KitchenCosmologyNourishing Engagement with the Living Universe

"The problem for farmers is that food has lost its dignity. If you have no dignity, you have no hope. Food has no value (in this country)." John Kinsman, Founder, Family Farm Defenders

"Taste is not merely in our taste buds, but in our knowledge. Knowledge adds to our pleasure in eating." Prof. Jack Kloppenburg in Hope's Edge

The average "fresh" food item now travels 1,500 miles from its point of production to final purchase.

Ten Great Reasons to Eat Locally

10.  Eating local eliminates wasteful and unnecessary food costs. Buying food locally saves energy and eliminates wasteful spending for packaging and advertising, which together account for more than 20% of total food costs. Industrial producers keep food costs artificially low by putting some of their costs onto the environment – for example, industrial food prices don’t include the costs of using non-renewable resources, of polluting air and water, or of depleting soil. While eating local may not be cheaper for us as individuals in the short term, over the long term there is an enormous cost to our children and grand-children if we don’t make this shift.

9.    Eating local is good for the environment by reducing transportation. The average fresh food travels about 1,500 miles from its point of production to final purchase. Energy for transportation is virtually all derived from non-renewable fossil fuels. In addition, transportation is a major contributor to air pollution, particularly carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. Eating local can make a significant contribution to sustainability, and makes a strong personal statement in favor of reducing our reliance on non-renewable energy and protecting the natural environment.

8.   Eating local leads to more delicious eating and a deeper connection to place. Local foods are fresher, more flavorful and more nutritious than similar foods shipped from distant locations. Growers who produce for local customers can focus on qualities of freshness, nutrition and taste rather than giving priority to harvesting, packing, shipping and shelf life qualities. Eating local also encourages eating seasonally, in harmony with the natural energy of a particular place, which helps connect us to the larger Earth community.

7.   Eating local makes at-home eating worth the time and effort. The superior quality of local foods allows almost anyone to prepare really good foods at home with a reasonable amount of time and effort. Chefs at high-end restaurants prefer locally grown food in part because of its ease of preparation. Fresh local foods taste good naturally, and require little or no cooking and minimal seasoning. Preparing fresh foods at home also saves money – particularly compared with convenience foods – which makes really good food affordable for almost anyone willing to spend a little time in the kitchen.

6.   Eating local provides more meaningful food choices. Americans often brag about the incredible range of choices available in our supermarkets. While shoppers are confronted with a vast array of sizes, shapes and colors of foods from every corner of the world, in fundamental ways our food choices are severely limited. Virtually all of the food items in supermarkets and franchise restaurants are produced using the same mass-production, industrial methods, with the same negative consequences for the environment and for our health and social fabric. In addition, most of the foods available today are created from a very small range of raw ingredients – corn, sugar and wheat primarily.  By eating local, food buyers can purchase foods that are authentically different, not just in physical qualities but also in the ecological and social consequences of how they are produced.

5.    Eating local contributes to the local economy. American farmers receive only about 20 cents of each dollar spent for food – the other 80 cents covers processing, transportation, packing and other marketing costs. Farmers who sell food direct to local customers receive the full retail value, a dollar for each food dollar spent. Overall, studies have found that the local food economy gains about three dollars for each dollar lost when food shoppers choose to buy from local farmers rather than from supermarkets and fast food restaurants.

Of the 20 cents that the average American farmers receives from each dollar spent on food, 85% or more goes to cover the costs of fertilizer, fuel, machinery, and other production expenses – items typically manufactured and often provided by suppliers outside of the local community. Farmers who sell locally often get to keep half or more of each food dollar they receive because they purchase fewer commercial production inputs. Those who sell locally also tend to spend locally, both for their personal and their farming needs. So, eating local contributes to both the local food and farm economies.

4.   Eating local helps save farmland. More than one million acres of U.S. farmland is lost each year to residential and commercial development. We are still as dependent upon the land for our survival as when we were hunters and gatherers, and future generations will be no less dependent. An acre lost to development may mean an acre lost forever from food production. Eating local creates economic opportunities for farmers to care for their land, even when confronted by development pressures. Their neighbors are their market, as well as their community. When we are willing to pay the full ecological and social costs of food, farms will become wonderful places to live on and to live around.

 3.   Eating local allows people to reconnect. The industrial food system was built on a foundation of impersonal relationships among farmers, food processors, food distributors and consumers. Its economic efficiency demands that relationships among people, and between people and nature, be impartial and thus impersonal. As a result, many of us have no meaningful understanding of where our food comes, and no understanding of the consequences of its production. By eating local, people reconnect with local farmers, and through them to the earth itself. We cannot build a sustainable food system – or a sustainable planet – until we develop a deep understanding of our dependency upon each other and upon the earth.

2.      Eating local restores integrity to the food system. When people eat locally, farmers form relationships with customers who care about how their food is produced – not just lower price, more convenience or even an organic label. Those who eat locally form relationships with farmers who care about their land, care about their neighbors, and care about their customers – not just about maximizing profits and growth. Such relationships become relationships of trust and integrity, based on honesty, fairness, compassion, responsibility and respect.

1.      Eating local helps build a sustainable society. The underlying problems of today’s food and farming systems are reflections of deeper problems within the whole of industrialized society. We are degrading the ecological integrity of the earth and the social integrity of our society in the pursuit of economic self-interests. As we begin to realize the inherent benefits of relationships of integrity within local food systems, we will begin the process of healing the ecological and social wounds that plague us.  The number one reason for eating local is to help build a new, sustainable and humane society.

Adapted from an article by John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri. Prof. Ikerd’s website, www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd is a great source of articles and information about sustainable agriculture, the future of small farms, community development and other related topics.