Time to become a "locavore"

[jpak]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003295327_peirce09.html

The first OK to buy spinach after the big E. coli scare was for crops shipped out of Colorado or Canada. Then the Food and Drug Administration cleared California spinach — except the suspect packages sent out by Natural Selection Foods.

Great. But why is three-quarters of all U.S. spinach grown in California, then shipped to markets as far distant as 3,500 highway miles? And especially at this time of year, when spinach can be grown successfully almost anywhere?

Agribusiness — that's why. Supermarket chains, grocery wholesalers and fast-food producers all calculate that it is easier to maximize sales and profits by buying from big factory farms with reliable yields. Why fool with thousands of small farms or co-ops when you can get a standardized crop, packaged to precise specifications, priced at negotiated levels, trucked and delivered by known shippers? And when planes, ships and instant communications make it easy to import seasonal products from virtually anywhere on the globe?

Small wonder, then, that most of America's farmers must struggle to stay in business and on the land — hundreds of thousands have failed in the past decade. Locally grown food makes up less than 1 percent of the $900-billion food industry.

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[nam78_two]

1. Recommended/nt

[MADem]

2. It's amazing they can still make a profit even with the shipping pipelines

Planes, trains and automobiles....

I prefer local produce. Tastes better. Of course, people who like variety and exotic fruits and veggies aren't going to get some things locally, due to growing conditions, climate and so on.

[Brundle_Fly]

3. here in my city in Canada

We have a massive farmers market every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

I like the local home grown aspect to the whole thing.

I am sure you have this in the states?

[Dragonbreathp9d]

4. My college uses Bon Apitite, a company

who uses only "local" foods (meaning within a 150 mile radius of were it is served). If at all possible, distribute their name to anyone who wants a caterer

[smoogatz]

5. We buy about 60% local; more in summer.

We just bought a hundred lbs of grass-fed beef from a local, certified organic grower; all of our milk and eggs are local organic (delivered to our door by a grease-powered truck from the local coop), and in the summer growing season almost all of our produce comes from the local farmers' market. We also buy local organic lamb and buffalo--which, if you've never tried it, is leaner and tastier than prime beef, but every bit as tender. The drug-free, hormone-free chicken we buy at the grocery store comes from just up the road, outside LaCrosse. Next car will be a hybrid. Then on to thinking about how to generate some of our own electricity.