Discussion on the Social and Environmental Benefits of Local Food.

Worldwatch Live Online Discussion

Brian Halweil: Senior Researcher

November 22, 2002 - 12:00pm EDT

We are very happy to talk with Worldwatch Research Associate Brian Halweil about the environmental and social benefits of eating locally grown food. The current long-distance food system in industrial countries has eliminated small farmers and good flavors, and consumes large amounts of fuel for transportation.

Richard Bell, Worldwatch Institute: Welcome to this week's chat with Brian Halweil, who will be talking with us about the many virtues of eating locally grown food. Thanks for joining us today Brian.

Brian Halweil: Thanks for getting us started, Dick.

I look forward to the discussion.

Boston, MA: I like the idea, but how practical is this for most people? I don't think my supermarket carries any local produce, even in the summer time when there's local vegetables around. Any ideas?

Brian Halweil: I suppose the fact that this isn't practical for lots of people at this point is part of the point. Even in communities with active farmers markets, people might only have access to the market on one or two days a week, whereas most busy shoppers have come to expect one-stop shopping outlets open seven days a week.
The challenge is recreating that same sort of convenience for consumers, but also pushing local produce into supermarkets, restaurants, and other food businesses.
More on this as the chat develops.

Columbus, OH: So how far is too far?Do you really think that we're all going to go back to eating food that's only coming 50 miles or something?

Brian Halweil: This is a good question, and different people will define it differently. Joan Gussow, the head of Columbia University's nutrition department, suggests buying food from farms that you can reach in a leisurely afternoon drive. This criteria will help preserve a living/working farmscape in the area surrounding you, perhaps a 200 miles radius.
No, right now it isn't practical for people to depend only on food grown within 50 miles. But all of us can begin to eat more and more food grown close to us, and just this shift will have a major impact on oil dependence, local farm economies, and the diversity of food available to us.

St. Louis, MO: I eat as much locally grown stuff as I can find, but what about the winter time? No one's growing anything around here then. I have a friend who cans stuff, but I don't think people really want to go back to canning their own food, do you?

Brian Halweil: Extension of the season used to be something that every community did, through canning, through root cellars, through greenhouses and cold frames. Many of these practices have fallen off, of course, simply because most people don't want to can. (Although analysts note some resurgence of interest in these oldways.)
What your question points to is how much will have to be rebuilt and relearned in order to revive local food systems.
Farmers will have to increase the diversity of their plantings in order to assure food is harvested and available throughout the year, including into the winter months.
Consumers will need to relearn cooking skills and a sense of what is seasonally available.
These changes will not be easy or rapid, but they are already happening because the benefits of local food--fresher, tastier cuisine and more money retained in the farming community--are so compelling.

Santa Barbara CA: So ... what ought we to do? Is information/disclosure enough (e.g. toxic release inventory) or ought we to have a 'sustainable' agriculture standard, rather than an 'organic' one?

Brian Halweil: During the release of "Home Grown" in Washington, DC, yesterday, the discussion came around to just this topic. One local organic farmer said organic is great and the arrival of new standards is a good first step, but we need to go beyond organics to begin thinking about all of the other elements of the food system that are not covered in organic standards.
I agree and my own thoughts are that organic expose people to the idea that they need to know more about where their food comes from and how it was produced. You will never be able to get as much info about what has been done to your food as when you can interact directly with the farmer.
In supermarkets, basic state-of-origin or country-of-origin labeling can replicate a part of this, especially for people who don't have ready access to farmers markets.

Wheeling, WV: How can I find out if there's any local growers' market where I live? Thakns.

Brian Halweil: Two websites to check out for this info:
www.localharvest.org
www.foodroutes.org

Your local university/college agricultural office should also have this info.

Washington, DC: How can you tell whether produce is really locally grown? I go to a farmers' market in DC, but sometimes I wonder whether they're just getting the stuff off the wh9lesale loading docks.

