Oregon Coast Food Prospector

The Oregon Coast is known for spectacular landscapes, a diverse cultural history, and abundant natural resources. What is holding back coastal communities from retaining the benefits of self-sufficient, local food systems?

In the future, we want resilient communities in Oregon that are food-secure, environmentally sustainable, and healthy. To support this goal, we need to look at the whole picture of the Coast's food system—not just at the fisheries and farms that produce food, but the infrastructural systems of processing, distribution, and points of consumption that make it all function. We need to look at not just the what and who but the where, so that we can assure that these systems really work to support vibrant local communities.

Oregon's "Blue Economy" is driven by its commercial fishing industry, which resulted in an onshore harvest of $160.7 million in 2019. About $53.8 million (33%) of that value was exported to markets outside the United States.

Visitors to the Oregon coast spend about $800 million on food and food service per year. Meanwhile, 90% of the seafood purchased is sourced from outside of Oregon. The disconnect between local production and local consumption is unsustainable, and limits the quality of life and quality of experience for coastal communities and visitors alike.

Where are fish and seafood brought to Oregon's ports?

Where are commercial shellfish harvest and estuary aquaculture permitted?

Farms and ranches are an integral component of coastal economies, with the potential to grow to meet the demand of coastal communities and the tourist industry while continuing to supply regionally important commodities.

Where are farms operating and what are they producing?

Is the expansion of coastal farming constrained by natural limits like soils and topography, or political limits like zoning?

Transforming coastal foods from raw materials to value-added products, and getting them where they need to go.

Processing and logistical infrastructure is a critical part of any food system, supporting the value-added chains that businesses need to thrive, as well as the supply chain that gets food products onto people's dinner plates. The capacity and needs for this infrastructure vary widely depending on the type of food product, as well as who is producing and consuming them.

Do we have the built and operational infrastructure we need to make local food systems work?

Transportation accounts for approximately 14% of the total energy used in the U.S. food system, so making sure that where people eat their food and where it comes from are as close as possible can have a real impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

Where are the opportunities to put local foods onto local plates?

Residents of the coastal communities have lifeways and livelihoods that are wrapped up with food systems. Equitable investment in local food systems can help to mitigate the vulnerabilities that these communities face.

This is just the beginning. Everyone needs food, and whatever we can do to make our food systems more local and more sustainable contributes to ensuring that our communities flourish. People and organizations working in areas as diverse as gastronomy, community health, environment and sustainability, economic development, and emergency management can all come together to around initiatives to strengthen food systems on the Oregon coast.