Is Boston (Massachusetts) Ready to tackle Climate-induced Food Insecurity Crises?

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and several other cities in Northeastern regions have declared a snow emergency, announcing school and university closures. The storm is expected to cause hazardous travel, amidst strong winds, poor visibility, and snowfall rates of up to 2 inches per hour. This means halting transportation and mobility. However, are cities in MA ready to tackle food insecurity crises induced by

Based on my experiences in the early 2022 #SnowStorm in #Boston, I wrote a memo to the Mayor, emphasizing the pressing need for enhancing food system resilience as a crucial component of #Mayor_Wu's commitment to the #Just_Food_Agenda. By analyzing the facts, and production capacity of the state and Boston City, this piece underscores the growing vulnerabilities of the food system in the city, as well as calls for the city's intervention in developing a sustainable and resilient food policy and system to better prepare for future crises. While I have kept the narrative straightforward, a longer analysis can be found here.

............

The storm was approaching, and I could hear the urgency in people's voices in the Bus as I made my way from Northeastern to Roxbury in fall 2022. When I reached my apartment, my roommates were already gearing up to head to the nearby grocery store. Without wasting any time, I also joined them to buy some grocery items. ?

As we entered the store, a sight unfolded before us that I hadn't quite anticipated. It felt as though the whole neighborhood had descended upon the place, and there was an air of panic in every aisle. People were hurriedly filling their carts with whatever they could get their hands on as if preparing for doomsday itself.?The shelves that once held a variety of items now stood stark and empty. Basics like bread and eggs were nowhere to be found. It was as if the storm had not only covered our streets in snow but had also swept away our access to essential food supplies.?

In the days that followed, the snow piled up outside my apartment window, creating a white fortress around us. It became increasingly clear that the stores had not received any new supplies, and we would have to wait for several more days before normalcy returned.?

This experience was an eye-opener, highlighting just how vulnerable our food systems are when faced with unexpected disruptions like this snowstorm. As someone deeply passionate about socio-economic and environmental justice, I couldn't help but think about the implications of such events, especially for communities that were already grappling with food insecurity – particularly minority groups, households with children, and elderly individuals.?

The question lingered in my mind: Are we truly prepared for the next storm, the next crisis? Does Boston have a plan in place to ensure that everyone, especially the most vulnerable among us, has access to food when it's needed the most? What I discovered was a complex web of factors contributing to our vulnerability. For instance, Boston relies heavily on food production from outside the region, leaving us susceptible to supply chain disruptions. For instance, in terms of inadequate food supply and production, 90 percent of the food consumed in New England is produced outside of the region. Similarly, estimates also show that the State has at least 7755 farms in production, covering over 523,000 acres[i] yet urban agriculture still represents a very small share of the local food supply. There are currently six commercial urban farms in Boston operating on 14 plots throughout the City, which are further vulnerable to natural disasters and growing economic activities in the region. In terms of processed food i.e. Milk one farm named Garelick supplies 63.7% of all grocery milk in New England and Boston[ii], and on the eve of the 2015 snow, it took over 24 hours to recover from milk shortage in Boston City[iii].? Terms of Chicken production are also concentrated in the South of the United States, whereas only 10 small chicken processing plants operate in the Boston region[iv]. Hence, the concentration of chicken and dairy supply in the hands of few companies and limited geographic locations creates additional risks for Boston’s food supply. In terms of infrastructure, i.e. truck route I-93 is further vulnerable for the delivery of food, followed by the Boston congestion due to housing, narrow streets, unequal dispersion of distributors (location), and flooding and closures due to snow. Likewise, the City’s smaller businesses and limited food storage are further threatened by flooding, and cannot meet growing demands during the disaster. If we look at Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), they consistently are facing an increase in demand for production, distribution, and storage issues, due to its limited financial and severe transportation barriers for low-income families. These Banks and Pantries will not be able to meet increased food demand for extended disasters i.e. flood or snow, as observed during the 2015 snow when GBFBs were closed for several days and had delayed food supply creating public distrust and panic[v].

