Our communities’ food systems—all the structures, resources, and policies that enable food to travel from farm to plate—have been frayed for a long time. Black and brown neighborhoods in cities are redlined by supermarkets. Low nutrient, hyper processed foods are readily and cheaply available while high nutrition foods are hard to come by. Consolidation in the food industry has shortchanged farmers and consumers. Wages and benefits for workers—farmworkers, restaurant workers, grocery store workers—who are responsible for harvesting, packing, processing, shelving food have long been ignored. These problems are not new. Community advocates have been drawing our attention to structural disparities in our food systems for a long time. Our policy makers just didn’t listen. COVID-19 has both exacerbated and illuminated the fractures in our food system. I am especially concerned about the ways in which local, regional, and metropolitan governments are prepared to respond. Nearly 40,000 local, regional, and metropolitan (LRM) governments in the United States are charged with providing services that make our counties, cities, towns, and villages inhabitable. LRM governments provide a host of services ranging from roads, sewers, to waste management, etc. They also plan for the future of their communities, shepherding public funding to guide future land use, economic development, public transportation, housing, etc. Concern for a community’s food infrastructure was not, and is not part of LRM services and/or plans. A 2014 national survey of members of the American Planning Association (APA) who worked for local governments reported that only 1% of their local governments view food systems as a priority. One percent. In other words, food is not viewed as a public concern by LRM governments. Yet, in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, food-related work has suddenly been redefined as ‘essential,’ as if there was any time when people did not eat. Workers up and down the food supply chain are now being heralded as ‘frontline’ workers. The hypocrisy of our governments, federal, state, and local, is both absurd and galling. Community coalitions are stepping up where policy leaders are falling short. In Buffalo, New York. A coalition of nearly 80 individuals and organizations is coordinating an acute and long-term response to COVID. The Seeding Resilience coalition, which includes growers, emergency food providers, bicycle couriers, food system planners, food justice advocates, researchers, and others, rapidly developed a three-pronged strategy to respond to COVID. Seeding Resilience aims to (1) rapidly redistribute food to neighborhoods in need; (2) increase food production in the city; and (3) increase employment opportunities. To address the acute crisis, food is being procured from local and/or minorityowned wholesalers and/or farmers. Food is being distributed by Feed Buffalo, an emergency food pantry that intentionally serves healthy and halal food with dignity. Food is being transported by bicycle couriers and volunteer drivers to anyone who requests it, while offering vegan, organic, and halal food. For a more equitable recovery, the coalition is increasing food production city-wide through a network of backyard/frontyard Freedom Gardens, a term coined by Gail Wells, a longtime food justice advocate. Led by a partnership of Food for the Spirit, an emerging organization committed to cultivating spaces for racial healing, ecological justice, and equitable food systems, and Grassroots Gardens of Western New York, a not-for profit organization that supports community gardens, the new Freedom Gardens both respond to the present crisis and seed a more equitable future This article is part of the Topical Collection: Agriculture, Food & Covid-19.

中文翻译：

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规划和流行病 COVID 19 阐明了为什么城市规划者应该一直听取食品倡导者的意见

我们社区的食品系统——使食物能够从农场运送到餐桌的所有结构、资源和政策——已经磨损了很长时间。城市中的黑色和棕色街区被超市划红线。低营养、高度加工的食品很容易买到，而且价格便宜，而高营养食品却很难买到。食品行业的整合使农民和消费者亏本了。长期以来，负责收割、包装、加工、上架食物的工人——农场工人、餐馆工人、杂货店工人——的工资和福利一直被忽视。这些问题并不新鲜。长期以来，社区倡导者一直在提请我们注意粮食系统中的结构性差异。我们的政策制定者就是不听。COVID-19 加剧并阐明了我们食物系统的裂痕。我特别关注地方、地区和大都市政府准备应对的方式。美国近 40,000 个地方、地区和都市 (LRM) 政府负责提供使我们的县、市、镇和村庄适合居住的服务。LRM 政府提供从道路、下水道到废物管理等一系列服务。他们还规划社区的未来，引导公共资金来指导未来的土地使用、经济发展、公共交通、住房等。社区的食品基础设施不是，也不是 LRM 服务和/或计划的一部分。2014 年对为地方政府工作的美国规划协会 (APA) 成员进行的一项全国调查报告称，只有 1% 的地方政府将粮食系统视为优先事项。百分之一。换言之，食品不被 LRM 政府视为公众关注的问题。然而，在 COVID 19 大流行之后，与食物相关的工作突然被重新定义为“必不可少的”，就好像曾经有人不吃饭一样。食品供应链上下游的工人现在被称为“一线”工人。我们的政府、联邦、州和地方的虚伪既荒谬又令人恼火。社区联盟正在加强政策领导人的不足。在纽约州布法罗。一个由近 80 名个人和组织组成的联盟正在协调对 COVID 的急性和长期反应。播种复原力联盟，其中包括种植者、紧急食品供应商、自行车快递员、食品系统规划者、食品正义倡导者、研究人员等，他们迅速制定了应对 COVID 的三管齐下的战略。播种复原力旨在 (1) 迅速将食物重新分配给有需要的社区；(2) 增加城市粮食产量；(3) 增加就业机会。为了解决严重的危机，正在从当地和/或少数族裔批发商和/或农民那里采购食品。食品由 Feed Buffalo 分发，这是一个紧急食品储藏室，专门提供有尊严的健康和清真食品。自行车快递员和志愿司机将食物运送给任何需要的人，同时提供素食、有机和清真食品。为了更公平的恢复，该联盟正在通过后院/前院自由花园网络在全市范围内增加粮食生产，这个词由长期食品正义倡导者盖尔·威尔斯创造。由致力于为种族康复、生态正义和公平食品系统培育空间的新兴组织 Food for the Spirit 和支持社区花园的非营利组织纽约西部草根花园的合作领导，新的自由花园既能应对当前的危机，也能播种更公平的未来 本文是专题合集的一部分：农业、食品和 Covid-19。