About Us

Welcome to LocalFoodWeb.org.

This site is dedicated to the study, analysis, and building of local food systems. This is a bigger mission than we could ever completely live up to - it's like saying "this blog covers science" - but we're trying.

In an age of food insecurity, climate crisis and extreme inequality, the development of localized food systems has never been more important. We have an incredibly productive international food system, but along with that productivity has come dependence. Most of us in the 21st century have no concept of where our food comes from, and that leaves us extremely vulnerable if one day, we find the shelves unstocked.

Now, to be clear, we aren't preppers. There are MANY sources for that, if that's your bag. It seems clear to us that the world has an excellent track record of not ending, and that doomsayers have been wrong just about 100% of the time. But that doesn't mean that there aren't real problems, and real dangers to living in a system where so many of our calories and nutrients come from hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Local food means a lot of different things, and it's not a world of black and white. We aren't advocating a complete and immediate breakup of the globalized food system. Though there would be benefits to that, the harm done would hit the most vulnerable people in the world hardest, the ones who don't currently have the luxury of choosing fresh, local, organic food because it is too expensive or simply not available to them.

Instead, we envision a set of incremental improvements toward localized food production, processing and distribution. This ranges from growing and diversifying the network of farmers markets and community supported agriculture to encouraging more gardening and small-scale farming, by both professionals and part-time hobbyists.

It also includes politics. Be warned. We have no intention of using this space to advocate for any candidate or even party - again, you can find that plenty of other places. But we also aren't going to pretend that our movement and values exist in a political vacuum. Small-p politics, the day to day policies and rules, mostly at the state and local level, are incredibly important to our goals and values, and when they intersect with food and localization issues, we will talk about them.

We're so glad you've chosen to visit our site. It's a labor of love, and we hope it provides you with some measure of knowledge, interest or entertainment. If you have any suggestions or comments, we'd love to hear it at staff@localfoodweb.org. In the meantime, enjoy the site and please come back often. We have a lot planned for the next few years, and we're going to need all the help we can get.