BUY LOCAL FIRST!
EAT LOCAL!
GROW LOCAL!
LOCAL ENERGY!
LOCAL CURRENCY!
Keep Me Informed About the BOULDER COUNTY GOING LOCAL! Campaign.
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GROW LOCAL!
Producing essential needs locally is a key tenet of relocalization, and this is particularly applicable to food production. The GROW LOCAL! campaign will stimulate the diversification of food that is produced locally, support farmers that use natural bio-intensive farming methods, and encourage citizens to grow at least a portion of their own food needs. This effort will play a significant role in adapting our local food system to an energy-constrained future.
Boulder Valley Relocalization has completed an assessment of current local food production and demand, in order to begin to answer the basic question of whether Boulder can feed itself from local sources in the future. In other words, the intent was to gage vulnerabilities in local food security. Based on the dollar value and acreage of existing conventional agriculture, the initial analysis suggested that Boulder County currently can feed only a population of approximately 20,000 people.
A further calculation–assuming a greatly enlarged contribution from individual and community plots, increased farming for food, a reduced calorie intake, and a simplified diet–is more optimistic, resulting in being able to provision a population of about 185,000. With a county population at nearly 300,000, the conclusion of this study is that Boulder Valley is far too dependent on food from distant sources and that the community should take immediate steps to increase food production and preservation in many ways and at many levels, from household, to neighborhoods, to community, to county scale.
Vision & Goals
- Encourage local citizens to grow more of their own food in home and community gardens, community greenhouses, and community farms.
- Catalyze the development of new food-producing farms, expansion of existing farms, and the development of new farmers in Boulder County.
- Provide ongoing education in Permaculture and bio-intensive gardening/food production methods.
- Stimulate volunteering at local farms.
Strategies
Education and community outreach are perhaps the most essential strategies in an effective GROW LOCAL! campaign, and should be embedded in all other strategies and activities–e.g., teaching children how to dry fruits, planning a community garden with our neighbors, or working with the County to increase agricultural acreage.
Involvement will be required from many sectors of the community, involving individuals, local businesses, non-profit organizations, and government entities. Each will have a role in producing solutions to this complex issue.
A great many individuals and organization are currently energetically engaged in many important efforts related to food security in Boulder County, such as organic farmers, home gardeners, greenhouse designers, community service organizations, and farmers markets. We will work to support the common purpose and urgency of all these activities and organizations, including Growing Gardens/Cultiva!, Everybody Eats, Community Food Share, Boulder/Longmont/Niwot Farmers Markets, Boulder County Open Space (Agricultural Leasing), CSU Cooperative Extension Service, Northern Colorado Food and Ag Policy Council.
- Increase rural agricultural acreage including use of public (city, county) land.
- Maintain existing cultivated land through agricultural land trusts.
- Educate small-acreage farmers in successful business and management practices to ensure that they can continue operations.
- Work towards changes in zoning and property tax law to encourage food production.
- Support farmers with urban farm labor–youth, retired, unemployed.
- Broker loans/grants to farmers for equipment, seedstock, land purchases.
- Facilitate purchase of farmland by community groups, hiring of farmers/managers.
- Increase urban gardening acreage–parks, public spaces.
- Educate homeowners in successful gardening techniques and Permaculture.
- Plant orchards and edible landscapes on public land–street margins, parks–using heirloom and locally adapted stock.
- Work towards reductions in city water rates for food production and to increase irrigation allocations to give priority to human food production.
- Help to preserve existing farmland through conservation easements.
- Implement a new farmer incubation project to create partnerships among new sustainable agriculture farmers, experienced growers, and area food banks to provide fresh, organic, and locally grown produce to low-income community members. New farmers will receive technical assistance, a mentor, attend trade meetings, and will be paid market rates to deliver their produce according to a set crop schedule, thus bringing high quality food to the hungry and also preparing them to deliver to other clients such as restaurants and grocery retailers.
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