What Is a Food Forest?

Food forests are designed to mimic a natural forest edge ecosystem and provide a model of sustainable cultivation. Unlike a community garden, which is typically planted in annuals, a food forest is a planned ecosystem of complementary edible, perennial plants with multiple layers. Fruit and nut trees comprise the top layer; vines, shrubs, and cover-crops the middle, and root crops make up the bottom. A well-designed food forest can last for decades and mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration, promote water resilience by increasing the water-absorption capacity of the soil, and enhance food security by yielding an impressive quantity of diverse, nutrient-rich calories per acre.

 

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Public Health and Food Insecurity

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Nearly 1 in 8 Georgians is living with food insecurity, including 1 in 6 children. The social determinants of health play a significant role in causing social inequality regarding access to quality food. They affect one's economic stability, environment, and social/community contexts. People who are food insecure consume nutrient-poor diets, which can contribute to obesity, heart failure, asthma, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. Healthcare expenditures will eventually put substantial financial and social pressure on our society. Community gardens, which give individuals a space to grow fresh produce, and food forests, which imitate the ecosystems and patterns seen in nature and allow communities to grow and share their own food, can assist in alleviating food insecurity.

Public Policy and Food Forests

Securing the necessary resources and funding is an essential aspect to the successful development of food forest projects. Increasingly, community leaders have sought to access resources and funding through public grants and in collaboration with public works agencies and municipal departments. This allows for public resources to be mobilized for the betterment of communities and allows for the integration of food forestry into government initiatives and public policy aimed at combating food insecurity and food deserts. In Atlanta, the Mayor鈥檚 Office has set up programs to develop urban agriculture as a part of its effort to ensure that 鈥�85% of Atlanta residents are within a half-mile to healthy food by 2022.鈥� The establishment of , on a plot of land in South Atlanta owned and managed by the Department of Parks and Recreation, has been a key project in this effort. While the partnership between community food forests and public agencies presents many challenges, such as bureaucracy, lack of funding, and political will, it will be an important strategy going forward if food forestry is to become an integrated and systematic counter to urban food insecurity.  

Visit to learn more about how, through the Mayor鈥檚 One Atlanta Office and the Department of City Planning, the city of Atlanta has used public policy to develop urban agriculture.