Brian Halweil: Some farmers markets are producer-only, and others (like Eastern Market or the Adams Morgan farmers market in DC) allow some wholesale produce.
You just have to ask. At producer-only markets, the organizers and farmers make a big deal about assuring that all the produce is local and producer-grown, since this is an important and valuable characteristic to preserve.

Portland, OR: If everyone started buying local food, what happens to all the farmers in Mexico or Barzil who're making a living growing stuff that gets exported to us? Didn't the IMF tell them to get into exports?

Brian Halweil: In the research I did for "Home Grown," I found that the supposed benefits of export agriculture are not as straightforward as many economists or IMF officials would argue. There are plenty of studies from North America, Asia, and Africa showing that the farmer growing export crops actually gets a very tiny slice of the profit made on those exports; most of the profits go to the trader, broker, exporter, shipper--the people at the other end of the food chain. There is good evidence that freer trade in agricultural goods does not benefits farm communities, and they might even suffer. (And what happens when currencies fluctuate or world commodity prices tank, and all of a sudden Mexico can't afford to import cheap American corn and Mexico's exports of garlic and avocadoes aren't worth anything?)
Yes, the IMF has encouraged nations around the world to emphasize export agriculture, but I would argue that boosting food self-reliance can help developing nations retain precious foreign exchange, reduce exposure to the whims of international markets, and inject money into the national economy.

Denver, CO: Are their any nutritional advantages to locally grown food? Tomatoes, I can taste a difference, but what about vitamins and minerals?

Brian Halweil: No doubt about the taste advantage, and food scientists have done double-blind taste tests comparing farmers market produce and supermarket produce, and the local produce wins hands down. (Although the supermarket produce often wins some points on appearance.)
There is very little good research on nutritional advantages of local vs. long-distance produce. We know that some nutrients degrade quickly after harvest, but this degradation can be slowed with refrigeration, so a lettuce shipped across the country in a refrigerated truck might degrade less than a local head of lettuce that sits on the farmers truck in the sun for a few hours before being brought to market.
The big question that also has not been examined is what are the nutritional impacts of harvesting produce before the peak of ripeness to withstand the rigors of shipping? My guess is that certain key vitamins and minerals are laid down in those last stages of ripening, which get cut short if you have to harvest early.
Finally, we do have some evidence that when produce is breed to withstand the rigors of shipping, that might mean that we breed away from other traits, like good taste or high nutritional value.

Pittsburg, PA: How come veggies that are shipped all the way acorss the country don't cost more? Why can't local growers sell their produce cheaper, if they don't have to pay for all that shipping and handling?

Brian Halweil: One additional point on the previous question. An estimated half of all tomatoes grown in the US are harvested and shipped green and ripened artificially upon arrival. . .

Long-distance produce benefits from a range of subsidies and policies. Veggies from across the country can cost less because petroleum and road transport are both heavily subsidised, so the shipping cost is actually a very small share--a few percent--of the total cost.
There is also a scale issue at play. A broccoli grower in California with 1,000 acres of the crop can afford to sell the crop for a low price and make up their profit on volume. A local grower with 2 acres of broccoli doesn't have the high transport costs and doesn't have lots of middlemen to pay, but they may have to charge a higher price per head of broccoli since they are selling a much smaller volume in total.
In my report, I do cite several studies that show that local produce can be less expensive, especially when in season, but this will not always be the case. But the bottom line is that long-distance produce is artificially cheap because so many of the associated costs (oil dependence, road congestion, subsidies) are not included in the price the consumer pays.

Brookline, MA: Can you discuss the types of public education that you think are most effective in efforts to promote the values of eating locally?

Brian Halweil: Wow. Public education on this topic could be endless, with some programs designed for farmers and food industry executives and others for agricultural scientists and chefs.
I am most excited about efforts targetted at children, partly because child nutrition is so abysmal in the United States (and increasingly other countries) but partly because school is a setting in which kids regularly eat and it's a perfect opportunity to teach children good eating habits and give them some background on how the food supply functions.
Some of the most innovative programs include efforts to revamp school menus to incorporate more local and seasonal ingredients into the menus, to plant school gardens that might supply part of the school's food and that the children maintain, and then incorporating food and farming examples into educational lessons (math, physics, etc.).
There was a study recently out of Texas that showed that kids exposed to gardening were much more likely to try new vegetables and to regularly want vegetable in their meals.

