FOODSHED ALLIANCE A NJ NONPROFIT CORPORATION
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Mission Statement
The Foodshed Alliance works to strengthen sustainable farming, increase access to local, healthy food, and protect the environment for all members of our communities. The Foodshed Alliance is a grassroots, non-profit devoted to promoting sustainable farming and locally grown, fresh, healthy food in northern New Jersey. We believe that the future of our health, our land, and our communities depends, to great extent, on the existence of local farms–that farmers are the keystone to our connection with our food, the land and our sense of place. It is this conviction that drives us to work, with farmers, consumers, and agricultural professionals to foster a self-sustaining “foodshed” that supports farmers, nourishes people, respects the land, and strengthens our communities.
About This Cause
In 2001, the Foodshed Alliance was created as a program of Genesis Farm Inc., an ecological learning center in northwestern NJ. In 2010, the Foodshed Alliance was established as an independent nonprofit corporation with its own Board of Trustees. It has 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status and works to strengthen sustainable farming, increase access to local, healthy food, and protect the environment for all members of our communities. The Foodshed Alliance works at the intersection of food, farming and the environment in northern NJ. We work as a catalyst or linchpin organization focusing on creating a strong network of partnerships to help further our mission, bringing together stakeholders over many sectors to address and take action on issues in agriculture, conservation and local food access. With the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Americans have now seen empty grocery shelves for the first times in their lives. We have seen how critically important farmers are to us, how we turn to them in crises, and how they innovate to meet demand. But they can’t do their job without farmland or effective and efficient distribution methods. What happens on farms directly influences the quality, quantity, safety and availability of our food supply. We have witnessed rising rates of diet-related diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers – not only in adults but also in children. At the current rates, it is estimated that children born today will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. We also know that a significant portion of our New Jersey communities don’t have ready, affordable access to fresh and healthy food. We recognize the need to move beyond just the treatment of these diseases, but to explore efforts that create environments and systems in which healthy food is the most accessible and easiest choice for all people. Evaluating the food system as a whole, allows a broad, comprehensive perspective on the complexities and interconnectedness of our food system and frames how decisions made across the food system impact the health of people, farms and communities. According to American Farmland Trust, a national nonprofit organization that works to protect and conserve farmland, only 39% of the agricultural land in the lower 48 states is defined by AFT as “Nationally Significant” land, which can reliably produce abundant yields for many decades to come, if farmed sustainably. Notably, AFT found that 61% of New Jersey’s farmland is considered ‘nationally significant’ for food and crop production with little environmental impact. Most of the farms in northern New Jersey grow commodity crops of feed corn, soy and hay, using conventional pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers. Unfortunately, these conventional methods deplete our soils of vital nutrients, encourage topsoil erosion, and may contaminate poison our waterways through runoff. The Foodshed Alliance’s mission is to promote the health of our food system, not only to make abundant, healthy foods available in our region, but also to promote the health and sustainability of our land and water that so generously supports our food system. New Jersey farmland is second most expensive in the country for cost per acre. Despite proximity to urban markets, affordability is one of the primary barriers for new and expanding farm operations looking to gain access to land. Yet approximately 30% of New Jersey's available farmland has been permanently preserved, a higher percentage than any other state. New Jersey lags far behind other states in progressive food policy and regenerative agricultural practices. There are fewer than 100 certified organic farms in the entire state. Granted, there are many farms that operate using organic or “natural” practices but choose not to go through the expense and effort of getting certified. But it is clear we have an overwhelming percentage of farms in NJ choosing conventional farming methods, which deplete soils and degrade our waterways. What seems obvious in other states—that organically farmed food is both highly marketable and better for the environment—is somehow not embraced on a large scale in NJ. Over the past few decades, the Foodshed Alliance has witnessed the infrastructure to support farming and regional access to consumers largely co-opted by centralized corporate conglomerates. Producing wholesome food on the local/regional level has been replaced by the “super-sized” food distribution system, reducing the competitive value for local producers and consumers alike. At the same time, the level of public awareness by consumers of the value of resilient local food production has dissipated due to the ease of access and low cost of mass-produced and marketed goods. The ability to aggregate and distribute locally produced foods within the region is challenged by the lack of local infrastructure and distribution networks. Because of the lack of distribution infrastructure, much of the usable farmland in northern New Jersey is not being used to produce food that can feed our local communities. Much of the farmland produces commodity crops that are shipped great distances for processing. Most of the farmers practicing sustainable and organic methods and artisan food producers in our region do not have the time and/or ability to produce shelf stable, value-added items that compete for retail store shelf space. Unfortunately, underserved populations in northern New Jersey are most dramatically impacted by the shrinking market share of local farming and food production, affecting their access to affordable fresh food. We need to advance a food system that: ensures farms are part of our rural and urban landscapes; conserves and renews natural resources; builds community wealth; and advances fairness and social justice. Most importantly, our food system must fulfill the food, nutrition and health needs of all eaters, now and in the future. In 2015, the Foodshed Alliance did a year-long analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of our local food system and published the Norther NJ Regional Foodshed Resiliency Plan, which can be downloaded here: http://foodshedalliance.org/downloads/ The Plan identified, among others, these issues: • High cost of farmland in NJ • Need for Aggregation, Processing, Distribution of local food • Increase access to local food for all, regardless of need The Regional Foodshed Resiliency Plan identified a number of high-priority initiatives that have great potential for strengthening New Jersey’s food system. The top three priorities are: 1) “growing” new farms to increase regenerative farming to meet the demand for organic and local food, 2) the development of a food hub to aggregate and distribute NJ-produced food; 3) access to healthy local food for all, regardless of mean.