Key Partners, Including ENST Dr. Lansing, Join Forces to Create a More Resilient Food System Across Maryland

Strength to Love 2, an Urban Farm in Baltimore City

Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg

February 7, 2022 Graham Binder

There are a number of critical issues that threaten the food security of Marylanders. Climate change, supply and demand, food deserts, and a rapidly growing population are on the shortlist. However, the past two years have been particularly challenging due to the negative impacts of COVID-19, which have further complicated food access and availability. This new reality now exists in tandem with pre-existing inequities that contribute to a high percentage of food-insecure households across the state.

To help find solutions for some of these systemic issues that have been exacerbated by COVID, and to work towards a more resilient food system in Maryland, the state legislature recently established the Maryland Food System Resiliency Council, featuring several representatives from the University of Maryland’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR). Members of the council include AGNR’s Stephanie Lansing, professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology who serves as the council’s Co-Vice Chair, Lisa Lachenmayr, director of Maryland SNAP-Ed for University of Maryland Extension, and Nancy Nunn, assistant director of the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology. These council members agree that the food system, nationally and locally, was not built to respond to something like COVID-19, which acutely raised demand in a very compressed time frame. 

“This legislation charged us with the formation of a council, and asked that we look at food system resilience in a different way given everything happening in the world. Throughout the pandemic, individual interest groups were doing very important work but we realized that we could be more productive by working together in a coordinated way,” said Lansing.

Read full story on ANGR news site