Local Food

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Forfoods with protected geographical names, see Geographical indicationFarmers' marketLocal food (also regional food or food patriotism) isa principle of sustainability relying on consumption of foodproducts that are locally grown, especially those with regionalhistoric and/or cultural significance. It is part of the concept oflocal purchasing, a preference to buy locally produced goods andservices. Those who prefer to eat local food sometimes call themselves"localvores" or "locavores".The concept is often related to the slogan "Think globally, actlocally, common in politics. Pioneering and influentialwork in the area of local economies was done by noted economist E. F. Schumacher. Those supporting development of a local foodmicroeconomics consider that since food is needed byeveryone, everywhere, every day, a small change in the way it isproduced and marketing will have a great effect onhealth, the ecosystem and preservation of cultural diversity. They say shopping decisions favoring local foodconsumption directly affect the well-being of people, improvelocal economy and may be ecologymore sustainable.In general, local food is in opposition to the ideas of global free trade and hegemony. Critics argue that by convincingconsumers in developed nations not to buy food produced in thethird world, the local food movement damages theeconomics of third world nations, which often relyheavily on food exports and cash crops. Local food networks includecommunity gardens, Food_cooperativecooperatives, Community-supported agriculture (CSA), farmers' markets, and Heirloom_plant. The principledistinction between these systems and other agrifood systems is thespatial dimension. Local food networks have been described as"community-based agriculture" (e.g. Pimbert, et al., 2001), "directagricultural markets" (Hinrichs, 2000), and "localist agriculture"(Hines, et al., 2000). The terms "network" and "system" are sometimesused interchangeably, but there appears to be a preference for"network". Critics also say that local food tends to be more expensiveto the consumer than food bought without regard to provenanceand could never provide the variety currently available (such as havingsummer vegetables available in winter, or having kinds offood available which can not be locally produced due to soil,climate or labor conditions).However, proponents indicate that the lower price ofCommodity food (which is sometimes called cheap food) is often due to a variety of governmentalsubsidy, including direct ones such as price supports,direct payments or tax breaks, and indirect ones such as subsidiesfor trucking via road infrastructure investment, and often does nottake into account the full cost accounting of theproduct. They further indicate that buying local food does notnecessarily mean giving up all food coming from distant ecoregions,but rather favoring local foods when available. What defines local or regional? The definition of "local" or "regional" is flexible and may bedisputed, or modified by industry lobby groups. Some see "local" asbeing a very small area (typically, the size of a city and itssurroundings), others suggest the ecoregion size, while others refer tothe borders of their nation or state.Some proponents of "local food" consider that the term "local" haslittle to do with distance or with the size of a "local" area. Forexample, some see the United States of America state ofTexas as being "local", although it is much larger than someEurope countries. In this case, transporting a foodproduct across Texas could involve a longer distance than that betweennorthern and southern European countries. It is also argued thatnational borders should not be used to define what is local. Forexample, a cheese produced in Alsace is likely to be more"local" to Germany people in Frankfurt, than to Frenchpeople in Marseille.The concept of "local" is also seen in terms of ecology, where foodproduction is considered from the perspective of a basic ecologicalunit defined by its climate, soil, drainage basin,species and local agrisystems, a unit also called anecoregion.Where local food is determined by the distance it has traveled, thewholesale distribution system can confuse the calculations. Fresh foodthat is grown very near to where it will be purchased, may still travelhundreds of miles through the system before arriving back at a localstore. This is seen as a labelling issue by local food advocates, whosuggest that, at least in the case of fresh food, consumers should beable to see exactly how far each food item has travelled.In the international wine industry, much "bulk wine" is shipped toother regions or continents, to be blended with wine from otherlocales. It may even be marketed quite misleadingly as a product of thebottling country. This is in direct opposition to both the concept of"local food" and the concept of terroir. Local food is often equated with organic food Local food is, by definition, food locally grown. Many local foodproponents tend to equate it with food produced by local independentfarmers, while equating non-local food with food produced andtransformed by large agribusiness. They may support resistingglobalization of food by pressing for policy changes and choosingto buy local food. They may also follow the practice of the boycottor buycott.Local food is also often interpreted as being organic farming, or produced by farmers who adopt sustainable andhumane practices, while non-local food is often seen as a result ofcorporation management policy, heavysubsidies, poor animal welfare, lack of care for the natural environment, and poor working conditions. This limitedinterpretation is likely due to the fact that the organic movementis largely responsible for renewed public interest in local andregional markets. Those subscribing to this interpretation often insiston buying food directly from local family farms, through directchannels such as farmers' markets, cooperatives and community-supported agriculture plans. For many,local food is interpreted as processed food, to betransformed by the consumer or local shop rather than by the foodindustry. As such, local food (as opposed to global food) reducesor eliminates the costs of transport, processing, packaging, andadvertising.As large corporations and supermarket distribution increasinglydominate the organic food market, the concept of local food, andsometimes 'Sustainability food', is increasingly beingused by independent farmers, food activists, and aware consumers torefine the definition of organic food and organic agriculture. By thismeasure, food that is organic certification butnot grown locally is viewed as possibly "less organic" or not of thesame overall quality or benefit, as locally grown organic products.Some consumers see the general advantages of "organic" as