The Co-op Food Stores of New Hampshire and Vermont

added 03/11/09

An ambitious plan to help track the cause of potential food-safety outbreaks may sound like a good idea, but according to an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times written by farmer and author Shannon Hayes, the FDA plan “would end up rewarding the factory farms whose practices encourage disease while crippling small farms and the local food movement.”

What is the Local Food Movement?

Localvores are people committed to eating foods grown in their area foodshed, with many concentrating on foods grown within a 100-mile radius of home. It’s a radical idea to some, a no-brainer to others. And radically innovative or exceedingly self-evident, as food costs have risen the past few years, it’s an idea that’s been catching on.

Michael Pollan—the best-selling author and journalism professor at U.C. Berkeley who writes frequently about the food industry and dietary trends—argues that the rising costs of highly processed foods should drive more Americans into the realm of the Localvores, a position many food cooperatives support. Long before the rising costs of food production began sending more consumers shopping closer to home, cooperatives have touted the benefits of eating a diet rich with products from within a consumer’s local foodshed.

Our Co-op is no exception. Supporting area producers is an important part of the Co-op’s FESTBL philosophy—or the “financial, environmental, and social triple bottom line” that the Co-op operates by.

“One area in which staff attempt to actualize community benefit through our business is in support for local producers,” writes Co-op General Manager Terry Appleby in his article, The Co-op and the Local Economy. “Our purchasers have a long-standing history of cultivating good business relations with the vendors who grow our local tomatoes, provide local milk, bake bread and cookies in nearby kitchens, and produce maple syrup from sugarbushes in the surrounding area.”

What do you think?

Is a food-safety plan that has the potential to hurt small farms worth the cost? We’d love to know what you think. Please email us your input and ideas.