Comments on: Why Most Food Could Never Be “Local”

By: Eat Local Challenge – Eat Drink Better

Eat Local Challenge – Eat Drink Better — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 20:47:11 +0000

[...] There are of course some things that make eating locally difficult: [...]

By: Four Great Reasons to Garden (Beyond the Food) : Eat. Drink. Better.

Four Great Reasons to Garden (Beyond the Food) : Eat. Drink. Better. — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:01:10 +0000

[...] often write posts about the practical limitations of “local food,” but I am a huge advocate of the “very most local food” - that which comes [...]

By: The Local Food That Matters The Most : Eat. Drink. Better.

The Local Food That Matters The Most : Eat. Drink. Better. — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:01:51 +0000

[...] you have read some of my earlier posts you know that I see a positive, but actually quite limited role for “local food.” But there is a situation where the increased production of [...]

By: ashey

ashey — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:47:11 +0000

The best way I’ve found to “eat locally” is to grow your own crops. This may not be as efficient as some corporate farming ventures, but it ensures that your food hasn’t gone a mile on the back of fossil fuels and give you the freedom to eat whatever you want to grow (especially if you have a greenhouse/greenhouse setting).

It’s obviously impractical to eat only local food, especially considering how humans were so mobile in the beginning and probably ran into different areas with different vegetation often, but it’s not impossible to greatly reduce your impact.

I live in California, so I guess I’m spoiled with the local production factor.

By: Cody

Cody — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:19:26 +0000

Have you factored in how shifting away from animal agriculture might affect these statistics? We currently feed over half of all the grains we grow in the US to livestock (in fact, some estimates say the amount of grain we feed to livestock in the US alone could feed three quarters of a million people).

At any rate, there’s always greenhouses for the places that have low levels of arable land

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:33:22 +0000

I think you’re off on a lot of your points. I live in Maine — not usually considered an easy place to grow vegetables, given our wintry climate — and our local farmers are able to grow lots of potatoes, root vegetables, corn, apples, and everything else I could want to eat. If it’s not available in the wintertime, harvest it in the fall and put it in your root cellar. Our local organic co-op carries lots of organic whole wheat flour grown here in Maine. What’s the problem? Published researcher Eliot Coleman grows an incredible variety of greens and vegetables all year long here in Maine in unheated hoophouses. If you’re creative and inventive, you can eat locally all year ’round, unless perhaps you live in the far north.

By: russ

russ — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:35:07 +0000

İ do it the easy way. Every weekend İ make a trip to the open market 3 km distant – the other days it moves to other villages.

İ buy what tastes and looks best – where the veggie guy gets it is his problem.

By: Organic Grass-Fed Beef

Organic Grass-Fed Beef — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:33:46 +0000

I enjoyed your post. If I may, I would like to suggest my farm web site.

Sumas Mountain Farms is the only producer of 100% certified-organic, lifetime grass-fed & finished beef in the Lower Mainland of BC (Canada). We also offer chicken, eggs, pepperoni, jerky, salami, sausage, farmer sausage, and more.

Because our beef is 100% grass-fed & finished, the quality of the meat is exceptional, and the flavor is unsurpassed. Plus, it is more nutrient-dense and packed with healthful Omega-3′s than conventional beef, which is healthier for you, your family, and the planet.

Please visit http://www.sumasmountainfarms.ca/ for more information! We have plenty of recipes for you to try.

Thanks.

By: Steve Savage

Steve Savage — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:44:34 +0000

Evz,
There is nothing wrong with eating local to the extent that is practical, but this is not the way that the “Local Food Movement” presents itself. It has a strong tendency towards self-righteousness and towards needing to denigrate the farmers who don’t meet their definition of sufficiently local. There are potentially good aspect and there is definitely a good deal of pretension.

By: Evz

Evz — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:15:35 +0000

As often is the case with humans, I think folks get too caught up in labling & definitions. The gist of the ‘local food’ movement seems to be (to me) that

1. Fresh food tastes better, and sometimes (depending on growing method/ soil/ etc.) can have higher nutritional content.
2. Community-supported agriculture can be good for growers, by ‘cutting out the middleman’ and selling directly to consumers.
3. There is often improved biodiversity/ available varieties of a given food, compared to situations where uniform maturity/ sturdiness during transport/etc. drives (large-scale/ distant) production.
4. There tends to be less waste (packaging) and pollution (shipping), and sometimes (depending on the grower) less pesticide with potential effects on waterways etc.
5. Food security is impacted by individuals or communities being 100% dependent on distant suppliers; biodiversity of food crops (positively impacted by small-scale growers/ backyard gardeners) reduces risk of events like the Irish potato famine, where one blight/ pest/ etc. can knock out huge swaths of the food supply.

The more food I grow myself, the less I need to buy; that’s ‘local food’, but not ’cause I’m a locavore. I buy honey & eggs from local keepers/ farmers I know personally, since I know they treat their critters well; that’s something I can’t check on, with distant producers. In the traditionally poor area where I work, no grocery store exists… it’s just not profitable. So most kids I work with can’t identify a pear, or celery: they eat only Ramens & Little Debbies, from the Circle-K… A community garden or ‘edible schoolyard’ there would be the only realistic ways that this neighborhood could have consistent access to healthy whole foods (hopefully c.g. will be up & running this spring — woohoo!)…

There are lots of reasons to eat local food *as much as possible*… what’s the problem with maximizing local resources, and going from there? Obviously different regions have different levels of locavorability… so? Let’s make the most of what we’ve each got, and be happy with that… I don’t think anyone (even you, Steve!) is saying that local food has to be ‘all or nothing.’ But I think it could definitely be MORE than it is now! (To our common benefit.)