What’s So Bad About Local Food?
By Courtney Lowery, 12-04-08
If ever there was an explanation of what keeps many American farmers exclusively focused on the global commodity game - even if they and their communities are losing because of it - it’s thinking like this:
From a story in the Great Falls Tribune covering the Montana Grain Growers conference:
[Conference speaker Tom] Morgan, the one-time vice president of the large Florida vegetable and fruit grower A. Duda & Sons, criticized a National Geographic issue last summer that called for “eating green” through steps such as buying locally from farmers within 30 miles, riding a bike and planting a garden, all of which he called unrealistic and “a bunch of romantic dribble” for most large-city dwellers.
He said modern agriculture requires the safe use of fertilizers, chemicals and genetically engineered crops to feed a growing population with only 7 percent arable land nationwide. Americans pay just 10 percent of their income for food — much less than most of the world — and are allowed to be freed to do other things because farmers and ranchers provide them with food, he added.
Later in the story, several growers are quoted bemoaning rising input costs (read: fuel, fertilizer and chemicals) and the stresses of fluctuating grain prices. Coincidence?
As someone who grew up on 3,000 acres of grain that was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of acres of grain, I know what hard, valuable and critical work growing grain is. But, as someone who also has watched surrounding towns dwindle and small farms like ours crumble under the weight of modern agriculture, I know how important it is —nationally, locally and on each individual farm—to be able to look at “agriculture” as the multi-dimensional sector it is.
Local food and food grown without chemicals is not only where the money is in agriculture right now, it’s where the future is. That’s not to say conventionally grown commodity crops should not be part of the equation. They very much should. But, they shouldn’t be the only part. In order for farmers to stay farmers and rural communities to stay vibrant, agriculture has to be about more than one set of crops all working in one global system. That’s how we make sure the world, and our neighbors too, have food.
So passing local or organic agriculture—or any kind of agriculture that might work for the land, the farmer and the consumer, for that matter—off as fads for urban-dwelling hippies is not only damaging to the nation’s view of agriculture (which is what Morgan was apparently attempting to address in his speech), it’s a dangerous notion for farmers and the communities they sustain.
[End of article]What Tom Morgan calls "romantic dribble" was the norm for all of human history until shortly after World War II. And eating locally and organically only seems expensive until you look at all the hidden costs in taxes, disease and environmental destruction, including global warming.
I recently revisited Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" through some audio interviews with her (available free on iTunes if anyone's interested). She talked about how taxpayers subsidize mainly wheat, corn and soybeans through the Farm Bill. Why don't we subsidize small, organic farmers?
Kingsolver also said Americans now put almost as much petroleum into our refrigerators as we do into our gas tanks. That's sick.
Right on, Courtney!
Comment By Erik Somerfeld, 12-05-08The vast majority of grain (wheat and barley) in Montana leaves this state and goes to the Far East (wheat) or the malt plants of Anhauser-Busch (barley). While I do enjoy a good micro brew like Beltian White from Harvest Moon in Belt, where is the rest of the barley going to go? The wheat that goes to Japan Korea and Taiwan feeds there people. Would you rather plow up more of the Amazon to feed these people? I do believe in eating as much local food as possible, I sell my own beef to locals! The thing is areas that produce the majority of the food are a long way from where most people are.
Comment By Courtney Lowery, 12-05-08Hey Erik -- I'm glad you weighed in.
I'm not saying farmers shouldn't grow wheat or barley around here. (My father, for one, wouldn't stand for that. :) I'm just saying they shouldn't be married to growing only wheat and barley. My point here is that local and organic agriculture shouldn't be poo-pooed because they're popular in urban places -- they should be seen as the opportunities they are. You sell local beef, and you're no Seattle or Portland yuppie. You're a smart farmer who is seeing a local demand and filling it. Sure, you're not going to make all your money off of local (especially in the most rural parts of the state) but what I'm saying here is that farmers should be open to it -- and organics. I think we should see them as opportunities, not just "romantic dribble."
I think I read somewhere that we do not presently have a global food shortage; rather we have an imbalance that tends to drive up costs, as happened recently with small grains, and keeps a quarter of the world starving. I think it is OK for grain growers (and other growers and suppliers) to toot their own horn and do some cheerleading from time to time as long as they do not lose sight of what is really happening in the world right now. Courtney is right on with her assessment.
Comment By vagabond, 12-10-08the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, recently asked his staff to determine how much of the food consumed by San Francisco could be produced within 100 miles of the city. The answer from the study was 75%. While there is always going to be a need to move goods around, just think of the decrease in carbon emmisions, vehicle miles traveled, pollution etc that would be accomplished if there was a real effort to make local food available on a larger scale than just the farmer's markets. Beyond this, the fact that much of our produce sits in huge regional warehouses awaiting shipping and loosing food value is a complete waste.
They did try to put in additional help for local and organic farmers into the Farm Bill, but my understanding is that effort was squashed by the idustrial agriculture lobbying machine.
I have no problem with local food and organics, I know several guys that are making money with organics. Montana has the largest amount of certified organic wheat acres in the US. If there is money in it guys will move to growing it. Look what happened this year after last years record high wheat prices. More acres were planted and the price was going down steadily until the broader market implosion when it collapsed also.
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