Promoting Local Self-Reliance in Fresh Produce and Food Security through Competition

By Sean Masih

Abstract: With the looming food crisis, globalization, and increased population our food as we know it may be at risk. In the next 20 years the UN has reported that the world's food production will have to increase by 70% to prevent hundreds of millions of people from starving. If we dont do something to increase our food security and local self-reliance within city communities we may lose all control over our food. Urban agriculture, while not a cure-all, is the most effective and efficient way to combat the factors threatening our food. Introduction: Agriculture has had a close relationship with urban society for millennia. About 10,000 years ago in an area in the Near East known as the Fertile Crescent, two very important inventions were made: urbanism and agriculture (Smith 1995). The fact that both urbanization and agriculture developed around the same time period was no coincidence. Prior to the settling of the Fertile Crescent most tribes were nomadic and they relied on whatever food they could obtain easily wherever they went. Because a major settlement needed a steady supply of food, agriculture not only became a way of life but a necessity. This symbiotic relationship between agriculture and urban society has however seen a deep separation in the last two centuries. This major decline can be attributed to many factors such as the population shift from rural to urban areas, the need for valuable space in cities, technological advances in transportation, and most importantly, globalization. Globalization is the unification of the world's economic order through the dissolving of such barriers to international reliance and trade. Because of globalization, more and more countries and cities have been relying on outside sources for their supply of food. Once

transportation was revolutionized in the 1800s, more and more cities had the ability to import food from other places and become reliant on these places for their food supply. Only until then did cities do away with urban agriculture and use this space for more buildings, factories, and houses and in the last two centuries the majority of the world's population has migrated to the cities. This also is not a coincidence. One of the first examples of reliance on other countries for food was famously the city of Rome. By the first century A.D Rome was the capital of the largest empire in its time and had a population of about 1 million citizens. Feeding a city that large and in that time period required different methods of acquiring food. The Roman Empire had many farms dedicated to supplying food only to the city of Rome but that wasnt nearly enough (Smith 1995). Since Rome was near the Mediterranean sea it could import food from other cities along the coast to feed its population daily. This was the only city in its time that had the capital and resources to provide for a population of that size. The reason it is used as an example is because it is very similar to the many American cities today. With this trend only increasing, the United Nations reports that by 2030, 59.9% of the world's population will be living in urban areas, this means that over four billion people will be residing in and around cities (World Urbanization Prospects The 2005 Revision). Rapid urbanization and globalization combined with the current economic conundrum puts even more pressure on food suppliers and producers to find alternative ways to provide for us. Throughout all of this globalization and streamlining of the acquisition of these resources one thing has remained the same, we our dependence on the natural world for food. Roughly 80% of global trade in food now is controlled by just five multinational corporations (Steel 2008) and because of that many communities have been stripped of their autonomy and self-reliance. In this way, globalization has been unhealthy for many communities across the globe. These

communities are subjects of the major corporations that ultimately control their every resource including food and energy. This puts the people in a dangerously controlled environment in which CEOs of these big companies essentially control their food income. Also, with the food crisis rapidly approaching, self-reliance through urban agriculture may be the only reasonable solution to remedy both problems. Regaining local power and providing food for the city through de-globalization by implementation of urban agriculture is needed. Many governments however are beginning to take action and working towards achieving self-reliance for their cities. In fact, today up to 30% of agricultural production in the United States originates from within metropolitan areas, and up to 15% on a global scale (Smit et al., 1996). A prime example of modern self-reliance is the city of Havana, Cuba. Following the Cuban Revolution of 1959 when the Communists came into power, the government of Russia provided Cuba with 57% of their total food intake annually (Pinderhughes 2000). Cuba continued to rely on the USSR for food and resources until the USSR crumbled in 1989 when all food imports halted. By 1992 food shortages had reached devastating proportions, including the capital city of Havana which was home to about 2.2 million people at the time. In a swift political move, the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture responded by securing hundreds of vacant lots and sanctioning them for growing produce. Government grown produce combined with citizen's efforts to grow produce on their properties saved the city of Havana. In 2002, 35,000 acres of urban gardens produced about 3 million tons of food and today over 90% of the city's fresh produce comes from local urban farms and gardens (Pinderhughes 2000). These may have been extreme circumstances but if Havana could save itself from starvation then any city can.

