En mis cuatro décadas de fotógrafo aéreo, me ha interesado documentar la agricultura, porque tiene un modo de revelar pistas importantes sobre regiones, clima, topografía, suelo y el paso de las estaciones y el tiempo. Esta labor se centró cada vez más en el vínculo entre el uso del suelo y el cambio climático, a medida que en los transectos urbanos y rurales evolucionó de forma evidente el interés por acortar los kilómetros alimentarios (reducir la distancia entre productor y consumidor, con el fin de reducir las emisiones de carbono y minimizar las interrupciones en la cadena de suministro). Las imágenes de estas páginas representan los primeros pasos de una indagación sobre cómo está cambiando la producción de alimentos en zonas urbanas y sus alrededores en los Estados Unidos.

En los últimos años, es cada vez más evidente cómo se intensificó el cultivo a pequeña escala alrededor de Boston, Massachusetts. Desde el aire, he visto aparecer invernaderos de techo curvo en granjas pequeñas que pretenden suplir la demanda y ampliar la productividad; azoteas residenciales y comerciales grises convertidas en opulentos jardines; terrenos urbanos históricamente improductivos, como baldíos y patios, transformados en espacios cultivados. Cuando se suman, estas operaciones a pequeña escala parecen tener mucho potencial para aumentar la productividad mediante el poder de los incrementos. Los espacios verdes en zonas urbanas y cerca de ellas no solo ofrecen a las personas alimentos más frescos y accesibles. Dado que filtran el agua pluvial, absorben dióxido de carbono y promueven otros beneficios medioambientales, también pueden hacer de las ciudades lugares más saludables y resistentes.

A pesar de estos cambios prometedores, lo que se conoce como el movimiento localívoro ha logrado crear una sensación de pertenencia y de comunidad, y enseñar sobre cuestiones alimentarias, más que mejorar la seguridad o acortar los kilómetros alimentarios en una escala suficiente como para contrarrestar el cambio climático. Si bien en la última década la demanda y el entusiasmo por los alimentos locales aumentaron, se estima que el 90 por ciento de la comida de la zona metropolitana de Boston proviene de fuera de la región, según Food Solutions New England (FSNE), una red regional con base en la Universidad de Nuevo Hampshire, cerca de allí. Pero los gestores de políticas, inversionistas, productores rurales y emprendedores de la zona se están esforzando por cambiarlo, y FSNE está abogando por un “50 hacia 60”: 50 por ciento de los alimentos producidos en la región hacia 2060.

Una tendencia que podría ayudar a alcanzar esta meta, y que también se puede ver desde el aire, es la agricultura de interior. Las granjas de interior suelen encontrarse en vecindarios industriales infravalorados, y usan tecnologías como hidroponía e iluminación LED para poder cultivar durante todo el año. Las empresas que las respaldan demuestran cada vez más que la falta de espacios abiertos no tiene por qué ser una limitación para producir alimentos. En 2020, esta industria atrajo US$ 1.900 millones en capital de riesgo a nivel mundial: el triple de lo que se invirtió en 2019.

En Boston se encuentran algunas de las empresas que más están creciendo. Por ejemplo, Freight Farms democratiza más la cercanía a la producción porque usa contenedores modernizados que se pueden acomodar bajo autopistas elevadas o junto a comedores escolares. En 30 metros cuadrados, estos contenedores producen lo mismo que una hectárea de cultivo. Este tipo de soluciones innovadoras nos dan una idea de cómo puede ser el cultivo alternativo, mientras el cambio climático degrada las tierras agrícolas y reduce el suministro de agua. Sin embargo, el método tiene sus desventajas: puede requerir mucha electricidad y, si bien la producción se suele vender como “local”, en ciertos sentidos replica la centralización y la influencia corporativa que irrita desde hace mucho a los defensores de la agricultura local y regional.

Como fotógrafo aéreo, espero que siempre se integre cierta forma de producción alimentaria de exteriores en nuestros paisajes. Los veamos desde el suelo o desde el aire, las granjas y los campos nos ayudan a comprender los elementos clave del mundo natural que nos sustenta, nos ayudan a conectarnos con el planeta y nos impulsan a proteger estos lugares. Pero desde el cielo se hace cada vez más evidente que se están repensando los sistemas agrícolas, y que necesitaremos muchos enfoques distintos para que los “alimentos locales” evolucionen y lleguen a ser un modelo equitativo de soberanía alimentaria regional.

La región metropolitana de Boston importa el 90 por ciento del alimento desde fuera de la región. Arriba, los furgones y las unidades refrigeradas forman fila en los depósitos de New England Produce Center, en Chelsea, al norte del centro de Boston. Este complejo es uno de los mercados mayoristas de productos agrícolas más grandes del mundo; recibe cargamentos de todos los rincones de los Estados Unidos y de otros países. Luego, los productos de redistribuyen a puntos de venta de toda Nueva Inglaterra y el sudeste de Canadá. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

Los famosos jardines Fenway Victory Gardens, junto al río Muddy, en Back Bay, Boston, están conformados por más de 500 parcelas que son vestigio de tierras que en la Segunda Guerra Mundial se usaron para producir alimentos. Fenway fue uno de los más de 20 millones de jardines de la victoria del país que ayudaron a cultivar cerca del 40 por ciento de la producción nacional en el punto más álgido de la guerra. Esta historia demuestra el potencial de adaptación y la capacidad de producir alimentos locales a gran escala. Crédito: Alex MacLean. 

Las cuatro estaciones del jardín comunitario de la Primera Iglesia Parroquial, en Lincoln, Massachusetts. Los cambios que tienen lugar en el jardín durante el año marcan el paso del tiempo y generan conciencia sobre la transición entre las estaciones. Los feligreses cultivan parcelas individuales y, en conjunto, una parcela de donaciones que ofrece un promedio de 300 kilos de comida al año a refugios para personas sin hogar y comedores comunitarios de la zona de Boston. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

Mill City Grows gestiona cuatro granjas, entre ellas 1,1 hectáreas que alquila a la ciudad de Lowell, y distribuye los productos en mercados móviles, un programa de Agricultura de Respaldo Comunitario y donaciones. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

En 2011 la ciudad de Lawrence ayudó a fundar el jardín Cross and Cedar Street. Lo atienden residentes locales y se ubica en dos baldíos donde antes había viviendas deterioradas. Los lechos elevados protegen a las plantaciones de los riesgos del suelo contaminado. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

El jardín comunitario Nightingale, en Dorchester, Massachusetts, pertenece a la organización estatal de conservación The Trustees y forma parte de una iniciativa de la ciudad para aumentar el acceso a productos agrícolas locales y lograr que los jardines comunitarios sean una parte destacada de los espacios urbanos no construidos. Crédito: Alex MacLean. 

Las terrazas plantadas encima del Esplananade, un complejo de condiminios en Cambridge, Massachusetts, demuestran el potencial de los espacios de techo comerciales para acomodar la agricultura urbana. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

Los gallineros móviles y las jaulas de contención se mueven todos los días en las granjas comunitarias Codman, en Lincoln, Massachusetts; es una de las prácticas sostenibles que logra producir entre 800 y 1.200 huevos a la semana. La granja está a 24 kilómetros al noroeste de Boston, data de 1754 y cuenta con 7 hectáreas. Otras 50 hectáreas de campos y pastizales desperdigados por la ciudad abastecen el heno para el ganado y ofrecen espacios abiertos a las zonas circundantes. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

Más del 95 por ciento de las frutas y verduras que se consumen en la costa este proviene de California y Arizona, y suele tardar más de una semana en llegar. Little Leaf Farms realiza cultivos hidropónicos durante todo el año para reducir la dependencia en la costa oeste, en un invernadero de 4 hectáreas en Daven, Massachusetts, a 65 kilómetros al oeste de Boston. El proceso de cultivo está totalmente automatizado; las plantas se siembran y se cosechan sin contacto humano. Hasta ahora, la empresa obtuvo un financiamiento de US$ 90 millones mediante deudas y capital propio para ampliar sus operaciones por la costa este; empezará por Pensilvania y Carolina del Norte. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

Freight Farms fabrica invernaderos hidropónicos verticales dentro de contenedores de carga de 12 metros. Estos contenedores están equipados con controles climáticos precisos e iluminación optimizada para determinadas plantas y, en 30 metros cuadrados, pueden producir lo mismo que una hectárea de terrenos de cultivo convencionales. Los invernaderos móviles se pueden colocar en cualquier parte, como debajo de autopistas o junto a escuelas. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

Gotham Green (la estructura blanca en el extremo inferior izquierdo de la imagen) se construyó donde solía haber un terreno abandonado contaminado en Providence, Rhode Island. Hoy provee a Nueva Inglaterra de frutas, verduras y especias hidropónicas durante todo el año. El invernadero cuenta con electricidad de fuentes renovables y consume un 95 por ciento menos de agua y utiliza un 97 por ciento menos de suelo que la agricultura convencional. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

Gaining Ground Farm, en Concord, Massachusetts, cultiva alimentos para refugios y comedores de beneficencia de la zona de Boston. Mediante túneles altos, invernaderos de techo curvo y nutrición del suelo duplicó la producción en cuatro años. En 2020 cultivó y donó 57.800 kilos de alimentos, comparados con 28.015 kilos en 2016. En esta fotografía, tomada en 2016, se muestran los primeros invernaderos de techo curvo incorporados. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

En esta fotografía, tomada en 2020, se observa cómo se intensificó la producción en Gaining Ground Farm. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

Este jardín comunitario de Allston-Brighton, Massachusetts, se encuentra en un terreno que pertenece al Departamento Estatal de Conservación y Recreación. El follaje de mediados de octubre presagia el fin de la estación de cultivo y la llegada del invierno. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

Alex MacLean es piloto y fotógrafo con exhibiciones a nivel internacional; su trabajo se ha presentado en Land Lines y el libro Visualizing Density, del Instituto Lincoln. Se especializa en documentar cambios en el suelo provocados por la intervención humana y los procesos naturales.

Fotografía principal: Los jardines comunitarios de Boston fortalecieron el sentido de pertenencia en los vecindarios. El de Worcester Street, en South End, es uno de los 56 jardines comunitarios que pertenecen a The Trustees. Lo administran voluntarios y posee más de 130 parcelas disponibles para residentes, que se distribuyen por orden de llegada. Crédito: Alex MacLean.

As world leaders and some 20,000 delegates gather in Glasgow, Scotland, for the COP26 climate summit, they’ll be working toward the goal of keeping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, through a variety of methods aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. Much of the focus is on renewable energy and decarbonizing the power grid, transportation, and buildings. But Bruce Babbitt, former governor of Arizona and former Interior secretary, says there are two other big sectors that should not be overlooked:  land and water. 
 
“It just isn’t really getting the attention it deserves,” says Babbitt in the most recent episode of the Land Matters podcast, noting that land-clearing and the destruction of forests takes away vast carbon sinks and accounts for 20 percent of emissions worldwide, on a par with what transportation produces globally. 

Global warming is also having such a big impact on water supplies all around the world, he said, more focus needs to be on near-term solutions to avert a catastrophic crisis in both urban development and agriculture. The Colorado River Basin, where the Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs have dropped to historic lows, is a vivid illustration of that challenge. 

“The Colorado River becomes sort of the poster child of this, because the river flow is diminishing as a result of the drought and the decrease in runoff efficiency,” he said. “What rain there is doesn’t reach the reservoirs because it evaporates from the soil [because of] the temperature constantly heating up the landscape.” 

Holders of water rights established long ago are now facing drastic reductions, both in urban areas and in the agricultural sector, the biggest user of Colorado River water. They must now make due with less water—right now and in the future. The current method of irrigating crops simply cannot go on as usual, Babbitt said. “We haven’t really stared that straight in the eye, and begun to plan and to join a big region-wide discussion,” he said. 
  
Babbitt, for whom the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy is named, served for many years on the board of the Lincoln Institute. The Phoenix-based center is promoting the better coordination of land use planning and the management of water resources. The Lincoln Institute’s work in land, water, and climate is getting special recognition in this 75th anniversary year; the organization started as the Lincoln Foundation in 1946, in Phoenix. 
 
You can listen to the show and subscribe to Land Matters on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Further reading 
 

The COP26 Climate Talks Are Opening. Here’s What to Expect  

UK to push plan to ‘halt and reverse global deforestation by 2030’ at Cop26 

In Search of Solutions: Water & Tribes Initiative Encourages Collaborative Approach to Colorado River Management 

Lessons from the Colorado River: Climate, Land, and Drought: A 75th Anniversary Lincoln Institute Dialogue

Anthony Flint is a senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, host of the Land Matters podcast, and a contributing editor of Land Lines. 

