Rebuilding Local Food Systems from the Grassroots Up

Abstract

People who want sustainable agriculture support local production as necessary to maintain freedom & democracy, & to assure a safe, affordable, plentiful supply of nutritious food. A sustainable agricultural system economically productive, environmentally healthy, socially responsible, & humane. Food can have a political & monetary voice when it is purchased directly from the local farmer, grown in a home garden, or processed in a cooperative. Buying convenience food supports the giant corporations that control the seed production, transportation, processing, & packaging of food. Such companies contribute to the impoverishment of farmers & farm communities, & promote practices that cause soil erosion, pollution, the decline of biodiversity, & genetic engineering of produce. They are not accountable to families, farmers, the poor, or the environment. The author highlights grassroots specific efforts by the Center for Rural Affairs, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, the Northeast Organic Farming Associations, Community Supported Agriculture, Community Food Security Coalition, the Land Instit, & the National Farmers Union, as well as their combined efforts to pass helpful legislation. L. A. Hoffman