Bountiful Yards: Innovation for Small-Plot Food Production

May 17th 2011 – 6:00-7:30pm
Hunter College West Lobby

Corner of 68th Street and Lexington Ave
6 train to 68th Street/Hunter College
Click here for a campus map

The CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities invites you to a panel discussion on food and farming in metropolitan regions, in both in the U.S. and Australia. Learn about innovative models for converting yards and other small plots into food-producing spaces, as well as their implications for transforming communities, the urban landscape, and the larger food system.

Panelists:
Babette Audant
Lecturer, Culinary Arts Program and Urban Farm Faculty Project Manager, Kingsborough Community College

Ari Fainchtien
PhD Candidate, Murdoch University’s Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy
CTO of Stakeware

Deborah Greig
Urban Agriculture Coordinator, East New York Farms

Laura Lawson
Author of City Bountiful: A Century of Community Gardening in America
Chair, Landscape Architecture Department, Rutgers University

Moderated by Michael Menser, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Brooklyn College

RSVP: This event is free and open to the public. Please email ahanso@hunter.cuny.edu to RSVP.

Image courtesy of Celsius

Panelists:
Babette Audant
Lecturer, Culinary Arts Program and Urban Farm Faculty Project Manager, Kingsborough, Community College

Ari Fainchtien
PhD Candidate, Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch University
CTO of Stakeware

Deborah Greig
Urban Agriculture Coordinator, East New York Farms

Laura Lawson
Author of City Bountiful: A Century of Community Gardening in America
Chair, Landscape Architecture Department, Rutgers University

Moderated by Michael Menser, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Brooklyn College

Yet recently, a major push-back against natural gas has begun to occur. The focus isn’t so much on the gas itself, but the technology used to obtain it. High-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or “hydrofracking” as it has been termed,  is a fairly new technology that has enabled energy companies to extract gas that currently exists buried underground in shale rock. Supporters of the practice claim that hydraulic fracturing is a perfectly safe technology that will move the U.S. towards energy independence and a greener future. However, this past February the New York Times published an article that refutes these safety claims. It cites unreleased EPA reports that suggest the chemicals used in hydrofracking are contaminating ground water and waterways in areas where the drilling is taking place, as well as areas where the wastewater is being shipped for treatment. A 2010 documentary entitled Gasland yielded similar results. After being approached by an energy company about signing a lease to extract natural gas from his land, filmmaker Josh Fox explored the process of hydrofracking. This project lead him to find and document the profoundly negative impact hydrofracking has had on communities across North America.

What, you might ask does this have to do with the usual food and farming topics I usually cover in my blog entries? Much of the drilling is taking place on and around agricultural land. The Marcellus Shale, the area in New York and surrounding states that is being targeted for drilling, is also an important agricultural area in the New York foodshed. Among the many concerns that anti-fracking advocates have is that the drilling will contaminate the land and water in these areas, making it unfit for agricultural production and destroying the livelihood of regional farmers.

The debate over hydrofracking is heating up, as New York State’s temporary moratorium on permits is set to expire in July. Public officials and anti-fracking activists are hosting a series of events over the next few months to call attention to the issue.  On May 5th Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer,  State Senator Liz Krueger, Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, Councilmember Rosie Mendez, and Baruch Grassroots are co-hosting a free screening of Gasland, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Josh Fox.

On May 16th, the Baum Forum, in conjunction with Parsons The New School for Design, will be hosting Water Fight! Fracking, Food, Art & Economy. This half-day conference will include speakers from a range of disciplines discussing the adverse environmental and economic impacts that gas drilling in New York State would have on the region. Full event details for both events are below.

