Locavores Revenge

~ Laura

Lots of links about farming lately. 

Andrew Sullivan discusses a new book that says that local food is incompatible with urbanism. 

Small scale famers are creating a new business model. 

I'm Farming and I Grow It.

Published by Laura

4 thoughts on “Locavores Revenge”

  1. Local food is an expensive indulgence, uses lots more energy, even if you buy it in the ‘local’ racks at your supermarket along with your other groceries. You drive to the farmer’s market, get a few kinds of food not in your market basket from the supermarket, and which the farmer brought there in an F150 from thirty miles away, it’s worse. That said, if people like it, and are willing to pay extra for fresher, it’s okay as a consumption good. Just so you don’t tell me you are saving the planet versus my South Carolina carrots from Safeway.

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  2. I shop my farmer’s market for a lot of reasons. The food tastes better and there are more varieties. Also, it’s all organic, and I like supporting local business of any kind. That said, I just bought mangoes and limes that came from Mexico, neither of which I could ever get locally. There’s a balance to be had for sure.

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  3. @dave.s
    It depends on how you eat. A year ago, when I was living in the depths of the ‘hood, deep in urban Philadelphia, 70% of our diet was locally grown from our CSA, food co-ops, and a little creative shopping. I spent an average of $80-100weekly for a family of four.
    If people stop eating junk and packaged foods, it’s pretty darn simple.
    We still keep up about the same percentage of our diet, but we live in the rural suburbs of Boston now. Food costs a bit more, bc everything costs more up here, but local is a lot more accessible bc we live in the middle of farmland.

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  4. I drive 3 miles to my CSA once a week and pick almost all my vegetables there. Sometimes I supplement with the farmers who drive 10 miles to the farmer’s market. I get local eggs from a farmer 10-15 miles out of town who drops off 30 dozen or so for pickup in a neighbor’s refrigerator (where some people also get raw milk).
    Obviously this isn’t available to most people – just one of the advantages of rural living, which partly makes up for the fact that I have to drive an hour and a half to the nearest Thai or Indian restaurant.

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