Locavores: But why?! Food Security

Growing up a latter-day saint I have fond (and a couple not so fond involving a hand powered wheat grinder) memories of our struggles to maintain a food storage. This is wise for Americans- not only because of potential natural disasters and the economic recession, but also because our food system is in a precarious situation. 

One reason is our lack of diversification. A year or so ago there was an e coli break out and almost all the spinach in the US was recalled. This didn't happen because e coli is a wide spread problem among all spinach producers, but because all our spinach came through the same facility and was washed in the same salad bowl. The Salmonella outbreak with eggs was the same story. After 9/11 the agricultural adviser joked that if the terrorists really wanted to take out America they should have attacked our food supply, and he was right. If a disease was to infect a single factory it could literally take out the entire nation, because we lack diversity in our food system.



Another issue is transportation. We don't often think about this, but our food supply relies almost completely on foreign oil and the ability to transport foods across the country. If their is ever a problem with the roads or oil prices spike (or oil runs out) we pay for it either by not being able to eat, or by having to pay more for our food.

Supporting the local food economy minimizes many of these problems. During the spinach e coli outbreak while the rest of the US was spinach-less buyers at farmers markets continued to buy spinach without fear. Similar story with eggs. Transportation becomes a non-issue when the food is grown in your own back yard or your local farm. Knowing and being a part of your local food economy provides an additional safety net for hard times.