UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE, ALL SITE IMAGES WERE TAKEN BY LUCAS F. LOPES***

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 2 Abstract

Image Source: The New York Times

The purpose of this study was to provide the City of Orlando with the necessary background and recommendations to foster a local and sustainable food scene through specific government actions, policies and programs. Through a case study methodology, the food systems and recent advances in the cities of Seattle, Los

Angeles, and New York City were analyzed to provide information that Orlando could utilize to improve its food system. The study also served to connect local food systems to the larger vision of sustainability in our built environment by showing how certain practices build community, foster education and enhance our urban environments.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 3 Introduction

The 1987 Brundtland Commission’s Report, Our Common Future has come to influence many aspects of sustainability research. The study and program of

Sustainability and the Built Environment here at the University of Florida has itself been formed upon the foundational words from that report. It states that sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their needs. Of particular importance to my research and my starting point is Chapter Five: Food Security:

Sustaining the Potential. It provides detailed remarks on the state of the world’s food system in the late 1980’s. Many statements still ring true nearly thirty years after the report has been published; “There are places where too little is grown; there are places where large numbers cannot afford to buy food. And there are broad areas of the Earth, in both industrial and developing nations, where increases in food production are undermining the base for future production. The agricultural resources and the technology needed to feed growing populations are available.

Much has been achieved over the past few decades. Agriculture does not lack resources; it lacks policies to ensure that the food is produced where it is needed…

(Our Common Future 1987).”

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 4 Connecting Sustainable Food Systems with a Sustainable Built Environment

The United Nations Environmental Programme states that the Principles of

Sustainable Development are rooted on a few central themes, some of these are the conservation of resources such as water and land, the use of environmentally sound materials, minimizing energy consumption and reducing overall waste. In planning and revitalizing our urban environments there is great potential to introduce aspects of sustainable food systems through design. Between private and publicly owned lands throughout our cities there are millions of acres of arable, unused or underutilized parcels that could be suitable for urban agricultural applications like community gardens or urban farms. In New York City alone, there are about 2,700 acres of roof tops that could be suitable for urban agriculture (Five Borough Farm

2015). Municipal governments, planning agencies, and city regulations have remained relatively silent on urban agriculture applications until recently (Lovell

2010). It is only within the past few decades that we have seen efforts from the public sector that begin to investigate and address such issues and topics.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 5 Research Methodology and Objective

My research project utilized a comparative case study methodology in which I examined three major U.S. cities to answer the following question:

How can the City of Orlando act to promote a local, sustainable, equitable, and vibrant food system?

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 6 Advancements in the arena of sustainable food can come from all institutions and sectors of society. An example of this could be a large super market chain deciding to source its produce from local farms for each of its locations. Another example may be a grassroots citizen led effort to compost individual household food waste. For my research I analyzed what specific policies, programs and efforts municipal governments have made to examine and improve their food systems.

Food systems are broad and overarching, therefore, not all areas will be touched upon or comprehensively examined.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 7 Project Background and Beginnings

The topic of my Capstone Project in Sustainability and the Built Environment came about through my work as a city planning intern with the City of Orlando’s

Economic Development Department during the Summer of 2015. I, alongside another intern, conducted a Food Policy Audit. This is a study tool that uses one- hundred yes or no questions to create a baseline analysis of the gaps and assets in a particular food system. A food system is defined as a complex set of activities and relationships related to every aspect of the food cycle. The Food Policy Audit was first developed by the University of Virginia as a planning research project for the Franklin

County Ohio Food Policy Council. The questions are identified as best practices.

While the project was considered a success, many questions could not be answered and simply did not apply due to Orlando’s unique development patterns and history of growth. I decided to use the City of Orlando as the subject of my capstone proposal because it is the city I have called home for the past fifteen years.

Also, there is a young but quickly growing local food movement with great potential to positively impact the way our community eats and connects with its food. I analyzed major events, themes, and methods within the sustainable food movements of three different American cities — Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York City — and applied this knowledge in the form of potential recommendations for the City of

Orlando to foster a local food scene.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 8 What is Urban Agriculture?

