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Transition Town North Bay has completed it's Agricultural and Rural Resiliency Focus Group, which got together a bunch of local farmers to look at what a desirable and sustainable local food system might look like 25 years from now and what we need to get there.
Modern agriculture is a significant consumer of fossil fuels. Diesel is required to run tractors and transport food long distances and many common agricultural chemicals are manufactured from fossil fuels. But our food system is larger than individual farms, it includes food processing and storage facilities, transportation systems, food safety regulations and of course our local grocery stores. As the costs of fossil fuels and energy rise, so will the cost of food...we are seeing the effects of this around the world already.
Modern agriculture also emitts large amounts of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere and this contributes to global warming. Methane is released from rice and livestock production and the nitrogen fertilizers we apply to our soils reacts to form Nitrous Oxide, a potent greenhouse gas.
One of the best things we can do to improve our local economy, save on food costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel use is to buy local food. Unfortunately our local food system has been devestated by government regulations that have effectively subsidized industrial agriculture and turned local sustainable farming into a charitable activity.
Transition Town North Bay wants to help rebuild our local food networks, support local farms and related businesses, and begin the transition to a more sustainable food system.
Download our Local Food System Vision & Goals Document
Download our Local Food System Actions Document
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