Local Food Movement
The Local Food Movement and Local Food Initiatives
In recent decades, with great growth along the way, more people have gravitated towards purchasing local foods. As a grassroots movement, the local food movement has been an influence that has become an everyday thing in North America. Although most of what the human population consumes is produced on rural land, the local food movement has entered urban areas of North America with many individuals participating in urban farming. This paper will describe and discuss the growth of the local food movement in North America with an emphasis on urban farming practises that have arisen in many cities across the continent.
The local food movement contributes to a global industry, with much of local food sales taking place in the United States. In a study that was performed in 2008 detailing local food numbers in the U.S., sales “were estimated to have grown from $4 billion in 2002 to $5 billion in 2007 and were projected to reach $11 billion by 2011” (Ikerd 50) To add to the growth in local food sales in the U.S., 2007 Census of Agriculture data determined an increase in small farms, which is the first sign of growth in decades. Between the period of 2002 and 2007, the U.S. saw an increase of 14,631 small farms. (Starr 479)
The local food movement is recognized for its growing popularity and has even broken into a market of its own. The movement dates back to the 1960s when certain people began to identify themselves as hippies, distinguishing themselves as different to most Americans. Ikerd speaks of the rise of a different community of people after “Rachel Carson’s…Silent Spring, had awakened public awareness to the environmental risks of agricultural pesticides.” (Ikerd 50) The new community responded to Carson’s publication by growing their own foods and purchasing locally at farmers markets.
The movement gained momentum throughout the 1970s and 1980s when people outside of the hippie culture were becoming more
In recent decades, with great growth along the way, more people have gravitated towards purchasing local foods. As a grassroots movement, the local food movement has been an influence that has become an everyday thing in North America. Although most of what the human population consumes is produced on rural land, the local food movement has entered urban areas of North America with many individuals participating in urban farming. This paper will describe and discuss the growth of the local food movement in North America with an emphasis on urban farming practises that have arisen in many cities across the continent.
The local food movement contributes to a global industry, with much of local food sales taking place in the United States. In a study that was performed in 2008 detailing local food numbers in the U.S., sales “were estimated to have grown from $4 billion in 2002 to $5 billion in 2007 and were projected to reach $11 billion by 2011” (Ikerd 50) To add to the growth in local food sales in the U.S., 2007 Census of Agriculture data determined an increase in small farms, which is the first sign of growth in decades. Between the period of 2002 and 2007, the U.S. saw an increase of 14,631 small farms. (Starr 479)
The local food movement is recognized for its growing popularity and has even broken into a market of its own. The movement dates back to the 1960s when certain people began to identify themselves as hippies, distinguishing themselves as different to most Americans. Ikerd speaks of the rise of a different community of people after “Rachel Carson’s…Silent Spring, had awakened public awareness to the environmental risks of agricultural pesticides.” (Ikerd 50) The new community responded to Carson’s publication by growing their own foods and purchasing locally at farmers markets.
The movement gained momentum throughout the 1970s and 1980s when people outside of the hippie culture were becoming more
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