The state of our ecosystems, lands and the seemingly never ending worldwide environmental degradation makes it quite clear that there are major issues with the way we feed our world. The connections weaving the patches of agricultural lands and polluted lands abound. Intensive industrial agriculture has been able to feed us for decades which is an impressive undertaking, but it is not without its risks and detriments. The United Nations World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision project that our global population should reach 8.5 billion by 2030 and 9.7 billion by

2050. To feed a rapidly growing population we should utilize industrial agriculture but we must also continue build and support localized and regional food systems. The

Los Angeles Food Policy Council summarizes research into industrial food systems by stating that “conventional industrial farming methods, along with the practice of transporting food products over long distances, have been shown to cause severe ecological harm to the environment and climate, depleting non- renewable resources

(e.g., soil, energy, biological diversity) and widening social inequities.” The end goal of a local food system is to abolish food deserts, to feed every person, from every age group, to every race, to every social class; but not just to feed them, to empower them with resources and access to a holistic diet, one that is tied to their nearest terra firma.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 9 Urban agriculture — which includes everything from community gardens to fruit trees, to small scale farming within or on the edges of a city or town — is a way in which we can reduce pollution, decrease natural resource imports, and overall, lessen our footprint on the Earth (Broadway 2009). In the Worldwatch Institute Blog, Emma

Hansen points out that nearly eighty percent of the worlds population will be living in an urbanized setting by 2050 (2015). In May 2015, the United States Department of

Agriculture recognized the Ohio City Farm as a national model for urban agriculture.

In the Crain’s Cleveland Business, Kathy Ames Carr mentions how the Ohio City farm is not only the largest urban farm in the country but also an example of an urban agricultural application that has transformed underused land, improved community nutrition and food access all the while fostering local production and distribution

(2015). This is not the only example of successful urban agriculture initiatives; communities throughout the Pacific Northwest, California, and the Northeast are embracing and promoting thriving community gardens, urban farms, and local farmers markets among other excellent practices. Bottom up approaches or grassroots efforts have been the basis for most urban agricultural initiatives throughout the country but as Lovell (2010) mentions, the benefits are now seen and understood; what is needed is a top down push through planning policies that improve coordination and increase benefits of urban agricultural efforts.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 10 Most of the barriers to urban agriculture revolve around the fact that city zoning, land use codes, and growth management plans have in the past neglected to integrate food system thinking and policies (Lovell 2010). In The Guardian, William

McDonough states how as industrial agriculture negatively impacted our land throughout the years, our leaders forgot that the city and its residents were indeed a part of nature (2014). A lack of expertise and knowledge about food systems within city planning departments was once the main obstacle to government support for local food systems. Now, as we see begin to witness true change and increased awareness and action throughout the country, challenges remain. Archaic city codes and lack of policy still means that zoning serves as a roadblock to the expansion of urban agriculture (McClintock, Wooten and Brown 2012). Other barriers to urban agriculture are the relationship between urban gardeners, farmers and government officials; some believe that the government should have limited involvement in their endeavors while others praise government support. Also, the recent economic recession has brought into question whether or not urban agriculture deserves funding from the municipal level (Cohen and Reynolds 2014).

Many communities that have lead the way in urban agricultural activities such as Seattle, Vancouver, Cleveland and New York City, all began with a community food assessment which involves the locality at all stakeholder levels in developing an action plan for change. It is known that we lack in policy; understanding just what

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 11 polices and programs we do not have will allow us to provide help to the areas of the food system most in need. A shining example of this methodology comes from Los

Angeles in which a group of University of California - Los Angeles graduate students created an assessment of the urban agricultural landscape. April Fulton goes on to mention in NPR that while this study was limited to Los Angeles, it could be applied anywhere — as is occurring throughout the country (2013). To illustrate just how significant policy support is, we can look toward San Francisco. Alastair Bland states in