Because of urban agriculture's congruity, a wide variety of problems can be tackled with its full implementation in any city. Problems such as food shortages, health concerns, economic instability, and unemployment can all be helped if not remedied with the integration of urban agriculture into many cities around the globe. The benefits of urban agriculture far outweigh its problems. The real challenge however, is the actual integration of urban agriculture within the city. Every urban society is different, and because of this variability each city must be individually analyzed. Spatial requirements, local law, climate, political support and potential social support must all be taken into factor (Grewal and Grewal 2011). But, the message remains the same - increasing city's self reliance by the localization of food production to secure a safe and stable food supply that can provide for the community and its economy. We believe that change must begin at the community level. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a concept that originated in the 1960s in Japan and Switzerland, in which consumers were interested in safe food and farmers seeking stable markets could join together in economic partnerships. However, as our population grows rapidly we have to depend less and less on farmers, which make up 2% of the current world population (Demuth 1993). The concept of obtaining a local and safe food supply for a community remains the same and through community outreach, such a local system is attainable. One of the most important keystones of community infrastructure is its education system. Community education offers a structured, effective way to respond to the challenges facing public education because it expands the school's traditional role and creates a mutually interdependent relationship among home, school, and community. Community education has three basic componentslifelong learning opportunities, community involvement in schools, and efficient use of resources (E., Larry, A. Virginia , and M. Pamela 2006). Teaching children

about the benefits and necessity for urban agriculture would be a big step towards achieving selfreliance and food security.

Materials and Methods:

Education and competition have been intimately related since the beginning of its institution. Education through competition has proved to be the one of the most effective ways to learn and it is natural for children to compete and, therefore it is understandable that competition should be put to educational use in this circumstance (Verhoeff 1997). It has also been well documented that competition stimulates children's learning process when performing particular tasks (Vaughn, and Deserens 2005). Competition is what drives humanity to improve; it is the running engine behind technology, economics, and politics. Everyday humans must compete with each other for capital, mates, food, and other essential and nonessential resources. Because children are our future, educating them about the problems we face today and how to solve them will prove to be invaluable in the long run. How do we use competition to teach children valuable material about self-reliance and food security? The answer lies in fluid knowledge acquisition. Fluid knowledge acquisition is the process by which knowledge is gained without any set standard. Our goal is to educate the children about the benefits and practices of urban agriculture so that they can take this knowledge home and into the communities to make an even bigger impact in the city. The engagement of these school kids in competitive hands on activities will not only enrich their educational experience but in the end will benefit the entire city.

Competition, as stated above is an essential component of this learning experience. It has been well documented by many social psychologists that learning through competition not only motivates but empowers children to take hold of their own learning (Vaughn, and Deserens 2005). Competing shows a direct relation to your self-worth, desire to learn, and your skills. Through competition students will have the necessary drive to soak in information (E., A., and M. 2006). This study focuses specifically on Cleveland, Ohio and improving its self-reliance in fresh produce. It has been shown that this city has the potential to meet 100% of its fresh need from within its physical footprint (Grewal and Grewal 2011). We believe that the city has the resources, manpower, and political and social support to carry out this task. The goal of this project is to create educational opportunities for children in 4th through 6th grades about the advantages, practice, and science of urban agriculture which will ultimately affect the entire community. We propose that if a hands on competitive program is implemented many of the parents will want to become involved in the project and therefore the idea of selfreliance and food security can be expressed to a much larger audience. The program that we have developed utilizes competition to present subject material to students at a much faster rate than conventional school curricula (New Science Education Standards and Model Curriculum 2011). Although the main focus of this program is to educate students about urban agriculture, many more subjects have been integrated into this learning experience. Subjects such as math, science (biology and chemistry), and history were all intentionally included as that this would be more educationally enriching because of the wellrounded subject material.

