The Power Of Local Food [Opinion]
June 30, 2015 
Rosemary Gordon
Summer is now in full swing and we have entered what I like to call “the season of farmers markets.” It is interesting how this segment of the industry has expanded over the years, thanks to the locally grown movement. Not to take away from the necessity of having large farms to provide vegetables to grocery chains, processors, and other outlets, but the local food movement has made its mark.
Confirming consumers’ interest in local food, during the third quarter of last year — the peak of farmers’ market season — USDA’s online farmers’ market directory logged 89,472 unique page views. That’s an impressive number! (Click here to read more on how to expand your farmers’ market reach.)
What does the future hold for the locally grown movement? Based on a research project led by Elliott Campbell, a University of California (UC)-Merced professor, every city across the country could have access to locally grown food. (Click here to read more on the research.)
“Farmers markets are popping up in new places, food hubs are ensuring regional distribution, and the 2014 U.S. Farm Bill supports local production — for good reason, too,” Campbell said in an article on the UC-Merced website. “There are profound social and environmental benefits to eating locally.” Plus, it contributes to the sustainability of agriculture.
According to the research, however, the potential for local food has diminished over time, resulting from an increase in population (urban sprawl) and limited land resources.
In spite of this factor, it was determined that most areas in the U.S. could sustain between 80% and 100% of their populations with food produced within 50 miles. To come up with those numbers, Campbell and his students used data from a farmland-mapping project funded by the National Science Foundation and information about land productivity from USDA, according to the article.
The researchers looked at the farms within a local radius of every U.S. city and roughly calculated how many calories those farms could produce. They then compared the potential calorie production to each city’s population to figure out the percentage of the population that could be supported by locally produced food.
What about limitations on land and resources? Campbell’s maps indicate that careful planning and policies are necessary to save farmland from urban encroachment and support local farming.
Now that’s a goal worth striving to achieve.