NPR that the passage of the California Assembly Bill 551 in 2013 — which allows localities to create tax incentives for urban farms — has already led to local ordinances or plans that do just that throughout the state (2014). This demonstrates an important aspect of future policy proposals. While we certainly need policies and codes that breakdown barriers — such as issues relating to the legality of urban agricultural production and distribution — we also need policies that back efforts and allow them to flourish, such as tax incentives.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 12 The barriers to a thriving local urban agricultural scene in the United States seemed to be endless but local food movements are now in some form thriving in nearly all American cities. One facet, however, that goes without question, are the myriad of benefits to a sustainable, localized food system that involves all community stakeholders — the ability to provide healthy food while building community and sustaining a local economy. Wendell Berry captures the substance of this issue:

“without prosperous local economies, the people have no power and the land no voice.”

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 13 Orlando: The City Beautiful

The City of Orlando, located in Central Florida, has a population of about a quarter million people. However, the 2010 U.S. Census lists the population of Greater

Orlando — or the Orlando Metropolitan Statistical Area — at over 2.1 million people.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 14 An area that was once the center of the Florida citrus industry in the 1800’s transformed overtime into the global hub for tourism with over twelve theme parks and countless other attractions. The official tourism association, Visit Orlando, reported in 2015 that the city set a new U.S. record by having the most visitors in

2014; a staggering 62 million people. This presents an opportunity for the City to have an enormous role in influencing and guiding communities throughout the world on sustainable practices, especially within areas such as restaurant and theme park food systems.

The 2015 Food Policy Audit (FPA) produced quite a few key findings. The FPA revealed a general lack of information and understanding as to what policies, if any, are in place relating to local food production. Also, outside of the City’s 2013 Green

Works Orlando Community Action Plan, there are no city-wide strategies addressing food. Zoning regulations are also less permissive of agricultural uses and often times projects and programs must be approved through a “temporary use” or “pilot” phase so that they can surpass the onerous and lengthy regulatory barriers.

On April 6th, 2016 I met Dan and Kathy — community residents — at the Lake

Davis Greenwood Community Garden where they help to manage the site. We discussed some of the issues surrounding local food in Orlando and their experience in starting and participating in a community garden. It was mentioned that in the nine month process that it took to get the project approved and permitted, it was tough to

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 15 sustain the community support. They cited the lengthy processes and opportunity for increased general support from the City; a few key leaders and partners helped to serve as a liaison between the community and the City. They also mentioned that they were able to receive a matching grant for the garden — which is located on a public park — and that they remain hopeful about Orlando’s future as a progressive city.

Orlando has one local food hub — East End Market — and several community gardens within city limits, all of them with varying levels of use and purpose. Some site images are attached below.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 16

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 17 New York City

Image Source: Five Borough Farm

New York City is the most densely inhabited city in the United States with a population of over 8.5 million people living throughout the five boroughs of Staten

Island, Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and The Bronx. Census records indicate that the

New York Metropolitan Statistical Area contains over twenty million people making it

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 18 the most densely populated urban agglomeration in the country. The foodshed for this region spans hundreds of miles.

This leaves residents with limited yet unique opportunities to lower their carbon footprint and make sustainable consumption choices. In the Journal of

Industrial Ecology, Tukker and Jansen compile the results of eleven studies to analyze and conclude that food, housing and related energy use, and transportation are

responsible for about 70% of

our environmental impacts

(2006). The production of food

accounts for 83% of the

average U.S. household’s

carbon footprint from food

consumption (Weber and

Matthews 2008). This research

suggests that consumers can

greatly lower their carbon

footprint by shifting

consumption away from meat and dairy products and towards locally grown and harvested produce. The City of

New York has mobilized its resources and acted — especially in the past decade — to

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 19 integrate sustainability in all areas of planning, development, and growth. These actions have culminated and developed over the years into what is currently known as the One New York (OneNYC) comprehensive plan for a “Strong and Just City.”

