This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. we believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
FAIR USE NOTICE FAIR USE NOTICE: This page may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This website distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for scientific, research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107.
FAIR USE NOTICE FAIR USE NOTICE: This page may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This website distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for scientific, research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107.
Jason Best has worked for Gourmet and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“Eat local,” they say—but where is local eating the easiest?
A Vermont-based group has released its annual ranking of states based
on the availability of local food to the average citizen. It’s the
third annual Locavore Index to be compiled by Strolling of the Heifers (here's a hint for the complete story on where thatquirky name came from: It’s a play on Pamplona’s running of the bulls).
How does a relatively small nonprofit tally the availability of local
food nationwide? It’s pretty clever, really. The index comprises four
publicly available statisticsper state:
• Number of farmers markets
• Number of CSAs
• Number of food hubs (i.e., “facilities that handle the aggregation,
distribution and marketing of foods from a group of farms and food
producers in a region”)
• Percentage of school districts with farm-to-school programs
The first three are divided per 100,000 residents. Farmers markets
and CSAs are weighted at 30 percent each, while food hubs and
farm-to-school programs are weighted at 20 percent.
That gives you a pretty decent idea of which states are most
convenient when it comes to buying and eating locally grown and raised
food, although it’s worth noting that the model doesn’t measure per
capita consumption (that is, ranking access to local food doesn’t equate
with ranking how much of it is being bought—a difficult thing to
evaluate, to be sure).
So which states make it easiest to eat local? Here are the top 10:
1. Vermont
2. Maine
3. New Hampshire
4. Oregon
5. Hawaii
6. Rhode Island
7. North Dakota
8. Wisconsin
9. Montana
10. Iowa
That Strolling the Heifers’ home state of Vermont ranks No. 1 for the
third year in a row might raise some eyebrows (though I guess the
numbers don’t lie), but there are some other surprises here too. You go,
Rhode Island and North Dakota! For all the lament that the nation’s
farm belt has been given over to mega crops of transgenic corn and
soybeans, it’s also heartening to see Iowa make an impressive showing.
As for two big, generally progressive states where enthusiasm for
local food would appear to be strong, New York (home to all those quaint
Hudson Valley farms) ranks a decidedly middling 23, while California
(hello, Alice Waters) comes in at a fairly shocking 38. [still doesn't answer why CA was so low, just that it was...]
That doesn’t quite land the Golden State in the list of the 10 worst states for access to locally grown food. Those are
The premise behind Strolling the Heifers’ Locavore Index is even more
interesting to consider in light of Walmart’s surprise announcement
that it’s “rolling back” the price of a hundred or more organic items
big-time. As Forbes reports:
“Walmart’s new Wild Oats organic products—including kitchen cupboard
staples like olive oil and black beans—will cost about 25 percent less
than those sold by competitors, based on price comparisons of 26
national brands.”
The move is being hailed as another boon for the already burgeoning
organic food industry—but therein lies the rub. Since the USDA came up
with a legal standard for just what the “organic” label means more than a
decade ago, consumer interest in organic food has soared (sales growth
of organic products has routinely outpaced conventional groceries in
recent years, often by double digits).
Yet that’s transformed organics into an industry, which
critics say more or less misses the point: Food produced on an
industrial scale doesn’t necessarily (or even likely) support local
farms, nor does it address environmental concerns such as carbon
pollution. Those organic bananas still have to be shipped all the way
from Central America.
So as Walmart seeks to go head-to-head with Whole Foods, it seems
“local” today may very well be what “organic” was a decade ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment