Why We Should All Eat Locally

Many regions have declared September “Local Food Month.” It’s not a national celebration yet, but let’s hope it doesn’t become one. Every month should be local food month, and here’s why: 

Good Economics in Difficult Times

Eating local has economic benefits for communities. Just spend Saturday morning at the farmers market and that conclusion seems obvious, the logic inescapable. After all, you hand your money directly to the farmer who grew your food, rather than passing it along a chain of faceless middlemen who take .85 cents out of every dollar you spend at the supermarket. (That’s right, the farmer makes .15 cents or less!)

In contrast, the economic logic of the mainstream food system de-emphasizes place: Different regions can specialize in growing different foods, thereby developing production efficiencies that enable them to offer their products at a lower price. Money flows freely among communities, and everyone gets a more varied diet for less money.

The trouble is, that’s not all that’s going on.

Over the past decade, Ken Meter, president of the Minneapolis-based Crossroads Resource Center, has documented the way the current food system drains money and vitality from farming communities throughout the United States. His study found that farmers in southeastern Minnesota sold an average of $912 million worth of farm commodities every year, but they spent $996 million on seeds, fertilizers, animal feed, pesticides and other inputs—almost all of it bought from out of state. All of the money—and then some—that the region earned from farming was drained right back out of the community by the food system itself.

Similar patterns are found in Iowa, Arizona, Washington and other states around the nation.

According to a report on local food by Sarah DeWeerdt of World Watch Institute, producing local food could reverse this economic drain. If those people in southeastern Minnesota bought just 15 percent of their food from local sources, it would generate two-thirds as much income as all the region’s farmers receive from subsidies. And if the population in and around Seattle, Washington bought 20 percent of their food from local providers, it would inject an extra billion dollars each year into the local economy.

“Every time money changes hands within a community, it boosts the community’s overall income and level of economic activity, and fuels the creation of jobs,” DeWeerdt explains. “The more times money changes hands within the community before heading elsewhere, the better off the community is. And spending money at a locally-owned business has a greater multiplier effect, because locally owned businesses are more likely to respend their dollars locally.”

To date, she reports, no community has actually made a sharp enough shift to realize these economic benefits. Still, government officials appear willing to explore how local food can help bolster rural economies. Last week, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan sent out a memo that highlighted up to $1.24 billion in USDA funds available to help build local food systems. That’s $1.24 billion that could be used to support new farmers markets, community kitchens and local food businesses. Merrigan imagines money going to finance mobile slaughterhouses, to create cooking classes and to market premium, local ice cream or pasture-raised lamb. (Food-preneurs take note: Here’s your chance!)

Getting the Oil Off Your Plate

Besides supporting local economies, there is other important reason to buy local food: American food is simply dripping in oil. Americans consume about 400 gallons of oil per year per person for agriculture, which is a close second to our car usage. Tractors, combines, harvesters, sprayers, tillers and other equipment all use petroleum, but machines are not the real gas-guzzlers on the farm. That dubious honor belongs to synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides that use oil and natural gas as their starting materials, and in their manufacturing. More than a quarter of all farming energy goes into synthetic fertilizers. (Organic farms, which use no synthetic chemicals, use significantly less oil.)

But getting the crop from seed to harvest takes only one-fifth of the total oil used for our food. The lion’s share is consumed during the trip from the farm to your dinner table. Most produce in the U.S.—whether organically or chemically-farmed—is shipped an average of 1500 miles before being sold. Those distances are substantially longer when we import produce from Mexico, Asia, Canada, South America, and other places.

In addition to direct transport, other oil-thirsty steps include processing, packaging, warehousing and refrigeration. Energy calories consumed by production, packaging and shipping far outweigh the energy calories we receive from food. In fact, it is estimated that one can of soda requires 30 calories of energy for each empty, nutritionally-bankrupt calorie of beverage in the can.

We can only afford to eat this way because we subsidize large scale, agribusiness-oriented industrial farming with government handouts and artificially cheap energy. We also externalize the environmental costs of our wasteful food system, transferring our debt to skyrocketing healthcare and environmental remediation expenses. (See 13 Ways to Create a Sustainable Food Tipping Point for solutions to this problem.)

Cheap oil will not last forever though. World oil production has already peaked, and while demand for oil continues to grow, supply will start dwindling within the next 20 years, sending the price of energy through the roof. We’ll then be forced to use energy efficient agricultural methods, like smaller-scale organic agriculture, Permaculture, and local production wherever possible.

How to Become a “Locavore”

People who value local as their primary food criterion are sometimes referred to as locavores. The term “locavore” was coined by Jessica Prentice for World Environment Day 2005 to describe and promote the practice of eating a diet consisting of food harvested from within a 100-150 mile radius of your home.

One easy way to start buying local is to choose one food group to focus on. Vegetables are often a good place to start. Produce also offers a good introduction to eating seasonally—an excellent way to learn about local agriculture. Then, try seeking out sources for local, pasture-raised meat, eggs or dairy. Finally, see if you can find grains locally, or grow a “pancake patch” in your backyard garden.

You can support your local food economy by shopping at the farm market, subscribing to a CSA, visiting a U-Pick farm or farm stand, or by purchasing local produce at your supermarket (though remember the supermarket chain takes .85 cents of every dollar, keeping only .15 cents in the community.)

Naturally, there’s money to be made off of local products, so big businesses have been getting into the game. As you learn to eat locally and seasonally, you’ll want to beware of “localwashing.” Localwashing is a variation on greenwashing, wherein businesses claim to be local to entice you to buy their products, when actually they are not. Use a little common sense: if the food you are buying comes from a corporation, franchise or chain store with headquarters located far away (like Walmart, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Starbuck’s or Frito Lay), their products are certainly not local, and they are draining money from your community.

The Good News

Cheap energy and agricultural subsidies facilitate a type of industrial farming that is destroying and polluting our soils and water, weakening our communities, bankrupting small family farmers, and concentrating wealth and power into a few hands. It is also threatening the security of our food systems, as demonstrated by the continued E. coli, GMO-contamination, and other health scares that are often seen nowadays on the news.

But local, organic food production is a solution to all of these problems, and there is no time better than Local Food Month to begin changing the way we eat. The good news is that if every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week composed entirely of locally and organically raised produce and grass-fed meats, eggs or dairy, we could reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. And by eating local, we would also be helping to create thriving local businesses, economically vibrant communities, and better health and nutrition for our families.

What more could you want?

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays hosted by Food Renegade!