Localvore policy

There’s positive momentum in the local food movement. Many cities are passing bills that support tax breaks and similar incentives to promote urban farming. A list of bills is located on the Urban Agriculture State Legislation website.

An important reason this is a good step is because transportation is the number one polluter and our food travels a great deal. It’s said food travels 25% more now than in 1980. Within US boarders food travel is 20% of transportation. It’s weird that food exported is also imported.

I particularly like the IL bill HB 3990. It states that “The Local Food, Farms and Jobs Act set a goal that 20 percent of all food products purchased by state agencies and state-owned facilities be local farm or food products by 2020. It removed a barrier to purchasing locally grown food by giving preference to locally grown food. The bill also created the Local Food, Farms and Jobs Council. The council will help local farm and food entrepreneurs identify and secure resources and equipment to expand projects and build infrastructure and use of public lands for growing local food products, among other goals.”

Pollution is also a reason to be concerned about the food grown in urban areas. There are many studies surrounding this issue. I found a well rounded article that describes risk management of urban farming.