Good Food is Everybody's Business
So can local be big? Before I answer that question, it might be a good idea to revisit what we mean by local. Some good food policy advocates (including me) are substituting the term “community-based” for “local” to signify that local food systems are based on relationships rooted in place.
In The Right Price for Good Food – Part 1, I proposed that the right price for good food depends on whom you’re asking, which may possibly explain why discussions around food prices are so lively. In The Right Price for Good Food – Part 2, I looked at the issue from the farmer’s perspective; today I examine it from the consumer’s perspective.
For those unable to join the Worldwatch Institute’s 15th Annual State of the World Symposium, hosted at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC on January 19th, 2011, we have the full live stream coverage.
Most people who care about good food are at least somewhat aware that the (mostly small) farms which grow good food scrape by financially while farm bill subsidies go to large commodity farms. In this second of three pieces on food prices, our local food systems economist, Viki Sonntag, explores how these subsidies shape market prices and in turn our product choices.
Whether the price is right depends on whom you’re asking, which may possibly explain why discussions around food prices are so lively. It’s almost gotten to the point that we have a tug of war going on between food producers and consumers around what should dictate price, especially now that prices are rising.
The need for aggregating and marketing services is especially great with new and transition farmers. New farmers are challenged to learn the business side of farming while dealing with setting up farm systems. Mid-sized farmers who would like to transition to local markets deal in greater volumes than are typical of direct sales markets. Food hubs can serve these needs.
This research will help city planners, entrepreneurs, community leaders, and citizens understand how urban agriculture can contribute to creating a sustainable food system in a major North American city.
How fundamental is choice to growing a sustainable food economy? In fact, fewer product choices make local alternatives to industrial production viable. Choice at one level of a system might result in less choice at other levels.
