Nation’s Largest Public Opinion Gathering Finds Utahns Want More Local Food
98 percent of Utahns want to protect and increase food production in the state, according to Envision Utah survey
SALT LAKE CITY (July 30, 2015) — Findings from nearly 53,000 residents surveyed as part of Envision Utah’s Your Utah, Your Future campaign show Utahns desire to increase food self-sufficiency from agriculture by putting more land into food production and changing some existing crops to fruit and vegetables.
“The interest in locally-grown food has skyrocketed in the last decade,” said Robert Grow, President and CEO of Envision Utah. “Utahns want to protect agricultural land and water for food production. That’s not what we’ve been doing historically. Much of our best land for growing fruits and vegetables is being developed for homes and businesses.”
According to findings published by Envision Utah, Utah’s food production has declined “precipitously” to the point that Utah now produces only 2 percent of vegetables, 3 percent of fruit and 25 percent of its dairy dietary needs.
In order to protect and increase food production in the state, Utahns indicated they did not want to take water or land from agriculture and in fact wanted to put more land into food production. Utahns said they were very willing to:
· Cut back on watering lawns and gardens to ensure we have enough water for agriculture.
· Avoid building on high quality farmland
· Spend more money to bring non-agricultural water to urban areas
Envision Utah’s Your Utah, Your Future campaign became the nation’s largest public outreach effort, gathering nearly 53,000 Utah voices and opinions through a two month online survey that was cross-checked with a Dan Jones random sample survey. The study identified eleven key issues: agriculture, air quality, recreation, disaster resilience, public lands, transportation and communities, housing and cost of living, education, energy, jobs and economy and water. For more information, visit http://envisionutah.org/.