“Under Local Law 84 (2013), a long-term plan considering population projections, housing, air quality, coastal protections, and other sustainability and resiliency factors is required every four years on Earth Day. OneNYC represents a unified vision for a sustainable, resilient, and equitable city, and charts the path for collectively achieving this goal. This plan was developed with cross-cutting interagency collaboration, public engagement, and consultation with leading experts in their respective fields. The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability oversees the development of OneNYC and now shares responsibility with the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency for ensuring its implementation.”

OneNYC is divided into four visions with multiple underlying goals. Vision 2:

Equity, Goal 4: Healthy Neighborhoods, Active Living of the report prioritizes food access, affordability, and quality to

“encourage a sustainable, resilient food system.”

Comprehensive sustainability plans such as OneNYC have gained popularity among municipal governments over the past few years. For New York City, this has not been an outline of mere promises and pledges but rather, a concrete effort that has materialized into investments and regulations that build a sustainable food system.

The Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market in The Bronx supplies about half of all fruits and vegetables found in the produce isles throughout all of New York City. In

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 20 March of 2015, the de Blasio administration announced an investment about $150 million over the next twelve years to modernize the space, and create spaces for small businesses to open up inside the distribution center. The Hunts Point Cooperative

Market, as it is known, is the largest food distribution center in the world.

The New York City Council approved Local Law 52 of 2011 which establishes several reporting requirements for city initiatives related to food. This law mandates that nineteen different areas are analyzed and the resulting data must be made into a

report which is

prepared by the

Office of Long-Term

Planning and

Sustainability and

presented to the

Mayor no later than

the first of September

of every year. For

example, subsection

number three requires

“the location, sorted by community board and size in square feet, of each community garden located on city-owned property that is registered with and licensed by the

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 21 department of parks and recreation, and whether each such garden engages in food production.” These are known as the Food Metrics Reports and for the past four years they have allowed for the tracking and assessment of data from progress made in the local food system. The above graphic comes from Section 1, Page 8 of the 2015

Report and depicts the food insecurity rate among residents.

One of the biggest sectors of a food system is waste; what to do with it and how to minimize it. New York City is tackling this issue through a very ambitious goal of “zero waste” by 2030. While such a goal may seem logically unattainable, it essentially means that the city is trying to contribute no waste to landfills by 2030.

Rather, it will mitigate byproducts by reusing, recycling, and minimizing overall waste

— among other tactics. Since the mid 1970’s there has been a steady increase in the

U.S. food supply and also a progressive increase of about 50% in the per capita food waste for the country (Hall et al., 2009). Any regulations to combat waste in a city of over 8.5 million people will have an enormous positive impact on our environmental systems. Both residential and commercial settings are subject to the zero waste goal.

Beginning in July 2016, certain NYC businesses — larger vendors and establishments

— will be required by law to separate their organic waste for composting or aerobic/ anaerobic digestion. While residential composting programs will be much more difficult to regulate given the nature of NYC housing, this represents the beginning of

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 22 a larger move towards reducing overall food waste for the city. This also shows how food, our built environment, and our carbon footprint are all directly connected.

Heat waves are the consequence of a large carbon footprint and are a major issue faced by New Yorkers during the hot and humid summers. Urban agriculture can remedy this issue through “urban greening” and reducing the urban heat island effect. Heat waves also create record demands for electricity to power cooling systems. There are thousands of acres of rooftops in the City which are suitable for roof top gardening and farming. Rooftops that could easily be converted or modified for green roof applications. Mitigation strategies such as urban agriculture can provide a myriad of benefits through shading, food production, and pollutant absorption.

NYC Health claims that more Americans die from heat waves than all other natural disasters combined and NYC Food states that about 58% of adults and 40% of elementary school students in NYC are overweight or obese. Disadvantaged populations and the poorest communities are disproportionately affected by these issues. Access to healthy, fresh, locally grown foods can improve the diets of New

Yorkers.

As with any government policy, unforeseen issues may arise. It is a known problem among New Yorkers that land is at a premium and vacant parcels are rare.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 23 Some might argue that the City should not use its limited land for food growth.

