The Foodshed Concept The question “Where does your food come from?” is one being asked with greater frequency these days, though some might rephrase this question as “What is your foodshed?” Based on the more familiar concept of a watershed, the geographic region in which water drains to a single point, “foodshed” generally refers to the geographic area from which one’s food travels from its source
of production to the location of its consumption (Figure 1). While the term “foodshed” is not new, it remains inconsistently defined. According to Christian J. Peters, who has done extensive research on foodsheds, “In what may be the original use of the term, Walter Hedden described a ‘foodshed’ in 1929 as the ‘dikes and dams’ guiding the flow of food from producer to consumer” (Peters, et al. 2008, p. 2). Peters also writes that, “More recently, the term has been used to represent a more locally-reliant alternative food system that reduces the negative social and environmental impacts of agriculture” (Peters, et al. n.d.).
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Figure 1. Shelburne Falls, like most other places, is currently reliant on a food system that reaches globally.
THE SHELBURNE FALLS FOOD SECURITY PLAN: PHASE ONE