The actual competition will consist of two main parts: (i) Increasing Self-Reliance in fresh produce and (ii) Reducing Carbon Footprint for Transportation of fresh produce. Winner will be determined based on the percent gain in self-reliance and percent reduction in carbon footprint.. The self-reliance part of the competition is where students will record the weight of their food purchased from grocery stores or farmers markets for a period of one month. Each student will use the charts given to them and record the weight in grams of the food purchased daily/weekly (see Table 1). Each fresh produce item will have its own row and whenever it is purchased from somewhere, be it a grocery store or farmer's market, it will be weighed and added to the corresponding row and date for each produce item. The students will not necessarily need to purchase a balance to weigh the produce. Generally at grocery stores a balance is provided to weigh the produce before it is purchased. Also, when the food is purchased the weight of the item is recorded on the receipt if the item is priced per unit of weight. After the one month period the students should have already started planting their gardens. During the same month the students will consume the produce from their own gardens instead of purchasing more produce from the store. If the gardens cannot sufficiently supply the family's need for that month and more produce is purchased, the students will add these values to their previous month's chart. Each time an item is taken from the garden and used in their kitchen it must be weighed and added to the corresponding row and date in the second chart (Table 2). After both months have passed each student will be instructed to calculate their percent self-reliance using the following formula:

%Self reliance = Total Garden Produce Value/Total Produce Purchased Value * 100

The Carbon Footprint of Transportation of fresh produce section will have a similar set-up as the self-reliance section. For a period of one month students will record where exactly their food comes from and how far it travelled to get to their home, and how much carbon was produced during the transportation of the produce. First, for the same month when the students are recording the weight of their produce they would also record where each item of produce comes from. For each item if a place of origin is not given the students will have to either go online or use an atlas to figure out how far the state or processing plant is from their home and record it in each row with its corresponding date on Table 3. If no information is available, the student or his/her parent may contact the store manager to obtain this information. If only the state is given on the item then the student could measure the distance from the center of the state as an estimate. After a month, students will then calculate the total transportation-related carbon emission of their food. Using the following formula:

Carbon Footprint Total = Total Distance Travelled * Total Produce Purchased * (

Results

During the duration of the project the students will also be given different project builders and worksheets that relate to the competition. Each subject as explained above will be touched upon. The math, biology, chemistry and history worksheets correspond to the Ohio Department of Education's guidelines on what the students from 4th-6th grade should be learning.

Science (Biology and Chemistry):

The first science worksheets that will be handed out in the class are the Learning about Flowers worksheets (Tables 4-7). The introduction worksheet will be handed out first to the students (Table 4). After the introduction worksheet is handed out and read, the Flower Power handout will be given (Table 5). This sheet will provide most of the basic information about the main parts of a flower and their function. It also explains about the fruit of a flowering plant and some of its parts. After the handout sheet is read and completed the students will complete a crossword puzzle and a word match (Table 6 and Table 7)

Next, the Life of A Bean Plant worksheets will be used (Tables 8-11). The introduction sheet will be handed out and should be read first (Table 8). The Life of a Bean Plant handout should be given to the students to complete next (Table 9). In this worksheet the students will be able to look and draw how they look and how tall they are. The crossword puzzle and word match for the Life of a Bean Plant lesson will be given out for the students to complete (Tables 10-11).

Photosynthesis worksheets (Tables 12-15) will be given to the students to complete. The introduction sheet (Table 12) will be given first to give the students an idea of what they will be learning. After the introduction sheet is handed out, the Photosynthesis handout will be given (Table 13). This worksheet features the bulk of the chemistry that will be learned in the lesson. After the students have read and completed the handout the crossword puzzle and word search worksheets will be handed out (Tables 14 and 15).

Mathematics

No additional worksheets were created as supplementary material for their mathematics curriculum. However, students will be asked, as part of the competition requirements, to show how exactly they calculated their percent self-reliance and carbon footprint. They will record the numbers they have and what they added, divided, and multiplied by - areas they should be proficient in. Specifically there will be the addition of values within a certain row - adding up all of the values within a row to obtain a total value of a certain variable (produce), calculating a percent self-reliance - the attached data sheet (Table 16) will show the students step-by-step how to calculate their percent self-reliance using their collected data. They will be calculating the carbon impact of food transportation - the attached data sheet (Table 17) will show the students step-by-step how to calculate the carbon impact of transporting the food they purchased. The students will be utilizing basic math functions to obtain different values and using these values to achieve a certain set of values.