However, many parcels cannot be developed due to small size or other limitations and even more sites sit empty for months on end until permitting and other processes move forward.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 24 One solution being developed by the City is an agreement between interested developers and community members that allows for the cultivation of empty plots until they are ready to be developed.

New York City is the most densely populated area in the country, has some of the highest real estate values, and a progressively growing population. Yet, even through these extreme factors, it has spearheaded a prosperous local food movement. Through direct funding initiatives, permissive regulations and laws, ambitious goals, and other supportive government actions urban agriculture is made possible in the City. The Five Borough Farm Organization reports that the city has over

700 food producing urban farms and gardens citywide (2015).

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 25 Seattle

The City of Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the

United States and also the largest city in the state of Washington. The Seattle Times reports that from July 2012 to July 2013, it was the fastest growing city in the country.

Seattle has a population of over 650,000 residents and the Seattle Metropolitan Area has a population of nearly four million people.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 26 Seattle city records show a rich history with urban agriculture that dates back to

1970’s social activism and the back-to-the-land movement. In 1973 the City purchased the Picardo Farm which was originally lent from the Picardo family for a community garden. Seattle then started the P-Patch

Program which now oversees

90 patches throughout the

City. Through the program, community members steward 18.8 acres of land for the public and gardeners grow food on 14.9 acres of land. These 32 acres not only feed the community — with P-

Patch gardeners donating over 28,000 pounds of food in 2014 alone to food banks and other programs — but they also revitalize neighborhoods, foster civic engagement, and holistically transform the physical urban settings to which they belong (City of Seattle 2016). The above chart, also from city records, shows how the municipality funds nearly 40% of the costs for the program while community members and individuals cover the other 60% of the operation costs through volunteering. Throughout the decades, the P-Patch program has endured through the countless efforts of volunteers and community members but also through direct city

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 27 funding such as the Neighborhood Matching Fund Grants in the mid 1990’s and the

Parks and Green Spaces Levy which allocated $2 million to build new gardens (City of

Seattle 2016).

In her 2005 book, City Bountiful, Laura J. Lawson speaks of the role of urban gardens throughout history:

“Urban gardens provided a small but widely appreciated approach to addressing urban congestion, immigration, economic instability, and environmental degradation. Anchored in a philosophy of environmental determinism, turn-of-the-century urban garden programs were expected to simultaneously improve both the environment and the behavior of the participants. They would link idle land with idle hands to satisfy intertwined impulses for education and beautification. They would not only provide a venue for the moral, physical, and economic development of the poor, but also result in a cosmetic improvement to the unattractive physical manifestations of land speculation and urban environmental conditions.”

Restoring underutilized urban lands to productive gardens impacts the surrounding ecosystem on a smaller scale however it creates a lasting sense of community and opportunity (Hester 2010). These are all intentions and outcomes of sustainability in action in our built environments.

Seattle’s efforts go beyond just P-Patch gardens and into extensive and far- reaching measures. In 2012, through the help of the Puget Sound Regional Council, the city began research to incorporate food policy in to the City’s comprehensive planning process. Results of the aforementioned study are still being analyzed and applied. While documents such as the Food Action Plan are not directly a part of the

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 28 language in the City’s comprehensive plan, they still guide policies that do indeed becomes a part of zoning codes and other regulations.

Many of these measures are rooted in the 2008 Local Food Action Initiative which was passed by the Seattle City Council to improve the local and regional food system. The Food Interdepartmental Team was convened out of this initiative as well.

It has since created connections across departments and agencies to update land-use codes in support of urban agriculture and hired a dedicated food policy advisor. The progress made in the years since this measure was approved is captured on the 2014 progress report below, from the Seattle Office of Sustainability and the Environment:

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 29 I conducted a phone-interview with Sharon Lerman, Food Policy Advisor for the

City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment on April 8th, 2016. The contents of this interview are summarized below. It is important to note that some of the views expressed are not necessarily representative of the City of Seattle with

Lerman speaking upon her own professional experience as well.

