A Guide to Food Resilience

Food is one of our most basic needs. Yet many city dwellers don’t have reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the fragility of our food systems and the inequities in access to food. As cities seek to build back better, many are looking for ways to strengthen their food systems and make healthy, sustainable food available to all residents.

There are several strategies cities can use to increase the resilience of their food systems. Here are some of the most promising approaches.

Invest in Urban Agriculture

Urban agriculture refers to growing food within city limits. This includes backyard and community gardens, urban farms, rooftop gardens, indoor vertical farming, and other spaces where food is cultivated in an urban environment.

Expanding urban agriculture increases and diversifies local food production. City residents can grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs for their own consumption or to sell at farmers markets and to local restaurants.

Urban gardens also provide other benefits. They can reduce a neighborhood’s vulnerability to disruptions in the broader food system by providing a local source of fresh produce. Gardens build community and give residents a sense of agency in the food system. They provide green space and promote sustainability.

Cities can support urban agriculture through zoning policies that allow and encourage food production, financial incentives like grants and tax breaks, and education programs for aspiring urban farmers. Seattle, Detroit, and other cities have seen their urban agriculture sectors thrive thanks to municipal support.

Vertical farming takes urban agriculture to another level. These high-tech indoor farms use stacked levels to grow produce in a small footprint. Sophisticated lighting and hydroponics allow vertical farms to achieve very high yields. Crops can be grown year-round, free from weather fluctuations. Vertical farms can be built in unused urban spaces like old warehouses.

Large vertical farming operations are expensive to establish but can eventually deliver low-cost, local produce while using less water and fewer pesticides than conventional agriculture. Some vertical farms are even built to run on renewable energy.

Cities can encourage vertical farming by streamlining permits and providing incentives for new vertical farms.

Facilitate Farmers Markets and CSAs

Farmers markets enable city residents to access fresh produce from regional farmers and urban gardeners. At their stalls, farmers sell fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, cheese, baked goods, honey, flowers, and more. Many vendors are small, independent farms that use sustainable agricultural practices.

Shopping at farmers markets diversion consumer dollars away from the large corporate food chain toward local food producers. Farmers earn more by selling direct-to-consumer. Local food travels fewer miles from farm to table, resulting in fresher produce for city residents and less fossil fuel consumption.

Cities can establish public farmers markets that provide space for producers to sell their wares. Zoning laws can also allow private markets. Providing subsidies and waivers for market vendors’ fees and sales taxes helps incubate new markets. Public transit and parking access make markets more accessible. Many markets are now equipped to accept SNAP/EBT payments, increasing access to fresh food for low-income residents.

Along with farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA) programs allow urban residents to buy shares in a local farm’s harvest. The shareholder receives a box of produce each week during harvest season. This creates a direct link between farmers and consumers.

CSAs provide urban families with fresh, organic produce while giving regional farmers financial stability. Cities can facilitate CSAs by helping connect residents to nearby farms.

Incentivize Grocery Stores in Underserved Neighborhoods

Low-income urban neighborhoods are often food deserts, with limited access to full-service grocery stores selling healthy foods at affordable prices. When fresh produce is scarce or unaffordable, residents end up purchasing processed foods at corner stores and fast food joints. This contributes to higher rates of obesity and diet-related diseases.

Cities can lure grocers to underserved neighborhoods with financial incentives like tax credits and grants. Loosening zoning laws to allow grocery stores in more areas can help. Cities can also provide land at subsidized rates.

For example, New York City has offered zoning and financial incentives to retailers opening stores in low-income communities in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and elsewhere. As a result, many new supermarkets have launched in recent years.

Grocery shuttle services are another option. These buses and vans transport residents from food deserts to full-service supermarkets outside their neighborhood. Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Syracuse run successful grocery shuttle programs.

Support Food Delivery Services and Apps

Online grocery shopping and delivery services have seen explosive growth during the pandemic. DoorDash, Instacart, Uber Eats, and other apps allow city dwellers to order groceries and meals from their phone and have them delivered to their door.

These services provide easy access to food while allowing residents to practice social distancing. They are especially valuable for elderly and immunocompromised customers. Digital ordering, contactless delivery, and in-app payment eliminate most interpersonal contact.

Cities should view food delivery apps as potential tools for improving food access, not as disruptive outside companies. They can cooperate with the apps to provide delivery in underserved areas where brick-and-mortar food outlets are lacking.

For instance, Uber Eats has partnered with several cities to deliver groceries to food deserts at reduced fees. Chicago, Miami, Minneapolis, and New York are among the cities offering this program.

Similarly, DoorDash has collaborated with San Francisco and other cities to subsidize delivery fees for low-income residents and waive some fees for local restaurants. This makes delivery more affordable while also supporting local eateries.

Improve Transportation Access to Food Sources

Limited transportation access can hinder low-income residents from purchasing affordable, healthy food—even if stores and markets are nearby. Improving transit connections to grocery stores, farmers markets, community gardens, and other food sources helps increase food security.

Cities can expand bus routes and light rail to reach underserved neighborhoods and key food destinations. They can partner with rideshare companies to offer discounted rides to supermarkets or meal delivery for vulnerable groups. Bike lanes provide pedal-powered transport to fetch groceries. And pedestrian safety upgrades let residents walk to nearby food outlets.

For example, a farmers market in a low-income Tampa neighborhood struggled with low attendance because of insufficient public transit. So the city launched a free shuttle that looped continually between the neighborhood and market on Saturdays. Attendance at the market rose by 40%, benefiting local farmers and community members.

