How Farmland is Critical to Creating a Healthy Community

The future of public health and farmland is intrinsically linked. Land preserved for food-producing purposes is critical to our nation’s health and nutrition security, and to our immediate communities.

The health of a community is often spoken about in terms of social determinants or indicators—meaning the environment conditions in which people are born, live, work, learn, and play. One of the most important, and often undervalued, factors is a connection to spaces that grow food and provide affordable access to healthy food. 

Nearly half of all American adults have one or more preventable chronic diseases, many of which are related to poor quality eating patterns and physical inactivity. Diet-related chronic disease rates over the last 25 years have risen and remain high. The U.S. economic burden of chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and cancer has reached about $3.8 trillion in direct and indirect costs—or nearly one-fifth of GDP. The estimated total costs of diagnosed diabetes rose to $327 billion in 2017 from $245 billion in 2012, when the cost was last examined. This figure represents a 26% increase over a five-year period. 

Chronic diseases, such as diabetes, are related to the lack of access to affordable, quality, healthy food to include fresh fruits and vegetables. Only one in 10 adults eat the recommended fruit or vegetables. While we all hear that we need to consume more fruits and vegetables, what we don’t hear is that our country doesn’t have enough of the vegetables we are supposed to eat. Nearly 50% of vegetables available in 2013 were either tomatoes or potatoes. So, while it is recommended that adults consume two to three cups of vegetables a day, only 1.7 cups are available per person. The vegetable supply would need to increase by 70% for Americans to meet the recommended daily amounts.

Currently, more than half of all the cropland ever created in Maricopa County has been converted to urban or suburban development. Household food insecurity rates in Maricopa County reached 13.7% in 2019 (pre-pandemic). Maricopa County is heavily dependent on federal support to provide food relief to low-income residents, relying on $900 million of federal aid each year. While food assistance programs are critical for addressing acute nutrition insecurity, they are not a sustainable solution for residents having access to quality food sources. Building and supporting a localized food system and preserving farmland is the foundation to creating a healthy community.

How does access to food producing spaces and farmland affect the health of a community?

  • Access to green spaces and nature improves mental health

  • Food growing spaces positively influences food choices and healthy eating patterns

  • Food self-sufficiency supports healthy eating 

  • Agriculture shapes the physical environment that influences overall health 

  • Community gardens provide safe spaces and ways to teach children where healthy food comes from

Prioritizing and protecting farmland is of utmost importance before all of it is lost. Once farmland is paved over, it is lost forever. At the rate Arizona is going, losing more farmland to rapid development and housing speculation will lead to the complete loss of our remaining farms. Arizona is one of the most agriculturally productive states, however, much of that food is exported out of state and not available to local communities. We need funding support from civic leaders and federal/state voices to speak up for Arizona farmers and to advocate for a healthy food system that allows more of Arizona-grown food to be distributed across the state as opposed to being shipped far away. Feeding people is just as important as manufacturing microchips, building housing developments, and bringing new industry to our state—and even more so since it is biologically essential! 

Practical ways to protect Arizona farmland and people dedicated to preserving nutrition security. 

Below are some ways to help support our local farmers and growers:

Eaters

  • Buy direct from farmers at a local farmers market. You can find one near you: here

  • Buy Arizona Grown in grocery & retail stores

  • Frequent businesses and restaurants that source and use local food and produce 

  • Sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Find farms and CSA programs here 

Citizens

  • Contact your local City Mayor and Council and/or Maricopa County Supervisors and voice your concern about farmland loss and apply pressure to develop strategies to preserve it, especially for those interested in maintaining agricultural uses.

  • Demand that policymakers address social and environmental problems with transformative, NOT incremental, change.

Policymakers

  • Develop policies that bolster community-based food systems, improve nutrition security, preserve farmland, and directly support Arizona local producers.

  • Partner with the Coalition for Farmland Preservation

Everyone

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