Seattle’s history with food is unique in that for many decades it has been embedded into the community mindset. With agricultural areas surrounding Seattle in many parts of Washington as well as the P-Patch Program, food has through time become an important topic for both city officials and residents alike. This is significant because when one looks at the context of food movements, each city has its own unique history and make-up of residents. Also, each city comes to put resources into what its residents find important. Seattle 2035, the city’s next and completely restructured comprehensive plan has “an eye toward food policy.” Through years of work, food policy and programs are now going to be engrained into the city’s comprehensive plan. However, these comprehensive plan amendments do not lead to tangible impact on the ground. Other efforts have done so; such as the updates to the

Land Use Code in 2010 which made urban agriculture allowable in all areas except for manufacturing and industrial where they are allowed in off the ground or building and rooftop applications. Lerman shared that interdepartmental coordination as well as innovative policies and programs have been incredibly important to her work.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 30 In discussing how the local food movement and urban agriculture has transformed the physical urban environment, Lerman mentioned that there is an incredible value in connection to nature within the city. While housing is of primary

importance to the

Room to Grow city, strategic This map shows the original levy-funded P-Patch community garden projects and the new 2013 projects. planning efforts

Bitter Lake – New. In Progress.

BROADVIEW/ BITTER LAKE have allowed for SR 99

W. Licton Springs – New. Upcoming. Holman Rd. N. twenty new P-

. N.80th St. W Kirke Park – New. Complete. WHITTIER

HEIGHTS S andpoint Schwabacher House – New. Complete. N. BALLARD N. 15th Ave. Green Lake W . 35th Ave. . Market W E y. N.

US N. Patches in the last E

I-5 RAVENNA/ BRYANT . LAKE N. 50th St. Hazel Heights – New. Complete. WASHINGTON WALLINGFORD . W FREMONT Magnolia Manor – Eastlake – Expansion. Complete. decade. Seattle is New. In Progress. 15th Ave. N. 15th Ave. QUEEN LAKE INTERBAY ANNE UNION Broadway Hill – New. Upcoming. CAPITOL HILL UpGarden at Seattle Center – LEVY-FUNDED New. Complete. Unpaving Paradise – New. Complete. P-PATCH dedicated to such Elliot Ave. PROJECT STATUS CASCADE/ EASTLAKE PUGET SOUND Martin

2013 New Levy-funded Projects Denny Wy. 24th Ave. L

CENTRAL uther Spring Street – New. Complete. Chancery Place – New. Complete. AREA

Levy-funded Project E K

. ing Jr. ing በቀረጥ የሚዯገፉ ፕሮጀችቶች Horiuchi Park – New. In Progress. public spaces but

徵稅法案提供經費的計畫 S Urban Agriculture Pilot Projects – . New. Upcoming. K MeragEdlCYyedayR:k´BnÆ. Dearborn OkgKANti’|D~EgINMAJAKpASi. Judkins – Expansion. Upcoming. Проекты, проводимые благодаря налогам.

Mashaariicda canshuurta lagu maalgaliyay ALKI / ADMIRAL HARBOR US Proyectos financiados por el gravamen. ISLAND I-5 the goal has not Seattle Community Farm – New. Complete. Các dự án được tài trợ từ thuế. WEST SEATTLE Spokane St. NORTH BEACON HILL/ JEFFERSON PARK WEST SEATTLE JUNCTION/ Pre-existing P-Patch Community Garden GENESEE HILL Beacon Food Forest – New. In Progress. SR ቀዴሞ ብሇው የተገነቡ የ ፒ-ፓች NORTH DELRIDGE የማህበረሰብ ያትክሌት ቦታዎች 99 COLUMBIA CITY 以前已經存在的P-Patch社區花菜園

P-Patch Maa nyei lai ndeic – Expansion. Upcoming. been to completely sYnbEnøshKmn¾

. SVNXUMNUMXoNcvgpiepCD W ti’MiYu’eL~V. Существующие городские огороды P-Patch. GEORGETOWN . Hillman City –

W S. Graham Mashaariicdii beeraha bulshada ee hore u jiray HIGH POINT Expansion. Complete.