Memphis, TN: This kis kind of s stupid question, but do you know what kinds of foods travel the furtherest, things we eat a lot of, like maybe kiwi berries?

Brian Halweil: It's a good question because these furthest-traveling foods might be good candidates to avoid. Lots of kiwi's in the US are grown in California, though we do get some from New Zealand, which means they're traveling farther than most other foods. Ironically, the most perishable goods are often shipped the farthest--delicate fruit and veggies that need to be kept cool and therefore consume staggering levels of energy relative to their nutritional value.
My own personal preference is to eat as much of my produce locally as possible, which means lots of cabbage and root crops in the winter.
Right now, it's harder for me to assure all my grain products are local, but grains and other dry goods don't have to be refrigerated when shipped and can be carried on boats and trains which are relatively efficient compared to perishables and frozen foods flying on planes.

Columbia, MO: Hi Brian -- Do you think we'll see a move toward the European system of label of origin or eco-labeling of food products in the U.S?

Brian Halweil: Already seeing it in some supermarkets and on lots of packaged foods. It will take a while for lots of food shops and stores to shift over, and employees will need to be more informed about the food. (The few times I've asked a supermarket employee where some type of produce is from, I usually got a strange, blank look.)
Some Scandinavian countries are taking this eco-labeling to another level with meat having a barcode that can be electronically scanned by the shopper and a computer screen that gives very detailed info on the farm where the animal was raised, what it ate, and maybe even a picture of the animal!

Atlanta, GA: I'm getting really confused here. Local doesn't mean organic does it? I've been buying organic carrots, but they're all coming from california or someplace. If I had a choice, should I go for local/nonorganic, or nonlocal/organic?

Brian Halweil: Right, local doesn't mean organic, although both of these distinctions have been in the news lately and there is more and more interest in them both.
My idealist answer is get BOTH local and organic produce if you can. If you have the choice, and pesticide sensitivity is not that big a issue for you, go local since this choice is going to mean you are protecting local farmland and local farmers, which you can one day encourage to go organic. And tell your local market that you want local organic carrots when they are available.

Minneapolis, MN: In the summer, I buy produce from roadside stands, and there's plenty of it. But you go into the store, and they're still selling the same out-of-state stuff they sell in the wintertime. Why don't stores buy local stuff when it's available?

Brian Halweil: Great question, and this gets to the heart of some previous questions. Right now in Washington, DC, the local farmers market is overflowing with greens, but all of the supermarkets (including ones that emphasize natural and organic foods) are stocked with greens from California and beyond.
There is a very basic scale obstacle to more local food in supermarkets and that is that supermarkets do not want to deal with several dozen, small local growers; it is much easier for them to deal with a few big wholesalers or distributors who can guarantee them a high volume of produce year-round.
What is need are ways to make it more convenient for grocers (including even the Wal-Mart's of the world) to source food locally. Marketing cooperatives, in which dozens of farmers get together to offer a buy a diversity of products and to share a marketing person, can help. So can some local food buying policies in supermarkets. The Wegman's supermarket chain gives their produce managers bonuses for meeting a certain quota of local food, because they know it will be a big draw for customers.

Ithaca, NY: We've got a great farmers' market here, it's almost like going to a fair when you go there. But I wonder what the ag school at Cornell is teaching people about this kind of farming? Do you know anthing about what ag schools and land grant colleges are doing on local and organics?

Brian Halweil: The short answer is "not much"? A recent study from the Organic Farming Research Foundation in California found that of the tens of thousands of research acres at American land grant colleges, only about 100 were certified organic, and almost all of these were at one school. Emphasis on promoting local food is also tiny.
This doesn't mean there isn't lots of potential for change, and I think that the resources and infrastructure of the land grant schools could be an incredible force for local food. In a few situations, you see agricultural extensionists helping local farmers supply the university cafeterias; some ag schools are also helping to set up farmers markets. I've just got to imagine that more and more extensionists are seeing their "clients" (farmers) falling off in numbers, and that's demoralizing, and they're looking for some alternative to help local farmers improve their income.
But we are talking about a complete rethinking of the role of farmers in the food chain and the role of ag schools.

