Help Stop the Lockup of Prime Urban Farmland in Salem

(click on map for larger view)

Mark your calendars for the City Council meeting on Monday, June 22nd, as we need a bunch of folks to head down there and persuade the City Council to proceed a little more carefully with respect to the future of Minto Island:

Saving Salem's Farming Heritage

The City of Salem is rushing to unwisely lock up fertile urban farmland to get some federal stimulus money. This land has been farmed for over a century. The value of the stimulus money to Salem residents will be much less than that resulting from sustainable farming of this large tract of publicly owned urban land.

Hasty Rush for Stimulus
Immediate Choices with Permanence

The federal stimulus package enacted on February 17, 2009 includes payments for landowners agreeing to permanently remove parcels of farmland from production. The Salem City Council applied for stimulus funds by offering to end farming on 150 acres of Minto Island farmland along with another 150 acres of sloughs and other park land. The 300 acres is about one-third of the Minto Brown city park. The City staff nearly doubled the size of the proposal to 592 acres and if this expansion is approved on June 22nd by the City Council, then use of two-thirds of the Park will be controlled by federal restrictions placed on the property deed.

The urgency to get and spend stimulus funds means that Salem has had virtually no public involvement. Nor has Salem considered the long-term result of permanently locking up highly productive, close-in urban farmland.

Salem's Continuing Farm Legacy
150+ Years of Farm History

Over half of the City-owned Minto Brown Island property of almost 900 acres has been farmed at times for the last 150 years. About 240 acres have been successfully farmed for the last 23 years. The farmland is very productive; the periodic flooding nourishes and adds to the soil. The annual yield from the farmland has produced tons of beans, corn and wheat per year.

Marion County is still the top agriculture county in Oregon. As farmland within an urban growth boundary in the Willamette Valley, Minto Brown farmland is a tremendous resource that should be carefully husbanded and protected for future centuries of farm use. Our budget woes will come and go, but the people of Salem will always need fresh food.

Jobs: Short-Term/One-time vs. Long-Term Use
Local food production builds jobs, community strength

A dollar spent on food in Salem that goes for food grown in the Willamette Valley generates 87 cents of additional local economic activity, compared to food that is grown outside the valley. This includes activities related to growing and processing the food.

The work funded with the federal stimulus funds is short term---but it requires taking the land out of food production forever, meaning that not only do we lose the value of the land, but also the jobs that depend on farm production and processing.

Local Food is Better Food
Fresher, More Nutritious, Tastier, Less Energy Required

The energy invested in growing and consuming the same vegetables within 100 miles is much less in terms of transportation and storage then that invested in vegetables that travel an average of 1,500 miles. In America, our systems for growing and shipping food are so out of whack that the average calorie we eat consumed an additional ten calories of energy making its way to your fork --- so if you eat a 2000 calorie diet every day, your diet represents 20,000 calories a day of energy consumption (mostly fossil fuels).