Huertos comunitarios de P-Patch ya existentes. Các khu vườn cộng đồng P California Ave. N. California Ave. Các khu vườn cộng đồng P-Patch đã có từ trước. đã có từ trước. N. 35th Ave. John C. Little – New. In Progress. “feed ourselves” as HIGHLAND PARK West Genesee – SOUTH PARK New. Complete. ROXHILL/WESTWOOD NewHolly Youth and Family – Expansion. Complete.

Nickelsville – New. Complete. Lerman stated, but RAINIER BEACH

Barton St. – New. Complete. Marra Farm Pilot Market Garden – 51st and Leo – New. Complete. 1st Expansion. Complete. 2nd Expansion. Upcoming. Westcrest Park – New. In Progress. to create vibrancy,

build community,

and educate the

public.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 31 Los Angeles

Source: Los Angeles Food Policy Council

The City of Los Angeles, located in Southern California has a population of nearly four million people with the Greater Los Angeles Area containing over 18 million people.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 32 In studying the Los Angeles (LA) food system one finds that the research conducted in the past decade has been geared toward the broader lens of the Los

Angeles County and foodshed as a whole, not just the City of Los Angeles. The term foodshed comes from the same principles and ideas behind the definition of a watershed; “a foodshed is the geographic area from which a population derives its food supply” (C.J. Peters et al. 2008). Advancements in the study of the LA food system has been spearheaded by the Los Angeles Food Policy Council which was

created in September of 2010.

Since then, leaders and experts

from across the region

convened with mayoral

support to “facilitate and

coordinate systematic

change” (LA Food Policy

Council 2016).

In 2013 the LA City

Council officially recognized

October 23, as “Food Day” to bring awareness to the food system and policies that manage it. In 2012, the Good

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 33 Food Purchasing Program was adopted by the City Council and the LA Unified School

District — which serves over 700,000 meals a day.

“The Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) provides clear standards and strategic support to empower major institutions to procure local, sustainable, fair and humanely produced foods, while improving access to healthy, high-quality food for all communities.”

The Council defines Good Food as being healthy, affordable, fair and sustainably produced, processed, and distributed. The 2013 Food System Snapshot for the City of LA compiles research on the food system into one document which has been pivotal in informing and guiding policies and programs. A few key issues were noted: food insecurity for residents, high rates of obesity, lack of healthy food access and many environmental and public heath concerns.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) lists California as the top agricultural producing state in the country with a majority of this production in the

200 mile radius surrounding the LA urban core (USDA 2014). The study of food in Los

Angeles has been one of incredible size and action with the outcomes and policies influencing change in other cities and regions of the country. Pete Huff, states in the

Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy that the Good Food Purchasing Program is currently being explored in Chicago, Oakland, and New York City (2016). Other localities working to adopt this program are Twin Cities school districts in Minnesota which together serve over 1.3 million meals a year.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 34 Moving Forward

In recent years, the City of Orlando has mobilized its resources into an

“emerging local food movement that has the potential to better serve all residents, including disadvantaged populations” (Green Works Orlando 2013). Strategies to integrate food systems planning into municipal programs and policies have focused on solid waste handling such as a backyard composting program which provides composting bins to interested residents at no cost. In that end, the city could follow up by surveying residents with compost bins to inquire and gather data on any other

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 35 aspects of sustainability they practice; this survey could also educate them and connect them to local community gardens so that they may get involved. Production of food within Orange County does not meet the local food demand; about 31% of all local farms consist of nurseries and there are weak links between the food processing and distribution sectors of the area (Nieves-Ruiz and Hoffman 2009).

Local planning departments, in both the City of Orlando and Orange County could work to make the zoning codes and regulations more open to urban agricultural applications; this recommendation is backed by the Food Production White Paper.

