From Foodshed to Fibershed, Regenerative Agriculture, and the Affordability Crisis


Jennifer Jarman, Lakehead University

This paper explores the evolution of the concept of “fibershed” from W.P. Hedden’s pioneering work on the distribution of perishable foods to large cities (Hedden, 1929) to Rebecca’s Burgess and Courtney White’s recent work promoting the potential of regional fibersheds to combat climate change and toxic fabric production (Burgess and White, 2019). It discusses the key differences between the concepts of foodshed and fibershed and then considers the methodological literature on foodshed and fibershed mapping. Specific attention is given to efforts to understand the nature of local supply chains between rural and urban areas. The relatively unexplored problem of documenting interrelationships between food- and fiber-sheds is discussed. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for better integration of the sociological literature on social inequality and the affordability crisis into the discussion of food/fibersheds, emphasizing that food/fiber supply chains need to be built to be both stable and environmentally sustainable, but also affordable to those in low-income groups.

This paper will be presented at the following session: