ROOM AT THE TABLE - Intersight - University at Buffalo

a certain type of food, divided by the amount of that food required by the
population.
Erie County is home to about 99,445 acres of cropland. *1This represents about 15 percent of the county’s total land area (approximately
1,047 square miles). Nearly 88 percent of all cropland in Erie County is
devoted to the growing of crops used for animal feed (See Figure 7.1). 1
Existing Erie County cropland currently produces about 23,045 tons of
meats and eggs, 60,676 tons of milk, 3,600 tons of grain and 17,550 tons
of fruits and vegetables (See Table 7.1). Overall, food grown for human
consumption is not a major product of Erie County farms. This is despite
the fact that food grown for human consumption offers a greater economic
+'/%+#(B'+(0!+'(/"(.0+&'+$6(e"+(,#$/0#!'E(/4'(B+")/$(B'+(0!+'(,#(N+,'(7"%#/5(
for fruits and vegetables far exceed those from growing corn used for animal
feed.
The purpose of this analysis is to determine:
A) the amount of commercial cropland required to produce enough
food to feed all Erie County residents at current consumption
levels,
B) the amount of land required to produce enough food to feed all
Erie County residents at government recommended
health consumption guidelines, and
C) how existing cropland could be reallocated to maximize the
production of food as recommended by government
health consumption standards.
82
* The total area of cropland, and area under particular crops, reported in this chapter is
estimated from remote­sensed imagery that excludes area under pathways, trails, fallow
lands, and other areas of farms that are not planted. As such the crop acreage reported
in this chapter varies from that reported by the US Census of Agriculture (which we use
in Chapter 2). We believe that using this remote­sensed data, which may have its own
shortcomings and errors, provides a conservative estimate of self­reliance. Additional
methodological details are provided in Chapter 2.
Figure 7.1 – Current Use of Cropland in Erie County
by Food Product
(Map: Authors. Data Source: USDA, NRCS. Cropland Data Layer, 2011.
USDA, NRCS of Erie County, New York, Common Land Unit, 2011.
Erie County Department of Environment and Planning, Parcel Data, 2011 )