Event Information:

Gasland Screening
Date: May 5th
Time: 7pm
Location: Mason Hall, Baruch College
Cost: Free
RSVP: RSVP@manhattanbp.org

Water Fight! Fracking, Food, Art & Economy
Date: May 16th
Time: Conference: 2-5:30pm; Local Food and Discussion: 5:30-7pm
Location:Tishman Auditorium, The New School
Cost: Free; $10 suggested donation
RSVP: Eventbright

Image Courtesy of Inherent Worth
Marcellus Shale Map Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Bountiful Yards: Innovation for Small-Plot Food Production

The CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities invites you to a panel discussion on food and farming in metropolitan areas, featuring guests from the New York Region and Melbourne, Australia. Over the past few years, urban agriculture has received a growing amount of attention. From vertical farms to rooftop greenhouses, academics, entrepreneurs and concerned citizens have been developing innovative ideas for producing food without the acres of land necessary with traditional farming.  However, some people are finding inspiration and innovation even closer to home by converting their yards into food-producing spaces. This small-scale farming has the potential to impact the metropolitan landscape, even in dense environments like New York City. A recent study conducted by the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities (CISC) and Sustainable Yards found that there are over 52,000 acres of private yard space within New York City’s five boroughs. When extended to the New York metropolitan region, the acreage grows exponentially. On May 17^th, CISC will be hosting a panel discussion to examine the issue of food and farming in metropolitan regions, both in U.S. and Australia. The discussion will examine new models for small-scale farming, and their potential role in transforming the metropolitan region and the food system.

Date: May 17, 2011
Time: 6:00pm
Location: Hunter College Faculty Dining Hall; 8th Floor Hunter West Building

This event is free and open to the public. Please email  ahanso@hunter.cuny.edu to RSVP.

Gateway National Recreation Area
Summer Fire GIS Technician

This summer Gateway will be offering a paid Fire GIS technician position. The goals of the position will be to improve maps and datasets to allow the GATE fire management program to respond more effectively and efficiently to fires, and will help in the planning, development, and implementation of future fuels management projects by identifying areas that are the most threatened by fire.  We are looking for people with GIS skills not necessarily wildland fire skills.  The technician will receive training in wildland fire on the job.  This is also NOT a front line position, but will require the mapping of fires after the area has been made safe.

Data layers to be developed:
Priority (1) Prepare Maps for fire reports and planning purposes
Proximity to urban populations, locations of fire breaks, locations of local municipal fire resources, water sources, etc.

Priority (2) Research and update existing historic fire GIS layer

The current historic fire layer for Gateway suffers from poor data management.  The seasonal would review park fire record to improve location and attribute accuracy of data

Priority (3) Fire Risk Assessment for Park
Identify areas of high risk based on vegetation type and proximity to urban populations on key structures.  This will hinge on items 1 and 2 and will require a lot of other data to conduct a proper risk assessment.

The GIS Technician will work to develop maps and datasets described in priority 1 – 3. Each dataset will be required to have metadata and be posted to the Natural Resource Info Portal.  The data will also be provided to the northeast regional fire program and the GIS division of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), the New York City Office of Emergency Management and the Highlands New Jersey Fire Department which aids in Sandy Hook fires.  In addition, the GIS technician will prepare a presentation for the chiefs of Natural and Cultural Resources and Facilities management at Gateway. The presentation will focus on fire risk assessment to resources and facilities around the park. Local FDNY and New Jersey fire chiefs will also be invited.  This presentation will help to further strengthen the relationship with local resources and help plan future responses.   All the data and maps produced will aid Gateway NRA in completing its Fire Management Plan.

Interested applicants should send a resume and cover letter addressed to Mark Christiano to Mark_Christiano@NPS.gov

Image Courtesy of 66 Square Feet

Descriptions of open positions, including requirements and application instructions, are available below. The deadline for all applications is May 15th.

Atlas Content Curator Internship

Atlas Social Media Internship

Food System Assessment Internship

Invasive Species Research Internship

Urban Sustainability Extension Service Internship

Video Media Internship

You can read more about the program on the CISC Summer Internship Program webpage.

