By Heather Davis, Food Systems Monitoring and Evaluation
Research Associate at the Center for an Agricultural Economy
How does measuring happiness and well-being relate to the
work I do at the
Center for an
Agricultural Economy (CAE) and the general work of the organization? The CAE’s mission is to, “bring together community resources and
programs needed to develop a locally based food system that supports the desire
of rural communities to rebuild their economic and ecological health.” We, as an organization, must reflect
on why we want to develop the local food system in the first place? What are our intended outcomes of doing
so? We need to have a vision of the
larger impacts of our work. What
benefits does our work have for individual citizens and the community as a
whole?
There are four main outcomes of a healthy food system that
have developed through my work here and are also reflected in
other
work that I have come across in my research, which also happen to reflect
well-being, in general:
- Healthy Communities
- Robust & Equitable
Local Economy
- Food Security
- Healthy Environment
A portion of my work here at the CAE has been measuring the
health of the local food system and the well-being of the Hardwick-area. My Master’s Thesis,
A Framework for
Monitoring Local and Regional Food Systems, which I worked on while here at
the CAE, took a holistic approach to measuring the health of food systems and
includes all the various elements that make up a food system (Farms, Food Waste
Recycling, Processing, etc), as well as those four outcomes. This also includes measures on well-being to
reflect “Healthy Communities” as one of the intended outcomes of a healthy food
system. Some of the specific indicators
relating to this that were developed include:
· Percent
of respondents who participate in bartering
· Percent
of farms who participate in bartering
· # of Buffalo
Mountain Co‐op members (total members & working members)
· # of
members of North Country Farming Network
· Percent
of registered voters who voted in most recent mid‐term election
· Percent
of respondents who indicated that they currently volunteer
· Average
score on community satisfaction index
· Average
score on the “Well‐being Index”
· Homeownership
rate
· Crimes
against property: Number of property crimes / 1000 pop.
· Crimes
against people: Number of crimes against people / 1000 pop.
The intentions of the above
indicators (there are a total of 200+) are to get an accurate sense of
community vitality, engagement, and well-being.
Other indicators look specifically at details relating to farming, food
processing, etc. The data for this portion
of the larger framework is being collected from area organizations, state and
federal data sources and via community survey.
In rural areas where farming is
integral to the community - and even in more urban areas where we’re seeing the
development of more urban agriculture and increased engagement in the
production of food – we need to consider the health of the food system when
considering our greater well-being, and vice versa. Food is one of our basic human needs and for
true well-being we need to have healthy food and a healthy food system.
The Measuring What Matters Conference and these
conversations will be part of the ongoing process of creating the
state-mandated well-being index for Vermont.
It really is exciting to see this coming together –
another
way that this small and humble state is leading the way!
