Good Food is Everybody's Business
Intuitively, the benefit of spending food dollars locally is fairly obvious – right? More dollars circulating locally means greater support to local businesses for a healthier community economy. Simple enough, but in explaining the local multiplier to local food advocates and policy-makers, things can get complicated fast.
Ready to learn all about good food? Here are enough videos to keep you watching for more than one weekend! Pop some corn, put your feet up, and prepare to be moved, inspired, infuriated, and motivated!
So can local be big? Before I answer that question, it might be a good idea to revisit what we mean by local. Some good food policy advocates (including me) are substituting the term “community-based” for “local” to signify that local food systems are based on relationships rooted in place.
Conventional wisdom – that only Big Ag can feed the world – is wrong, or at least much or contested than its champions let on. The latest UN report – Agriculture: Investing in Natural Capital – concludes that green agriculture, characterized by low-tech, highly-skilled methods like restoring and enhancing soil fertility through the increased use of naturally and sustainably produced nutrient inputs; diversified crop rotations; and livestock and crop integration, can indeed feed the world.
Seattle’s Central Co-op – which recently returned to its original name after a 10-year stint as Madison Market – is unique in a number of ways and the Co-op’s very strong personality shows through. The location, the owner membership, and the cooperative structure have turned this market into one of the most politically and socially active co-ops in the Pacific Northwest.
Listen to public radio’s Tavis Smiley as he talks with Will Allen, a former NBA player and the founder/CEO of Growing Power, an urban agriculture and food system that provides fresh fruits and vegetables in urban food deserts.
The MOSES Organic Farming Conference is the largest organic farming conference in the US. Nearly 3000 attended this year’s event, held February 24-26, 2011. The conference is past but it’s not over; there’s lot’s more to learn.
Waves of change have irregularly swept through the realms of food and farms over the decades. There is a new wave of change now, says Chuck Hassebrook, Executive Director of the Center for Rural Affairs, but if we want a better sustainable future, we are going to have to take responsibility for creating it.