Trash Talk: Options for Converting Our Solid Waste to Energy

Thursday, April 7, 2011 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

We produce 250 million tons of trash a year, more than half of which goes to landfills. As landfills reach capacity, alternative waste-management strategies – including the conversion of waste into energy – are being enhanced and expanded. “Trash Talk: Options for Converting Our Solid Waste to Energy”, on Thursday, April 7, will feature Nickolas J. Themelis from the Earth Engineering Center at Columbia University and other technology experts, who will cover new waste-to-energy technologies and whether they represent a more sustainable option.

Click here to download the PDF event flyer

Fare and Toll Payment Technologies’ Potential Benefits for Sustainability and Society

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 | 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Transportation agencies are now developing and piloting the next generation payment systems with cash-less tolls and contact-less fare cards. “Fare and Toll Payment Technologies’ Potential Benefits for Sustainability and Society”, on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 will feature Amy Linden from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and other leading experts, who will explore the implications of developments in how we price and pay for transportation.

Click here to download the PDF event flyer

In a 2009 speech given by former SYSCO CEO Rick Schneiders at the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum, he discusses the ways that food distribution is currently structured, giving long-distance, large-scale supply chains some advantages over small-scale, local or regional distribution on a per-unit basis. He uses the example of salad greens, where an individual farmer trucking his or her produce to market travels 10 miles per case versus 1.5 miles per case for salad greens shipped in bulk from across the country. In his speech, Schneiders wasn’t using this argument to advocated for more long-distance shipping, rather he argued for increased support for and efficiencies within local and regional distribution systems. In recent years, SYSCO has launched a series of initiatives to incorporate more local food into their operations (if you want to learn more about SYSCO’s intiative, the National Good Food Network hosted an interesting webinar on it).

There are plenty of reasons beyond environmental sustainability to which advocates point when making an argument for local food. I discuss some of these in a previous post entitled Food Miles and Family Farms: The Question of Sustainable Food. Yet the argument of the sustainability benefits of local food from a distribution perspective remains a point of debate. The evolution of regional food distribution infrastructure may change this as time goes on, but for now the debate continues.

For those of you who are interested in delving deeper into this topic, the Museum of the City of New York is hosting a panel tonight on this very topic. Is Local Good for the Environment: The Hidden Costs of Food in New York City will provide a forum for a chef, a farmer, a local food advocate, and a local food skeptic to dialog about the environmental issues connected to the NYC food system. Tickets are available on the Museum’s website, or at the door for a small additional fee.

Image Courtesy of New York Bounty

Regional Food Hubs Face a Growing Need for Technology

By Derek Singleton

The locavores are swarming and the popularity of local food is increasing across the nation. The number of farmer’s markets has more than tripled since the USDA started tracking these numbers in 1994 – increasing from 1,755 to 6,132. In 2010, direct sales from farmers to consumers increased to over $1.2 billion. And consumers aren’t the only ones with a rising demand for local food. More and more, organizations such as supermarkets, restaurants, schools and others are sourcing food locally.

To meet this burgeoning demand, local food distributors must scale up their operations from direct sales of small quantities to wholesale transactions. The problem, according to Michelle Miller of UW Madison’s Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, is that “a lot of the mid-scale distributors, the logistics people who used to consolidate produce, have gone out of business.”

Local distribution networks, termed “food hubs,” are trying to fill that void. Food hubs are like farmers’ markets and distributors rolled into one. They surfaced to provide local farmers with the infrastructure to store, process, distribute, and market local food to consumers and institutions. The current demand for local food positions food hubs to expand their role in food distribution. However, they lack the necessary technology to manage operations on a larger scale.

Managing Through Low-Tech Means
Most food hubs are decidedly behind the curve technologically. Transactions are usually coordinated through a combination of phone, email, and fax. Everything from scheduling pickups and drop-offs to planning routes is handled in this manner. Managing transactions like this may be feasible for the moment, but it won’t work as food hubs expand. To effectively manage relationships with more customers and farmers, they’ll need more advanced technology. This will range from Internet databases for managing customers relationships to distribution software to manage logistics.

