Locally-Grown Foods Account for Less than 2% of Total Sales in U.S.

[The Straight Story]

Locally-Grown Foods Account for Less than 2% of Total Sales in U.S.

Fueled by a flood of influential books and documentary films, the locally grown foods movement has basked in the media spotlight (including a Time magazine cover in 2007) and enjoyed astronomical growth since the turn of the century. In fact, locally grown food sales totaled about $4.8 billion in 2008–yet accounted for only 1.6% of the $300 billion U.S. agricultural products market. About 107,000 farms (5% of the total) were selling locally in many different ways, including direct to consumer marketing, farmers’ markets, farm-to-school programs, community-supported agriculture, community gardens, school gardens, roadside stands and warehouses that being together locally-grown produce.

The “locavore” movement is still growing, as a recent survey of 1,800 professional chefs by the National Restaurant Association found that three of the top four top menu trends for 2012 will be locally sourced meats and seafood, locally grown produce and “hyper-local items.” Even mega retailer Wal-Mart got into the act, announcing in 2010 its intent to sell more locally grown food.

Responding to popular demand, the government has taken steps to encourage sales of locally grown food, including loans for local food producers, encouragement of local food purchases in schools and child nutrition programs, grants for farmers’ markets, grants for farm-to-school programs, and the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” Initiative, among many others.

However, given the usually higher price of locally grown food and questions about whether locally grown foods could be produced in sufficient quantity to feed local majorities, the profits of corporate agribusiness are probably safe for now.

http://www.allgov.com/Where_is_the_Money_Going/ViewNews/Locally_Grown_Foods_Account_for_Less_than_2_of_Total_Sales_in_US_120219

[russspeakeasy]

1. Sad, but true.

[Warpy]

2. It's great if you live in California.

It's not so great if you live in Minnesota where it can freeze in July or here in the high desert where water is the limiting factor.

Yes, they do grow the best green chile in the world here and we all do gorge ourselves on it, but you can't live on green chile, alone. Thank goodness Mexico is close by. Some varieties of cactus are edible and so is rattlesnake. There are too few elk, deer and even bears to feed us all.

While locovore was the pattern in the 1800s, it was also the pattern to suffer from a whole host of nutritional deficiencies because the local farm diet was often a deficient one.

However, as a fad it's falling flat because so few of us live in places where a varied enough diet is available on farms within a restricted area.

[izquierdista]

7. Only because not enough thought is put into it.

Locavore was standard operating procedure until less than 100 years ago. It was only in the 1920s, when the railroad was put in down to Florida, that citrus fruits became readily available in the northeast. Each new advance in shipping and transportation made more foods available during more times of the year, until now we don't know what "in season" means.

But these advances will disappear without cheap fossil fuels, and at some point, humans are going to have to return to being locavores. That doesn't mean, however, that we will return to a "whole host of nutritional deficiencies because of the local farm diet". It is less than 100 years since the puzzle of pellagra was solved. Now we know better, we know that corn has to be processed in a certain way to prevent vitamin deficiencies. We also know the science behind scurvy, beriberi, and other nutrition deficiency diseases. Humans have adapted to local diets in all climates and environments aside from Antarctica. As long as the local diet has adequate variety to it, most nutritional deficiencies are kept at bay.

As far as quantity of food, you may have a point, since people tend to move into an area and exhaust its resources through overuse. But again, the problem is best solved by thinking it out and planning, growing plants that are well suited for the environment and learning what the limits on carrying capacity are.

[exboyfil]

3. Interesting article in Scientific American Jan. 2012

that discussed that locally grown might not necessarily be the most energy efficient (think carbon emissions). The key is pricing the externalities into non-locally grown food. For example like with maintaining oil and other imports, how much of the defense budget goes to protect these shipping lanes and the investments in foreign countries that allows this to happen. Taking advantage of the inverse seasons also makes sense (getting fruits and vegetables from South America in the winter). This probably makes more sense than large greenhouses.

[MineralMan]

4. It all depends on where you live.

In states like California and other places with a very even climate, being a locovore is easy. In Minnesota, not so much. During a large portion of the year, eating locally doesn't offer a lot of variety in the diet, especially if you don't eat a lot of animal products. It's a PITA to grow most things here for about six months of the year, and our climate zone isn't conducive to many others.

The same thing applies to a big part of the US. So, produce, etc. gets shipped all over the country, and often comes from outside the US. I served strawberry shortcake to my wife and Mother-in-law as part of our Valentine's day dinner. Where did those strawberries come from that I could serve them in Minnesota in February? Mexico, I suppose. The pork chops I served? I didn't check their origins, but they could have been local, I suppose. The asparagus? Mexico, no doubt, although they could have come from one of the southern states. Red potatoes? I have no freaking idea. I also served tail-on cooked shrimp with cocktail sauce in martini glasses. The shrimp came from Thailand, actually, and the cocktail sauce was my favorite from England. The wine? That came from California, and was from a winery near the town my wife and I used to live in.

The meal made everyone very happy. It was my gift to two women in my life. Had I only served what was grown locally, it would have been not as nice a meal.

I like local food. I buy it whenever I can. But, the farmers' markets here won't open until May.

[jwirr]

5. If I am correct this does not include personal gardens like our family have. We grow but we do not

sell. Several gardens supply the whole family (extended). When I was riding the bus in a rural area of our county there was a garden like this at most homes we stopped at.

[madrchsod]

6. i think madison wisconsin still has the largest farmers market in the country

last i read southern wisconsin is second in land use devoted to organic and farmers market produce. there`s no way we will ever be able to return to the family farm and feed 300 million people and many others around the world.

[Marrah_G]

8. I think maybe thats starting to change though

I see alot more local small farmers markets popping up here in the North East. I know I try hard to buy as much locally as I can and urge those around me to do the same. One that started last year near my house has about 5 vendors. Organic Vegetables, cheese, hamburg, pickles, breads are all available there. I'm also fortunate that the meat/cheese farm is located in the town I work in and at the store there they have raw milk, organic free range eggs and sometimes even organic free range pork.

I stopped buying non-organic dairy, especially milk, a couple years ago. It's twice as expensive, but we counteract that by using half as much. I also find that when I buy organic meats I can use half as much and the taste is so satisfying that half is more then enough.

I am a low income mom so I combat the higher food prices by making alots of vegetable heavy soups. My sons like them and they are easy to store and reheat. Last night was a meatball vegetable soup in a tomato base with zucchini and lima beans. It tasted great and was cheap to make. Tonight is a curried pork with summer squash poured over rice. It just takes alot of careful shopping and creative cooking.

[grasswire]

9. my best wishes to you, mom

Feeding kids on a tight budget is something you can be very proud of.

[grasswire]

10. the latest in my area is melons from Honduras

I've gotten used to seeing produce from Chile, from Peru, from Mexico, etc. Honduras is the new California, I guess.

[undeterred]

11. Our local organic co-op sponsored an "eat local" month last year

and I thought it was a great idea. But once I started doing it I realized how hard it is. Here in Southern Wisconsin it certainly is possible to get a lot of good local food, especially in the month they chose- August.

But you have to make a real commitment to seeking it out and it is a lot of work. Having a local store that is sponsoring local producers is awesome. I would say that I was about 20% successful.

Edit: The store was the Willy Street Co-op in Madison Wisconsin.