History

For the history section only two worksheets will be provided (Tables 18 and 19). The first history worksheet (Table 18) explains the early history of urban agriculture but focuses on the uses of urban agriculture in today's society namely Havana, Cuba. The next worksheet (Table 19) focuses more on the benefits and reasons why urban agriculture is beneficial to society.

Because of time constraints I could not take this project to any school. I instead calculated my own % Self-Reliance and Carbon Footprint. See table 20 and 21.

Discussion

When conducting this experiment I found that the most challenging part of the competition was starting a garden. My family of four was able to prep and plant the gardens within a few hours. We believe that because of the time commitment that the student's parents will become involved and learn with the student about urban agriculture. Another point of contention would be how the students who dont live in houses or places with backyards to participate. The solution would be for the school to appropriate a vacant lot or the usage of a community garden. The satisfaction of feeding your family/community while lowering the carbon emissions by a great deal is more rewarding than the actual competition itself. After this summer, Ohio State Graduate student Jennifer Reeves will be taking this competition into some of the Cleveland elementary schools that she will be working in. We expect for this to yield quantitative data that we could use next year.

Conclusion: The main purpose of this whole lesson plan is to ultimately create a domino effect. We would like to see many parents involved in the competition initially. However, a project is only as good

as its longevity and effectiveness. What I would like to see is that after the competition is over, many more people, not just students take part in urban gardening and sustenance farming within their communities. If we could get a whole community to take this kind of action, change will be inevitable. We also want to educate the future so that they are prepared to make the necessary changes that are needed so that after our generations are gone, we can rest assured that our future is in the hands of educated, trained, and well versed.

References: Nora, Brooks, Regmi Anita, and Jerardo Alberto. United States. U.S. Food Import Patterns, 1998-2007. Economic Research Service, 2009. Web. 6 Jul 2011. Based on Real-World Data." Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering North Carolina State University (2008): 23. Web. 5 Jul 2011. <http://www4.ncsu.edu/~frey/conf_pr/Frey_Rouphail_Zhai_2008_TRB_Paper.pdf>. Demuth, Suzanne. United States. Defining Community Supported Agriculture. National Agricultural Library, 1993. Web. 1 Aug 2011. DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, B. Proctor, and C. Lee. "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States." Feeding America (2007): n. pag. Web. 5 Aug 2011. E., Larry, Virginia A., and Pamela M. Diverse partnerships for student success: strategies and tools to help school leaders. Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc, 2007. Print. Grewal, Sharanbir, and Parwinder Grewal. "Can cities become self-reliant in food?." Center for Urban Environment and Economic Development, The Ohio State University. (2011): Print. Mark, Nord, M. Andrew, and S. Carlson. "Household Food Security in the United States." Feeding America (2009): n. pag. Web. 5 Aug 2011. Pinderhughes, Raquel. "Urban Agriculture in Havana, Cuba." Urban Studies Program San Francisco State University. (2000): Print. Pirog, Rich, and Andrew Benjamin. "Calculating food miles for a multiple ingredient food product." Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture (2005): 13. Web. 1 Jul 2011. http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/staff/files/foodmiles_030305.pdf>. Smith, Bruce. The Emergence of Agriculture. New York: Scientific American Library, 1995. Print. Steel, Carolyn. Hungry city: how food shapes our lives. Random House UK, 2008. 400. Print. Vaughn, James, and Charles Deserens. "The Experimental Psychology of Competition." Journal of Experimental Education. 7. (1938-2005): Print. Verhoeff, Tom. "The Role of Competitions in Education." Faculty of Mathematics and Computing Science of Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (1997): n. pag. Web. 25 Jun. 2011. The United Nations. World Urbanization Prospects The 2005 Revision. , 2005. Web. 20 Jul 2011.<http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WUP2005/2005WUPHighlights_ Final_Report.pdf>. United States. New Science Education Standards and Model Curriculum. , 2011. Web. 25 Jul 2011. United States. Table 4.14 - Combination Truck Fuel Consumption and Travel. Washington D.C: Research and Innovative Technology Administration, 2009. Web. 7 Jul 2011 Frey, Christopher, Nagui Rouphail, and Haibo Zhai. "Link-Based Emission Factors for Heavy-Duty Diesel Trucks