Ok radical idea time
How about a food couterpart to "Chop Forest/Jungle" - like "Mass Hunt" for animal resources?
Mechanics (taking Bison as the resource):
- Worker moves to Bison tile
- You have prequisite tech researched, so "Mass Hunt" shows up, you execute it
- Bison disappears, giving a LARGE quantity of food to the nearest city (probably enough to make it grow a level), some unhappiness/anger for X turns depending on your civics
This IMHO is a good way to offset the game advantage given by Herd events and also helps bill2502's problem