Albany, NY: How do people get farmers' markets started? How much hassle is there with local governments, finding a space, etc? What could a city or a state do to make it easier?

Brian Halweil: Of course, a lot will depend on the situation. I think the best way to get started is to talk to folks who have started a market in your area and see what challenges they faced or what advice they have. Location seems to be an important consideration, and if a space cannot be donated (an empty business parking lot, for instance), this can be a big cost. Apparently, liability insurance is another big cost, and farmers also have to have insurance, which deters some farmers from selling direct to consumers in the first place. A few states cover this liability at state-run farmers markets, and New York might do the same. You should check with your local agricultural school or office. Sometimes neighboring business will be opposed to the idea, although experience shows that these businesses can really benefit from all the extra activity/traffic that comes to the market.

Medford, MA: Brian, what do you think are the most important domestic policy measures for which we could advocate, that would make local sourcing easier and help folks who want to establish community-based food enterprises? This didn't get much visibility in debates about the new Farm Bill. Thanks! P.S. GREAT JOB with the WW Paper---I'm delighted to see WW investing more time in this!

Brian Halweil: Thanks for the question and kind feedback. No, local food didn't get much exposure in the new Farm Bill, and in fact one of the few local food provisions (a food coupons program for senior citizens and single mothers to spend at farmers markets) was at risk of being axed, although I don't know the final outcome.
On page 56 of the report, I outline some domestic policies that can help increase support for local food. Among those are taxing fossil fuel rather than subsidizing them, eliminating commodity payments (the bulk of the Farm Bill) as they encourage generic commodity production and discourage diversification and farmers selling local, eliminating food dumping and other hostile food trade practices which can squash local production, restructuring agricultural research/education/extension to support community-based food enterprises, and finally enforcing antitrust legislation to help break up giant food monopolies that can squash local competition. These are huge changes and I'm not optimistic of them happening any time soon. I'm more optimistic about grassroots efforts building these local food businesses from below, and the emergence of local food policy councils in cities and states around the world. These are sort of local food lobbying bodies made up of diverse groups of farmers, consumers, enviros, food industry folks, local politicians, and they can become a powerful interest group to push local food into grocery stores, cafeterias, restaurants and households. (I describe some of them on page 50 of the paper.)

Santa Barbara CA: Local, small farms are susceptible to sources of uncertainty and variability -- climate, pests, production, output, and market prices -- that cause high variability in income. Farming is thereby often perceived as a risky, economically unsustainable occupation. What sorts of strategies can local farmers adopt to reduce risks?

Brian Halweil: This is a good point. One of the real benefits of long-distance commerce in food is that if a region suffers from a severe trauma like a drought or pest outbreak, then they could hopefully import food from an unaffected region assuming they can afford it.
I think the best thing a farmer can do to reduce risk is diversify--their crop mix, their product mix, and their marketing outlets. With the exception of major weather or other catastrophies, a diverse farm operation will not lose everything and will hopefully be able to depend on other crops/products if certain crops/products fail.
But again this points to one of the barriers to local food. A supermarket cannot afford to be dependent solely on a local market that could in a hot, drought year not have tomatoes or sweet corn or duck eggs. Unless of course that supermarket knows that its customers understand that the food they eat is produced locally and being part of the local food system means dealing with glut years and low-production years. People who are members of CSA's (food subscription services) sign on to get whatever the farm turns out, so they might get lots of some crops, but less of others, depending on the situation at the farm.

Richard Bell, Worldwatch Institute: Brian, thanks for joining us today's webchat. Brian's new paper, "Home Grown: The case for local food in a global market" is now available. Just go to the Worldwatch home page, where you will find the press release and ordering information.

Brian Halweil: Thanks for MCing this, Dick, and thanks for all of the great questions.

Happy holidays, Brian