also investedin "locally grown", therefore local food not grown "organically"may trump generically "organic" in purchase decisions. Also, becauselocal food tends to be fresh (or minimally processed, such as cheeseand milk), as opposed to processed food, the bias against processedfood is often at least implicit in the local food argument. Themarketing phrase, fresh, local, organic, summarizes thesearguments. Impacts of local food systems Transport distance (see also food miles) A goal of a local food system might be to minimize food transportdistance, known as food miles. A consumer report published in2003 by The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdomfound that a selection of 20 fresh food items purchased fromBritish supermarkets had travelled an average of 5,000 mileseach; in North America, an average fresh food transport distance of 1,000-1,500miles is often cited. Transport costs must consider weight as wellas distance. If food is processed, it may lose weight comparedwith unprocessed food. To the extent it is processed nearer production,less weight is transported a longer distance. If it is processed by theconsumer, more weight may be transported, though the trip fromproduction to processing can be avoided. The amount of fossil fuelconsumed and CO2 emissions released in theatmosphere of more local, unprocessed food compared with less local,processed food are thus ambiguous. This issue is addressed by the fieldof regional science. Food quality Another effect could be an increase in food quality and taste.Locally grown fresh food can be consumed almost immediately afterharvest, so it may be sold fresher and usually riper (e.g. pickedat peak maturity, as it would be from a home garden). Also, theneed for chemical preservatives and food irradiation toartificially extend shelf-life can be reduced or eliminated.One food quality argument holds that better nutrition results whenpeople eat food grown in the ecoregion in which they live. The generaltheory is that regional conditions affect the composition of plantsand animals, and eating local provides an optimized nutritional fit.Scientifically, this has neither been proven nor disproven. Gastronomy Additionally, preserving or renewing regional foodways, includingunique localized production practices, indigenous knowledge,agricultural landscapes, and local/regional landraces of crops orlivestock that may be rare or otherwise endangered. It is increasinglybeing tied to the movement to preserve farmland (farming) in areaswhere development pressures threaten these landscapes. Polyculture and sustainable farming A major potential effect of local food systems is to encouragemultiple cropping, i.e. growing multiple species and a wide varietyof crops at the same time and same place, as opposed to the prevalentcommercial practice of large-scale, single-crop monoculture.With a higher demand for a variety of agricultural products, farmersare more likely to diversify their production, thereby making it easierto farm in a Sustainability way. For example, winterintercropping (e.g. coverage of legume crops duringwinter) and crop rotation may reduce pest (animal)pressure, and also the use of pesticides. Also, in an animal/cropmulticulture system, the on-farm byproducts like manure and crop residues may be used to replace chemical fertilizers, whileon-farm produced silage and leguminous crops may feed thecattle instead of imported soybean. Manure and residuesbeing considered as by-products rather than waste, will havereduced effects on the environment, and reduction in soya import islikely to be economically interesting for the farmer, as well as moresecure (because of a decrease of market dependence on outside inputs).In a polycultural agroecosystem, there is usually a more efficient useof human capital (labour) as each crop has a different cycle ofculture, hence different time of intensive care, minimization of risk(lesser effect of extreme weather as one crop can compensate foranother), reduction of insect and disease incidence (diseasesare usually crop specific), maximization of results with low levels oftechnology (intensive monoculture cropping often involves veryhigh-technology material and sometimes the use of genetically modified organisms). Multiculture alsoseeks to preserve indigenous biodiversity.These farming approaches happen to be the essence of the sustainableorganic farming approach, although local farming is at presentpredominantly not, and is not required to be, strictly "organic" from acertification standpoint. Local economies Local food production could strengthen local economies by protectingsmall farms, local jobs, and local shops, thereby increasing food security. One example of an effort in this direction iscommunity-supported agriculture (CSA), where consumers purchase advanceshares in a local farmer's annual production, and pick up their shares,usually weekly, from communal distribution points. In effect, CSAmembers become active participants in local farming, by providingup-front cash to finance seasonal expenses, sharing in therisks and rewards of the growing conditions, and taking part in thedistribution system. Some CSA set-ups require members to contribute acertain amount of labor, in a form of cooperative venture.The popular resurgence of farmers markets in many parts of theworld, including Europe and North America, contributes to localeconomies. They are traditional in many societies, bringing togetherlocal food and handicraft producers for the convenience oflocal consumers. Today, some urban farmers markets are large-scaleenterprises, attracting tens of thousands on a market day, and vendorsare not always "local". However, the majority of markets are stillbuilt around local farmers.Another at present small but notable trend is local food as part of abarter system. In localized economies, where a variety of commongoods and services are provided by individuals and businesses withinthe immediate community (as opposed to by outlets and branches of largecorporations), a direct of exchange of values is quite feasible. SomeCSA projects, for example, trade services or labor for food.Particularly in the developed nations, the move away from local food toagribusiness over the last 100 years has had a profound socioeconomiceffect, by redistributing populations into urban area areas,and concentrating ownership of land and capital. In addition, thetraditional farming skill set, which by necessity included a diverserange of knowledge and abilities required to manage a farm, has givenway to new generations of specialists. When farming for localconsumption was a cornerstone of local economies, the farmer was anintegral, leading member of the community, a far different positionfrom today. Support for local food is seen by some as a way torediscover valuable community structures, values and perspectives.