Image: Bruce Babbitt Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

Mark Anderson, an ecologist who has conducted groundbreaking work to map climate-resilient lands and waters across the United States, has been named the new Kingsbury Browne Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the recipient of the Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award from the Land Trust Alliance.  

In his role as director of The Nature Conservancy’s Center for Resilient Conservation Science, Anderson oversees a team of scientists that has created detailed maps of areas whose topographies, elevations, and geologies are particularly suited for withstanding the impacts of climate change. These maps are used by government agencies, land trusts, and other organizations to prioritize conservation work. Anderson has also produced a deep body of scholarship in the field, including co-authorship of the National Vegetation Classification, an online inventory of plants and plant communities across the United States. 

“Mark is a global leader in applying the science of Geographic Information Systems to the art of land conservation,” said Jim Levitt, director of the International Land Conservation Network at the Lincoln Institute. “His insight has been invaluable in lighting the path forward.” 

“For years, Mark has been at the forefront of climate science and how to combine it effectively with ecology,” said Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of the Land Trust Alliance. “For his visionary climate work and his longstanding commitment to the land trust community, we are honored to name Mark this year’s Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award winner.” 

The fellowship and award, given since 2006, are named for Kingsbury Browne, a Boston tax lawyer and conservationist who served as a Lincoln Fellow in 1980 and helped form the Land Trust Alliance in 1982.  

Recent recipients of the fellowship include Fernando Lloveras San Miguel, executive director of the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico; Jane Difley, who led the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests for 23 years; Michael Whitfield, executive director of the Heart of the Rockies Initiative; and Will Rogers, head of the Trust for Public Land. 

Photograph by DJ Glisson, II / Firefly Imageworks.

This summer, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) declared the first official water shortage on the Colorado River. The declaration triggers mandatory cuts in withdrawals from the river, which supports more than 40 million people and 4.5 million acres of agriculture across seven U.S. states and two states in Mexico. While the announcement made both history and headlines, it came as no surprise to those in the Colorado River Basin who know the river best—the farmers, water utility managers, tribal leaders, state water management agencies, and others who have witnessed the severe impacts of the region’s decades-long drought and spent years making plans to address it.

“We knew this day would come, and it’s here,” said Brenda Burman, who served as commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, an agency of DOI that manages water in the West, from 2017 to 2021. “We need collective action on the river to address this situation.”

Burman joined former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt for “Lessons from the Colorado River,” a Lincoln Institute Dialogue hosted by Jim Holway, director of the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, in early September. Their discussion was part of a series of virtual dialogues celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Lincoln Institute. It drew more than 500 registered participants from 43 U.S. states and 19 countries, including Turkey, Bangladesh, Colombia, and Kenya.

“We are at a critical juncture in the Colorado River Basin where we need to rethink our approaches and chart a long-term, sustainable course,” said Holway. “I can think of no one better equipped to help us understand these challenges than Bruce Babbitt and Brenda Burman, who have shaped Colorado River management, as both state and federal leaders, for over 40 years.”

Holway invited Burman to offer an overview of the Colorado River system, current conditions, and the complex 20th and 21st century agreements that govern its usage, including the 1922 Colorado River Compact that allotted water to each of the seven U.S. states in the basin; the 1944 agreement between the United States and Mexico that formalized the latter country’s rights to a share of the water; and the more recent interim guidelines of 2007 and Drought Contingency Plans (DCP) of 2019. The DCP, developed through a series of negotiations among the basin states, NGOs, tribal leaders, and the governments of the United States and Mexico, outlines how stakeholders along the river will share a resource that’s been depleted by a 22-year drought and is vulnerable to long-term climate change.

Both Burman and Babbitt emphasized the importance of a collaborative approach to managing the river. Burman identified the 1990s, and specifically Babbitt’s tenure at DOI (1993–2001), as “the time when we started coming together as a basin to find agreements, to find flexibility, to be able to use this resource.” Babbitt described cooperative management of the river as “a work in progress . . . working together, we’ve managed to come a long way.”

Babbitt was frank about the hard realities of the current situation, outlining serious potential impacts in the Lower Basin (which includes Arizona and parts of California and Nevada). For example, Babbitt said, agricultural operations in central Arizona that no longer have access to river water will pump groundwater instead, which will overtax groundwater reserves and dramatically reduce the amount of agricultural land in production. That shift could also curtail future development in the region because of state requirements that developers demonstrate adequate water supply for their projects. He voiced concern that a political and economic water war could result if speculators accelerate efforts to buy up farmland with senior water rights in other regions, with the goal of selling the associated water rights to others who need water.

Meanwhile, in the Upper Basin (which includes parts of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah), Babbitt said the sheer number of small water districts is making it difficult to coordinate a response to the drought. He noted that in Colorado, urban areas could be the first to feel the impact of cuts due to the structure of various management agreements. “It isn’t easy to turn off the faucet, because there are so many hands on the faucet,” he said. Still, he struck a cautiously optimistic tone: “These changes don’t happen overnight. There is time still to find a pathway toward a more sustainable balance as these changes take place.”

During the conversation, Babbitt, Burman, and Holway identified several elements of successful watershed management—collaboration, diversity, public engagement, and nonpartisan approaches—and suggested that the Colorado River can serve as a model for other places facing complex resource management problems in an era of climate change. “The lessons we are learning here, and the binational collaborative approaches, serve as examples for other arid and semi-arid river basins throughout the world,” Holway said.

Some of the necessary next steps in the Colorado River Basin include agreeing to additional shortage reductions in individual state water allocations; improving water efficiency; settling outstanding tribal water claims; addressing tribal water infrastructure needs; and establishing fair and equitable water sharing arrangements between agricultural, urban, and tribal water users. The speakers agreed there are promising signs that these steps are achievable, including the ability to agree on previous rounds of Colorado River water cuts; an uptick in wastewater reuse and in local efforts to increase water efficiency and conservation; and growing recognition of the connection between local land use and water management policy. Holway cites Colorado’s Land and Water Planning Alliance as an excellent example of collaboration around actions local government and local water users can take.

As drought and climate change continue to put immense pressure on the Colorado River and other regional water supplies, stakeholders throughout the basin will have to confront not only the current shortage, but also the prospect of more to come. “We are facing a warmer, drier present and a warmer, drier future,” Burman said. “We have a history of coming together, but the time to do more is now . . . . I have a lot of faith that we can do it.”

A recording of the Colorado River webinar is available online, along with related links including the recently updated Colorado River StoryMap created by the Babbitt Center team. The special 75th anniversary Lincoln Institute Dialogue series continues on October 27 with a discussion about land-based financing. Learn more about the Lincoln Institute’s 75th anniversary and related events. 

Katharine Wroth is the editor of Land Lines. 

Photo Credit: Sean Pavone/iStock via Getty Images.

In this summer of 2021, land is being ravaged. Wildfires burn in the western United States, Canada and elsewhere, destroying whole towns and sending smoke across the continent. Meanwhile, the Amazon rainforest has been scorched so extensively for ranching and agriculture that it now emits more carbon than it absorbs.

These alarming events, and the UN’s latest report on rapidly accelerating climate change, underscore the critical role of land, land management, and land conservation in confronting the climate crisis, says Jim Levitt, director of the International Land Conservation Network at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Sequestering carbon, mitigating heat islands and disasters, maintaining biodiversity, managing water resources stressed by drought—all are crucial jobs that land performs incredibly well, says Levitt, the guest on the latest episode of the Land Matters podcast. And that is why conserving and better managing forests, wilderness areas, and working landscapes is so important now, he says.

“I don’t want to sugarcoat this—it’s going to be a very challenging task,” he says. “It’s a situation, as many people have said before me, that will require all hands on deck.”

Levitt, author of the book From Walden to Wall Street, details latest and best practices in legal structures and conservation finance to step up land protection globally. Land conservation has been part of the Lincoln Institute’s portfolio for decades, but it has special relevance today in the context of global warming.

As part of the 75th anniversary year, the Lincoln Institute is taking a look at a wide range of programs and how they have evolved over the years—and how they are being applied now to some of the world’s most serious problems.

You can listen to the show and subscribe to Land Matters on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Anthony Flint is a senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, host of the Land Matters podcast, and a contributing editor of Land Lines.

Photograph: California and other states in the U.S. West are enduring longer wildfire seasons, a trend fueled by climate change. Credit: CAL FIRE via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0.

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