What are the limiting factors to local food production and consumption?
Just naming a few...
1. Long cold winters
2. Lack of storage space and know-how
3. Fragmented & disconnected local distribution network
4. Space for community gardening and productive landscapes is limited
5. Institutional support from city, county and university resources weak
Okay, without much thought I named five. Perhaps nos. 2 through 5 are interrelated?
Any other ideas for identifying other limiting factors?
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2 comments:
probably the availability of cheap food that is produced elsewhere is the main reason for the paucity of local food. If we want local food we should expect to pay more for it.
I would add as a limiting factor the difficulty in connecting growers and buyers directly. This effort is a bit fragmented and fits in well with the #3 fragmented & disconnected local distribution network.
The question is how and where is this distribution accomplished?
A brick-and-mortar store might be ideal. But it has it's drawbacks, the first of which is it's quite difficult to establish initially.
Buying clubs like The People's Elbow are currently acquiring a significant amount of whole and natural foods (local, where possible) using volume purchasing power and accepting bulk deliveries then distributing from private residences. Please see post:
http://foodforusinlafayette.blogspot.com/2009/02/variations-on-local-theme.html
This deals with non-perishable or frozen goods.
As far as fresh produce goes, can you do better than the Farmer's Market? That is an existing, fully-functioning resource that probably should be utilized to the max. Duplication of effort dilutes the focus.
(DISCLAIMER: I am not, nor have I ever been associated with the Lafayette Farmer's Market)
As far as winter supplies, I know of at least 1 (probably 3) functioning greenhouses which are seriously under-utilized. I would build a greenhouse if I knew I had a consistent reliable market.
Just some thoughts...it seems likely a more coordinated effort between producers and consumers would yield better results than we're getting now.
Go ahead, talk amongst yourselves.
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