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  • 2,501,137 Family Meals Made Possible
  • 4 Producers Joining Weekly
The Movement image

The Movement

Imagine a world where more of our food was made in America. Perhaps even better, if most of what we ate came from within a few miles from where we live... This aspiration, is very far from what we have today in our communities.

The industrialized food system brought us cheap food that is produced far away by factories and people we don't know. This food, loaded with pesticides is put into wasteful packaging as it prepares to travel long distances consuming significant amounts of fuel. America imports most of its fresh produce from Mexico, Chile, India, China and Thailand - these imports are foods that can and should be produced locally.

The current food system as convenient and cheap as it may be holds repercussions for the environment and impacts the economic well being of our local communities.

We need a better food system

  • Only 9 cents of each dollar actually goes to the farmer while 91 cents of each dollar goes to suppliers, processors, middlemen, and marketers.
  • A typical carrot will travel 1,838 miles to become part of a meal.
  • 35% of food is wasted in transit before it gets to us.
  • In 1866, 1,186 varieties of fruits and vegetables were produced in California. Today, California's farms produce only 350 commercial crops.
  • In the U.S., a wheat farmer can expect to receive about six cents of each dollar spent on a loaf of bread-approximately the cost of the wrapping.

But statistics aside, wouldn't you prefer to eat food that came from your state, or one nearby? Food you can touch, grown at farms you can visit and farmers you know? For that to be possible, we need to address head on the claim that locally grown, fresh food can in fact "scale".

Economy of Community

How does local food scale? The term "economies of scale" is often used in defense of the existing, industrial food system and it was a tough argument to address before the age of the Internet. Much like other industries were revolutionized by the Internet (travel, media, entertainment, financial services), the food industry is ripe for change. The power of local communities combined with the use of technology creates a new kind of scalability - the Economy of Community: When small complementary farms in the same geographic area collaborate with one another in a simple and efficient way, the food needs of the local community can be met and the farms can continue to develop and prosper. Residents of local communities can buy their food directly from local farmers and technology can be used to bring the farmers market to people's homes and workplaces.

This change is about You

People like you are the ones creating the winds of change, enabling farms to grow and local food to be accessible to all. Communities across the country have taken action to support local farms and meet the industrialized food system head on. The growth of farmers market, organic food purchases and community supported agriculture programs is truly inspiring.

Start a Community
  • TechCrunch logo tapping into the web to bring you fresh veggies
  • CNN Money logo farmers can profit
  • Forbes logo innovative technology improving access to local food
  • Wall Street Journal logo shortcut from farm to table