Fight Sprawl: Eat Locally

"The way backers of the 'local food' movement see it, it's the next big thing for the ecologically conscious consuming produce, dairy, and meats from farms within a state or a region or a part of the country, just as long as the products haven't had to be shipped great distances. In this more self-contained food system, energy is saved and transportation-related pollution is minimized. And small family farms stay in business, rather than selling fields to developers. Who would have known that by buying the southern Connecticut peaches, you were doing your bit to curb sprawl?

...The single most daunting obstacle to making local food more readily available, says Michael Rozyne, founder of Red Tomato, a Canton, Mass.-based local food broker, is the transportation and distribution system, which remains stacked in favor of large agribusiness suppliers and long-haul trucking. Thanks to the global distribution system and its resulting economies of scale, it can be easier and cheaper to buy fish from South America or tomatoes from California. But, Rozyne says, the distribution system makes it hard for even a little more of your grocery bag to be filled with local equivalents."

Thanks to Anthony Flint