Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service collaborated on a study to determine how New England states could increase their regional self-reliance in food production to 30% by 2030.
The research revealed that while New England produces a significant amount of certain foods like cranberries and potatoes, regional production for most foods is quite low, the release reported, according to a June 6 release from Phys.org.
“Doesn’t everyone want to know where their food is from?” Christian Peters, ARS’ research leader for the Food Systems Research Unit in Burlington, Vt., said in the release. "This research addresses the current and potential capacity of New England to source its own food."
The study's model estimated the number of food commodities required to meet the region’s consumption and calculated the land area needed for production based on crop yields and livestock feed requirements, according to the release. To gain insights from stakeholders, the research team conducted focus groups with producers from various sectors of the region’s food system. The model results were contextualized with information gathered from these focus groups.
"It's important that we understand the current balance of production to consumption to avoid being unduly pessimistic or overly optimistic about the role of local and regional production in the overall food supply," Peters added, according to the release.
The study found that achieving 30% self-reliance would involve bringing close to 1 million acres of farmland into production, with a portion coming from underutilized or idle farmland and the remainder from land that was previously farmed but has since returned to trees, according to the release. Factors such as land costs, competition with other land uses and demographic shifts among farming and seafaring producers also impact self-reliance.
Food System Research Unit scientists are creating a five-year plan for their research, which considers how questions raised by the New England study might be further pursued, according to the release. That might include bringing additional land into production and at what economic and environmental cost that would have.
"Our research model allows us to consider changes in crop productivity, livestock management and the use of agricultural land,” Peters said in the release. “The Food Systems Research Unit will continue to build an interdisciplinary team and to explore the benefits and drawbacks of New England meeting this benchmark by 2030.”
