WHY DEVELOP THE LOCAL FOODSHED?

Quotes and links related to massive and sudden disruption in the food system
(1) Tommy Thompson, former US Health and Human Service Director in 2004
"I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply, because it is so easy to do," [Tommy Thompson, former US Health and Human Services Director] said [in his resignation speech in 2004].”
From http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5274022.stm

(2) Excerpt from “Avian Flu: A Test of Collective Integrity”by Susan Penfield and John Larkin
“ Neither governments nor corporations will be able to distribute food on a large scale in a pandemic crisis. The government will likely direct the general population to stay in their homes to minimize contagion. However, people will inevitably disobey such orders when there are widespread shortages of food, water, and other essentials. Therefore, both local police forces and individuals should be prepared, thinking ahead about the ways in which neighborhoods could safeguard themselves and survive the most difficult weeks."
Found at http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/06201
Also see related report at http://www.boozallen.com/media/file/Influenza_Pandemic_Simulation.pdf

3. Excerpt from
U.S. companies prepare for bird flu pandemic
Tue Feb 6, 2007 8:24pm ET

Jay Schwartz, vice president of information systems at North Carolina-based Alex Lee Inc., is worried about what will happen when food supplies begin to get scarce as people become ill, stay home to care for children when schools close or tend to ill relatives.
"Security is a huge issue," Schwartz, whose company owns a chain of grocery stores and an institutional food supplier, told a conference in Orlando.
Big food trucks may be targeted by bandits. "Maybe we'll have someone riding shotgun for added security," Schwartz told the Business Preparedness for Pandemic Influenza summit, sponsored by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
Found at http://www.internet-grocer.net/birdflu1.htm

Take-home points:
•Many reasonable, informed people think there is a decent chance we will face serious disruptions in our food supply at some point in the future.
•Many private companies are paying lots of money to draw up contingency plans. At least one private grocery business is seriously considering shipping food under armed guard.
•Recent history has shown that states and communities cannot expect the federal government to provide timely emergency supplies. Consider that in a pandemic, most of the country may be in crisis simultaneously. West Contra Costa County probably will not make FEMA’s highest priority list for emergency food relief during a national crisis brought about by an agriterrorism incident or a flu pandemic.
•If any of these scenarios come to pass, we will be grateful for miles of fruit, nut, and olive trees lining the Richmond Greenway, large-plot community gardens at every city park, production gardens at every school, kitchen gardens in every backyard, and widely dispersed food production knowledge and activity which the 5% Local Coalition hopes to facilitate.