Provide Food Assistance to Those in Need

Government and nonprofit food assistance programs provide a crucial safety net, enabling low-income residents to eat when faced with unemployment, disabilities, or other challenges. These programs must be strengthened to combat rising food insecurity.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) offers food vouchers to qualifying households. SNAP redemptions at farmers markets and grocers boost local economies. Cities and community organizations can assist residents with enrolling in SNAP to maximize this benefit.

School meal programs supply free or subsidized breakfasts, lunches, and snacks to children from low-income families. When schools are closed, cities can step in to provide grab-and-go meals—as many did during COVID-19 lockdowns. Extending school meals to weekends and holidays is another anti-hunger strategy.

Food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens are essential, and cities can support them through financial aid, partnerships, and volunteering. But these emergency food providers can’t meet every need. Structural solutions like living wages, affordable housing, and accessible healthcare are necessary to enable all residents to purchase food.

Educate About Nutrition and Food Waste

Knowledge is power when it comes to food. Nutrition education campaigns teach residents how to eat well, stretch grocery dollars, and reduce food waste. This empowers people to make healthy choices.

For example, the Beyond Hunger culinary training program in Boston instructs low-income students how to prepare nutritious meals on a budget. Graduates gain cooking skills and nutrition knowledge to feed themselves and their families.

Community gardening programs introduce urban residents to growing and cooking fresh produce. Classes demonstrate how to preserve the bounty through canning, freezing, and other methods.

Food waste education shows households how to properly store food to maximize freshness, plan meals to use leftovers, compost scraps, and donate usable excess food. This stretches food dollars while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from rotting food.

Cities can support nutrition and food waste education through public schools, community centers, urban farms, and partnerships with nonprofits.

Support Local Food Entrepreneurs

The food sector is an important source of jobs and economic development in cities. Nurturing local food entrepreneurs creates employment while meeting local needs.

Shared commercial kitchens allow food businesses to launch with lower start-up costs. Cities can foster these incubators through zoning, partnerships, and other support.

Grants, small business loans, and technical assistance for women- and minority-owned food enterprises promote equity in the food system. Relaxing mobile vending and home cooking regulations helps home cooks and food carts thrive.

Incubating food startups addresses unemployment while supplying the city with more healthy, convenient food options. For example, the Neighborhood Food Entrepreneurship Program in Minneapolis provides training in business planning, licensing, and branding to aspire minority chefs and food truck operators.

Build Regional Foodsheds

While urban agriculture supplies some local food, cities still depend on regional farming to meet residents’ needs. Building stronger connections to regional foodsheds—the areas producing food for urban markets—is key to resilience.

Cities can urge large food purchasers like schools, hospitals, corporate campuses, and event centers to buy from regional producers. Food procurement contracts can prioritize locally sourced ingredients.

Urban-rural partnerships support regional agriculture through marketing campaigns and investment in infrastructure like regional storage facilities and distribution hubs. These help nearby farms access urban markets.

Land preservation ensures farming can continue on peri-urban farmlands under development pressure. Meanwhile, urban waste streams—like composted food scraps and wastewater—can nourish rural soils to support high-yielding agriculture.

Connecting cities with their foodshed reinforces farm viability, protects natural resources, and fortifies regional food security.

Plan for Shocks, Stresses, and Uncertainty

In our changing world, food systems must be resilient to sudden disruptions and long-term pressures.

Contingency planning ensures quick emergency response when crises hit. After COVID-19 exposed weaknesses in food supply chains, more cities are creating food action plans for disasters and emergencies. These outline coordination strategies to keep residents fed.

At the same time, cities must assess the chronic stresses that strain their food systems. Climate change, rural poverty, soil depletion, water scarcity, and other forces are undermining food security. Urban food planning must address these challenges.

Building flexibility and redundancy into food systems allows them to adapt to fluctuating conditions. Diversified local production and purchasing creates a buffer when certain foods become scarce.

Investing today in urban agriculture, regional foodsheds, and just food distribution will pay dividends down the road as food systems face growing uncertainty. Thinking long-term and anticipating problems before they arrive makes cities more food-secure.

You Can Help Build a Resilient Food System

Tackling something as immense as the food system can seem daunting. But there are many ways you as an individual can make a positive impact. Here are some steps you can take to advance food resilience where you live:

• Grow your own food. Start small with a patio tomato plant or backyard herb garden. Look into joining a community garden for space and camaraderie. Work up to a largescale urban farm.
• Support your local farmers market. Shop for produce, eggs, meat, and artisanal foods from regional farmers and producers. Get to know them and ask how they practice sustainability.
• Join a CSA. Invest in a share of a local farm’s bounty. This guarantees they have customers and income while supplying you with ultra-fresh food.
• Speak up about your needs. Advocate for grocery stores, farmers markets, and urban farms in underserved neighborhoods. Push for expanded public transit and pedestrian access to food sources.
• Volunteer with food access groups. Donate your time or money to organizations working to bring affordable, healthy food to those in need. Get involved with food policy councils.
• Reduce waste. Plan meals, store food properly, use leftovers creatively, and compost food scraps to get the most from your groceries and shrink your climate impact.
• Learn new food skills. Take classes on gardening, nutrition, and cooking to gain the knowledge you need to eat higher quality food and spend your food dollars wisely.
• Support local food entrepreneurs. Buy food from small-scale producers who are women, immigrants, and people of color. Uplift diverse businesses that reflect the community.
• Talk to decision-makers. Let your city council members know you want policies that strengthen regional food systems, urban agriculture, food access, and equity. Attend community meetings and make your voice heard.

A resilient city food system that nourishes all residents with sustainable, affordable food starts with you. Look for ways large and small that you can be involved in growing, purchasing, and promoting good food where you live. Join the movement for a just and regenerative food future.