Criticism of the local food movement Critics of the local food movement point out that transport is only onecomponent of the total environmental impact of food production andconsumption. In fact, any environmental assessment of food thatconsumers buy needs to take into account how the food has been producedand what energy is used in its production. For example, it is likely tobe more environmentally friendly for tomatoes to be grown in Spain andtransported to the UK than for the same tomatoes to be grown ingreenhouses in the UK requiring electricity to light and heat them.An extensive studyhttp://www.lincoln.ac.nz/story_themes/main/images/2328_RR285_s6508.pdf Food Miles– Comparative Energy/Emissions Performance of New Zealand’s AgricultureIndustry by Lincoln University of Christchurch New Zealand refutesclaims about food miles by comparing total energy used in foodproduction in Europe and New Zealand, taking into account energy usedto ship the food to Europe for consumers."New Zealand has greater production efficiency in many foodcommodities compared to theUK. For example New Zealand agriculture tends to apply less fertilisers(which require large amounts of energy to produce and cause significantCO2 emissions) and animals are able to graze year round outside eatinggrass instead large quantities of brought-in feed such as concentrates.In the case of dairy and sheepmeat production NZ is by far more energyefficient even including the transport cost than the UK, twice asefficient in the case of dairy, and four times as efficient in case ofsheepmeat. In the case of apples NZ is more energy efficient eventhough the energy embodied in capital items and other inputs data wasnot available for the UK."Given the high level of subsidies required to support many foodproducers in the European Union, this is also seen as an indicator ofthe inefficient resource use from farming in Europe, compared to low orunsubsidised producers in Australia and New Zealand. See also

Slow Food
FARMA

External links

"Seeing Red" by Barbara Kingsolver
"No Bar Code" by Michael Pollan
Local Fair Trade Network
Certified & inspected Farmers' Markets in the UK
LocallyGrown.net -- Hybrid Internet/physical farmers markets throughout the US
Localvore
Network of European Alimentary Culture
f3 - making local and sustainable food happen
Local Farmer Network
Cook Here and Now -- Local and seasonal cooking group
Farm shops in the UK
Farm Shop Portal - Supporting British farmers to sell their locally grown food
BigBarn - find local food producers in the United Kingdom
Spade & Spoon: Localizing the Way Westerners Eat
National Farmers' Retail & Markets Association, supporting farmers selling local foods direct in the UK