Local food

Local food (also regional food) is a principle of sustainability relying on consumption of food products that are locally grown. It is part of the concept of local purchasing, a preference to buy locally produced goods and services.

Related Topics:
Sustainability - Food - Local purchasing

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The concept is often related to the slogan Think globally, act locally, common in green politics. Those supporting development of a local food economy consider that since food is needed by everyone, everywhere, everyday, a small change in the way it is produced and marketed will have a great effect on health, the ecosystem and preservation of cultural diversity. They say shopping decisions favoring local food consumption directly affect the well-being of people, improve local economies and may be ecologically more sustainable.

Related Topics:
Green politics - Economy - Marketed - Health - Ecosystem - Cultural diversity - Shopping - Well-being - Local economies - Ecologically

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In general, local food is in opposition to the ideas of global free trade. Critics argue that by convincing consumers in developed nations not to buy food produced in the third world, the local food movement damages the economy of third world nations, which often rely heavily on food exports and cash crops.

Related Topics:
Free trade - Consumer - Developed nation - Third world - Economy - Nation - Export - Cash crop

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Critics also say that local food tends to be more expensive to the consumer than regular food and could never provide the variety of foods currently available (such as having summer vegetables available in winter, or having kinds of food available which can not be locally produced due to soil or climate conditions).

Related Topics:
Consumer - Summer - Vegetables - Winter - Soil - Climate

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However, proponents indicate that the lower price of regular food (which is sometimes called cheap food) is often due to a variety of governmental subsidies, including direct ones such as price supports, direct payments or tax breaks, and indirect ones such as subsidies for trucking via road infrastructure investment, and often does not take into account the true cost of the product. They further indicate that buying local food does not necessarily mean giving up all food coming from distant ecoregions, but rather favoring local foods when available.

Related Topics:
Cheap food - Subsidies - Tax break - True cost - Ecoregion

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