On average, there are 0.6 grocery stores per 10,000 residents in Boston[vi], showing that only 1.5% of people live in a food desert in Boston. However, their location is also critical to acknowledge, i.e. report also shows that in case of storm surge, flooding can directly impact 9 grocery stores and 59 corner stores, disproportionately impacting food availability in three neighborhoods—East Boston, Dorchester, and Roxbury. The population in these neighborhoods is further identified as the most vulnerable neighborhoods with significant food inequality (in terms of food access and affordability), and environmental injustice[vii],[viii],[ix]. Even though we have a significant number of farms, urban agriculture remains underutilized, with only a handful of commercial urban farms operating in the city.?

Furthermore, the concentration of certain food items like chicken and dairy supply in the hands of a few companies and limited geographic locations poses additional risks. Transportation issues, flooding, and inadequate food storage infrastructure further compound our vulnerabilities. During the 2015 snowstorm, Boston faced milk shortages for over 24 hours, highlighting the fragility of our food supply.?

To address these challenges and build a more resilient food system, Boston must take a multi-faceted approach. We need a dedicated food system resilience department to coordinate local initiatives and resilience planning. Reforms in land use and urban spaces should prioritize community gardens with a racial justice lens. Diversifying food production and supply, investing in secure infrastructure, and improving access to food stores during disasters are essential steps (figure below).?

Since the Mayor’s Office of Food Initiatives established in 2010 spearheads the City’s Food System with a mandate to increase access to healthy and affordable foods, it has to extend its capacity to produce, distribute, and consume food through urban agriculture, local food economy, and foster private and public partnerships to advance the food agenda. There are several other private organizations, regulators, transportation and retailers along with non-profit organizations including Ever Source, MA Food Policy Council, Northeastern University SUPPA, Boston Food Bank, Boston Green Ribbon Commission, and Bar Foundation are playing their role in building critical Food infrastructure and healthy food system, yet there further needs to strengthen these partnerships, and coordination across different departments and these actors, significantly with State and federal agencies such as United State Department for Agriculture with continuous funding, and capacity development. At the state level, under the Massachusetts Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program?(FSIG), $15 million in food assistance was provided with an additional grant of $1 million to hunger relief organizations to increase their capacity and infrastructure in 2021. Of those funds, 82 percent were distributed to 41 communities serving high populations of color.

Moreover, fostering social networks, promoting collaboration among cities, states, and neighborhoods, and reducing food access and nutritional inequality are critical components of a comprehensive strategy. Equitable access to workforce and livelihood development, support for farmers and small businesses, and robust monitoring tools to ensure accountability round out the plan.?

By implementing these measures, Boston can transform its vision of a resilient food system into a reality. It's not just about ensuring food security; it's about upholding social and environmental justice for all our residents. It's about turning lessons learned from past experiences into a brighter and more resilient future.?

[i] Catherine de Ronde. Snapshot of Massachusetts Agriculture in Massachusetts. Department of Agricultural Resources 2014 Annual Report (Boston: Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, 2014), 9-15

[ii] Ronald W. Cotterill and Andrew W. Frankin, The Public Interest and Private Economic Power: A Case Study of the Northeast Dairy Compact (Storrs: Food Marketing Policy Center, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut, 2001), 44, 69

[iii] Zeuli, Kimberly, and Austin Nijhuis. "The resilience of America’s urban food systems: Evidence from five cities."?Roxbury, MA: Initiative for a Competitive Inner City?(2017).

[iv] Poultry Processing Businesses. info USA, 2020-21 and https://projects.propublica.org/chicken/states/MA/

[v] Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, Resilient Food Systems, Resilient Cities: Recommendations for the City of Boston (Boston, MA: 2015)

[vi] Santos A. Food Insecurity? in Boston, MA. 2021 ArGIS Story Map available on https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7f87a44bf31140dda33c9c00224c3aca

[vii] Ibid

[viii] Project Bread. The State of Hunger in Massachusetts: Massachusetts Trends & East Boston Community Snapshot. May 2020. https://www.projectbread.org/uploads/attachments/ckewxxld702k61c4lnirukepx-the-state-ofhunger-in.pdf

[ix] Atyia S. A framework to understand the relationship between social factors that reduce resilience in cities: Application to the City of Boston,” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 12 (June 2015): 53-80. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2014.12.001.