Furthermore, within the next year, the city has the opportunity to strengthen its current inventory of community gardens through an assessment of each of their needs. The city could then provide its own resources to meet those needs or serve as a liaison between those who operate the gardens and potential private organizations such as the Harry P. Leu Gardens that could offer help through education and technical skill building.

Based on my research, one of the most promising ways that the City of

Orlando could meet its food needs is by focusing efforts on sustainable local food production such as the City of Seattle has done through it’s P-Patch Garden Program.

A commitment of this scale would have the potential for great impact in neighborhoods that suffer from food deserts and subsequent food insecurity, such as the Parramore neighborhood in downtown Orlando. Legislation such as the Local Law

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 36 52 of 2011 from New York City could also be used to model reporting requirements that would maintain an updated database of food distributors, processors, and any food related innovations in the Orlando region.

The Orange County Public Schools system which is the tenth largest in the nation serving over 197,000 students could also play a role in these efforts. The City and County could work together to push for the adoption of the Good Food

Purchasing Policy from the City of Los Angeles which has already impacted their local economy. In 2013, the L.A. Unified School District spent over $10 million in produce that came from local growers. Orlando could emphasize the role of a local food system in bringing the city closer to its larger goals and visions for sustainability such as the City of Oakland did in the early 2000’s (McClintock et al. 2012).

Millions of people from all over the world could be educated on local food practices through the avenue of theme park food systems. The City and County could begin this discussion by incentivizing or pushing Walt Disney World and other parks to compost their food waste. In return, the localities could offer to lower the cost of waste removal services. This would require the building of necessary infrastructure to handle this new waste stream. Negotiations might be complex at first, but it could be the start of introducing sustainable practices at an enormous scale and stage. In 2014,

Universal Orlando reports that 594 tons of organic food material from their resorts

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 37 and theme parks were diverted away from landfills. This shows that a project of such a scale is indeed plausible.

One method to catapult the public into a great sense of awareness of the local food system could be to run a nightly segment on the local news channel — News 13

— that would focus on different aspects of the food system. Another method could be to convene a week long workshop through the Good Food Central Florida Food

Policy Council in which leaders and stakeholders can come together and collectively determine what steps could be taken to further study the local food system and what policies and programs could be most effective in improving it. The city and county also have an opportunity to directly support the local food policy council, such as other cities like Los Angeles have done. It is through the creation of such a task force that the LA Food Policy Council was born. This effort would greatly bolster the ability the Good Food Central Florida Food Policy Council to affect positive change. In Lucky

Peach Food Magazine, Emily Broad Leib of Harvard’s Food Law and Policy Clinic speaks on the impact of a strong food policy council:

“Most of them are formed when people come together and say, ‘Our government isn’t prioritizing this but we have a lot of ideas about what needs to change.’ If we come together as a coalition to make decisions and set our priorities, then we can have an impact. With the Mississippi Food Policy Council, for example, we changed six laws in four years . We were able to work with a food-policy council and other nonprofits to get the sales tax eliminated at farmers’ markets. Most states have eliminated sales tax on groceries, but Mississippi still has that tax. At a grocery store, it’s easy to collect that sales tax, but for farmers it was a huge barrier to entry.”

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 38 In my work I have not only studied food policies and programs at a municipal level but I have also tried to show the connection and role that a local food system can have in enhancing our urban and built environments. Sustainability, just like food systems planning, is a holistic and complex practice; one that as Thiele states “must maintain the health of the natural environment” (2013). Orlando could benefit from looking to and modeling their efforts after urban agricultural policies and local food movements from around the country which have greatly and positively impacted the lives of their residents.

LUCAS FERNANDO LOPES APRIL 2016 39 Acknowledgments

Seaton Tarrant, University of Florida Mary-Stewart Droege, City of Orlando Elisabeth Holler Dang, City of Orlando Sharon Lerman, City of Seattle Peggy Carr, University of Florida Patric Dejong, University of Florida Kathy and Dan, Lake Davis Greenwood Community Garden University of Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning

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