February 4, 2010:

EAT LOCAL! Campaign Mission & Goals

Editor

The overarching mission of the EAT LOCAL! campaign is to catalyze a more resilient local food system for Boulder County, based on deep ecological principles and a more connected populace, with far less dependence on fossil fuels and petroleum-based inputs. This mission can be summarized into several goals:

• Support Boulder County existing growers in rapidly expanding local food production capacity.
• Catalyze the rebuilding of local infrastructure for food storage, processing, marketing and distribution systems.
• Educate the public about the health and sustainability benefits of transitioning to a local, organic, and meat-reduced diet.
• Educate local governments about the benefits of local organic agriculture as economic development, including job creation.
• Develop plans and strategies to revamp local agriculture for wide adoption of sustainable food production, bringing to the forefront models of innovative bio-intensive agriculture that are far less dependent on fossil fuels, petroleum-based fertilizers, and herbicides /insecticides.
• Promote reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through curtailing long-distance food shipping and processing costs, naturally sequestering carbon in croplands, converting crops for animal feeds to produce for human consumption.
• Increase the number of small-plot organic farmers in Boulder County, through education, training, and policy changes.
• Promote local laws and policies that support local food production, including chicken-raising within city limits, rainwater catchment and gray water processing systems, and other innovative practices.
• Increase support for CSAs and farmers’ markets throughout Boulder County.
• Strengthen connections among local farms, food producers, restaurants, caterers, institutions, and the public.
• Work with the Boulder County government to develop a visionary plan and policies for its 17,000 acres of Open Space agricultural land, focusing on conversion to food production for local consumption and gradual phasing-in of organic growing methods.
• Train and empower county residents to grow at least some of their own food and learn the arts of seed saving, food preservation, season extension, and soil fertility.
• Strive to channel local investment funds into projects that directly strengthen the local foodshed and the local economy.
• Promote replication of successful strategies across Colorado, and make them available to groups throughout the United States and the world.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 11:40 am and is filed under Local. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.