Wild alternatives: Accounting for and rethinking the relationship between wild game and food security in Appalachian food systems

Abstract

The relationship between wild food and food security among human populations is under researched, particularly in the Global North. Much of the food security research does not account for food provisioning from hunting and foraging despite the prevalence of such practices in human communities. Here we explore the significance of wild big game harvesting in one of the most economically and food insecure states in the United States, West Virginia. We analyzed harvest data of large mammal species hunted in West Virginia from 2012 to 2017 and compare these data to domesticated meat raised and commercially processed within the state. We also compare the game harvest of West Virginia to the harvests of its five neighboring states; Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Maryland. Lastly, we analyzed the potential of these harvests to feed food insecure populations in each state. In West Virginia, we estimate that approximately 10 million pounds of game is harvested each year, a figure that significantly exceeds the domesticated red meat raised and processed within the state by 25% annually. The per capita big game harvest in West Virginia was significantly higher than that of all neighboring states and was enough to provide nearly 40% of the state's food insecure population with red meat for an entire year. To our knowledge, this is one of few studies in the North America that attempts to account for the amount of wild food harvested from the landscape within the context food security. We argue that food systems research may benefit from a similar accounting of wild food when addressing issues of food security and availability.