Seasonality is quite interesting. I’m not sure that I can really adjust to not having certain foods during the off-season. Sadly, I’ve become a “want it now” American.

If some sort of crisis forces the halt of fresh food imports, then shopping habits might change, but people will not be happy about it. What we really need is to make local and healthy food more available at a reasonable price. Price is not really an issue with local food as what is in season is usually priced well. Organic foods in grocery stores is another question entirely though. It is seen as specialty item to mark up the margins on. Some people talk about looking for sales on organic food and stocking up. Others look for coupons for organic food. These approaches may work well in urban or upscale communities, but out here in the rest of the U.S. at least it does not work like that. The selection of healthy, organic, or ethical food is limited at best and rarely goes on sale. Sometimes the local Fred Meyer will run a sale on organic dairy or peanut butter, but the biggest seller or organic food here is Costco of all places.

If you are fortunate enough to live in a community with a large food co-op or other large health food store, then your options are better. Most of us, unfortunately do not live in that sort of location. I sort of do, but even here a trip to a store like that from my home is about 25 miles round trip so I don’t get to do it that often.

The other point that I think is really important to touch on is how great the payoff is for eating locally and in season. There is nothing that tastes worse thank cardboard strawberries shipped from California in March, or Peruvian asparagus in December. Sometimes it can even be enough to put someone off that food all together. Whereas when you eat fresh, local fruit and veg in season, it is so much more nutritious and tasty. It really adds to ones appreciation of food.

It is not for everyone because of the extra work required, but I think stressing how great the payoff is can really seal the deal for some people.

Keep up the good work Will.

Thanks for your article. I really like the tone of both your piece and the comment left by Swubird.

I founded a site call Local Fork that is dedicated to these issues. We are just getting started, but we are already offering a suite of tools to CSAs and co-ops to help them organize members and volunteers.

I believe strongly in Swubirds point about the economics, and we are working to develop tools to bring the price of locally-grown foods down to make them as competitive with conventionally-produced foods as possible–both in price and convenience.

I believe that this can work over the long haul or the country at large. The current conventional food system is not going anywhere soon, and is in fact very efficient in some regard. It is important to keep in mind that much of what supermarkets are selling is not food (household cleaners etc.), and it is not clear that there is a benefit to buying those items for a local source.

That said, I am a passionate believer in local eating and strongly am committed to promoting it based sound science and economics.

Thanks again for you article.

You covered this complicated subject brilliantly. I do believe, however, that buying local food and services is subject to supply and demand just like anything else. The greater the delivery cost of food, the more consumers will demand locally grown products. Simple Economics 101. I see examples of it every day all around me, and I think we can thank the good old petroleum industry, and the governmental restrictions placed upon the exploitation of locally available oil reserves, for this positive change to our enlightened consumer behavior. And, of course, none of this would be possible if it were not for the increase in local suppliers. So far, so good. But although this market/consumer strategy seems to work fine for small communities, I wonder if it can work over the long haul for the country at large?

Happy trails.

Swubirds last blog post..THE MAN IN THE PARK