Locavore Dust-Up At the LA Times

A little back and forth here at the LA Times about the benefits of local food, raw milk, and globalization. Both of them basically say that eating locally has its benefits, but it isn't a magic bullet.

Quote:

And then, of course, there's the question of how many people can be fed locally. Countries like the United States, blessed with superb soils and climate, can indeed feed themselves "locally." But countries like China and India, whose soaring populations have already exceeded their food output, will need imports for the foreseeable future -- in the coming decades, we will probably need more global trade, not less. The challenge will be to find ways to do it sustainably and equitably.

And even here, in the breadbasket of the world, the physical infrastructure needed to distribute local food -- the old farm-to-market roads and rail spurs that once connected farms to cities -- has long since been abandoned or removed to make way for national and global supply chains. By one estimate, the average American community produces just 5% of the food its citizens consume.

If we "can" feed ourselves locally, especially in such a rich agricultural region like the Inland Northwest, why would we not do it?   

Comments

[JM]

What strikes me about a lot of these sorts of articles (see also the "extreme consumerism" article on MSNBC.com) is that the assumption is that locavores _are_ looking for a magic bullet to end all problems in the world when really the point is just what you said at the end: if we can eat locally, why not? I still don't understand the backlash.

[Keith]

I'm up for devil's advocate.

Eating locally is a conscientous decision. When people act conscientously, people are more likely to wonder about the reasoning, and are more likely to challenge. It also challenges the norms of other conscientous people.

If the reason is to eat some good food, you probably won't hear too much squawking. If you think that locavoring will create a sustainable environment for the poor (not saying you are advocating this), well you should invite challenge and backlash... because if you are wrong... then you want to know.

For me and my little leave from the corporate universe, I've had little controversy, no backlash. Pretty mush _nothing_. Trust me. That sucks more.