What Is Local?
by E

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Some people say that local food has to be eaten less than 400 miles away from where it was originally grown to be considered “local food.”  Others say that it should be at least a hundred miles away to feel like true local food. But, does it always have to be miles away, or can it be hours away?  What is local food?

My personal favorite definition for “local food” comes from the book called Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. It says that local food does not actually travel a certain amount of miles or hours to be truly local. Local food is food that is grown on small farms that raises different kinds of crops and species of animals. That means that the food does not need to be processed, so it travels a very short distance to the closest farmer’s market or grocery store, where it is bought by you and fed to your stomach. That is what I believe as the true definition of local food.

I have found that two out of nine people say that local should be from less than 100 miles away to feel local. However, the retailers who work at the large supermarkets where local food is sold (Wal-Mart, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Whole Foods, etc.) have different ideas about what they consider local than the customers who buy their food. Wal-Mart considers “local food” anything that is grown in the same state that it is sold, even if the state is as large as Texas or California! Whole Foods says that “local” is anything produced within seven hours from where it is sold.

“As with advertising staples such as ‘all natural’ or ‘eco-friendly,’ there is no legal definition of the term ‘local’ in food labeling legislation, although guidelines say food so identified should not come from further away than neighboring counties.” BBC said. To me, this means that there is basically no true definition for local, but it may be “eco-friendly” or “all natural”, but it is not truly local food. It just has to be close. This is also a British definition because it is from BBC.

Even though the BBC says that there is no true definition for local food, I would like to show you just one more definition of local from the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. that has two different opinions. This definition is very official and is fairly simple to think about and understand. ‘‘(I) the locality or region in which the final product is marketed, so that the total distance that the product is transported is less than 400 miles from the origin of the product; or ‘‘(II) the State in which the product is produced.     – Bill Text - 110th Congress (2007-2008) - THOMAS (Library of Congress)     

So the question is which definition of local food is true? Is it 400 miles from the origin of the product, or is it in the state where the product is produced?                                                                      

The problem with the second definition is the fact that the state could be any size; as small as Rhode Island, or as big as Texas or California, and that is a problem because the food can be from anywhere in the state, even places that have something in their food that is not good for you.

But, there are problems with the first definition as well, such as; if the state is as small as Rhode Island (which only covers 1,214 square miles), then if you were in Bradford, West Greenwich, or Hope Valley, then if you had the local food from there transported about 300-400 miles to the west of the town, then you would have your food in Connecticut by the next morning!

Here are a couple of fun facts about food from different places that you might enjoy reading!

Did you know?
  •  “Hawaii imports 90% of its food.  In 1866, 1,186 varieties of fruits and vegetables were produced in California. Today, California's farms produce only 350 commercial crops.” This is because Hawaii is such a small state that it does not have very much room to grow the food that it needs. So they have to have a lot of their food sent to them.
  • “A typical carrot has to travel 1,838 miles to reach your dinner table.”
  •  “In the U.S., a wheat farmer can expect to receive about six cents of each dollar spent on a loaf of bread—approximately the cost of the wrapping.”
  •  “Farmers' markets enable farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer.”
  •  “About 1/3 of all U.S. farms are located within metropolitan areas, comprising 18% of total U.S. farmland.”
  •  “In Britain, their ‘local food’ comes from as far away as New Zealand.”
"Did you know?" from:  http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/eatlocal/