Luckily, technology solutions for food hubs are surfacing. Three promising ones are match-making services, Internet-based buying clubs, and distribution management systems. None of these technologies are exactly new – but their adaptation to food hubs is. Each product provides food hubs with a way to get their local produce out to the general market more efficiently.

Matchmaking Programs
Food hubs have helped farmers overcome the marketing obstacle by using online match-making programs that link producers to buyers. These match-making programs are interactive communities that function a lot like Match.com for local food. Local food lovers can log on and find their perfect peach in just a few clicks. There are two general types of match-making services: those that link buyers to local food, and those that add a distributor to the mix.

An example of the first type is a pilot program called Food Hub, released by the non-profit Ecotrust. This program provides a forum for buyers and sellers to interact. Buyers seeking local food can find nearby sellers, but its up to them to complete the transaction and pick up the food. This leaves an empty middle in the supply chain, forcing buyers and sellers to coordinate the logistics.

Making the match is critical but bringing the food to the buyer is also very important. The platform FarmsReach helps address some of the logistical issues related to local food distribution. Their matchmaking tool links buyers, sellers, and distributors. The link to a distributor helps small and mid-size farmers address the challenge of delivering their produce.

Internet-based buying clubs
For food hubs that want to distribute the produce themselves, an Internet-based buying club is a good option. This has been a popular method of aggregating buyers and sellers since the early 2000’s. Buying clubs work by farmers pooling together their crops and delivering a single order of goods to multiple customers. Buying clubs are a logical method of delivery for food hubs as it allows them fulfill many orders with a single drop. These Internet-based buying clubs simultaneously help food hubs connect with customers and simplify distribution operations.

One of the most impressive examples of a food hub using this distribution method is the Oklahoma Food Co-Op. It has over 3,000 members, and processes more than 700 orders a month. Every month, the co-op’s 200 producers meet to fill orders from the buying club and criscross the state to deliver to the more than 50 drop-off locations. The buying club helps the Oklahoma Food Co-Op aggregate produce and cut down on the number of drops that need to be made – but it does nothing to help manage inventory and plan distribution routes.

Distribution Management Systems
To manage inventory and plan distribution routes, food hubs need something that is more powerful than a matchmaking program or an Internet buying club. According to the USDA, developing a solution for efficiently planning routes is one of the most critical pieces to scaling up food hubs. This is a missing piece in the effort to enable local food to reach more buyers in the community.

Distribution software can help food hubs pull together the advantages afforded to them by matchmaking programs and Internet-based buying clubs. The main benefit is the ability to track delivery trucks and plan delivery routes. Tracking delivery trucks and planning routes will help food hubs deliver produce along the most efficient routes and keep feel usage down. These benefits will be critical to avoiding waste in distribution operations.

Putting It All Together
There is one major obstacle holding food hubs back from adopting distribution software: cost. Traditional food distribution software can cost tens of thousands of dollars, which is more than food hubs can pay. Even the most profitable food hubs don’t have such large budgets.

However, Software as a Service (SaaS) options are beginning to offer affordable options to food distributors. These solutions provide software via the Internet and offer friendly subscription-based pricing that food hubs can afford. The lower up-front costs of the SaaS model holds promise for food hubs that need to get a better handle on their logistics.

If food hubs can combine the customer-facing applications of Internet based buying clubs and matchmaking services with distribution software, they will be equipped to expand their operations.

The original post and comments are available on the Software Advice Distribution Blog.

Image courtesy of the New York Times T Magazine

Speakers:

Leslie Boden, Principal at Leslie F. Boden Consulting,
Hilary Baum, Founder of the Baum Forum,
Kristen Mancinelli, Policy and Government Relations Manager for City Harvest,

Where: 8th Floor Faculty Lounge Hunter West Building, CUNY Hunter College, 695 Park Avenue, 8th Floor (West Building), NY, NY.  (6 Train to 68th Street/Hunter College).

When: 7:30 pm, doors open at 7 pm.

Cost: FREE – Individuals without a Hunter ID should bring an alternate form of identification, check in at Lobby in West Building.