What Does “Local” Mean?
Steve wrote in to ask about the ethical boundaries of local eating. He objected to folks who extended their local-eating radius to bring in certain foods, such as salt, which is often hard to find--in this case it was 150 miles away. "Just seems that nothing is stopping someone from expanding to a 200 mile radius, then a 400 mile radius, and before you know it we are back to where we are today," said Steve. "I hate to be a hard ass on this one, but it is starting to sound like the humanitarian vegetarian that eats fish."
There is no official definition of what is local--though I now strongly believe that should be an enforceable regulation, for the sake of consumer knowledge and choice while shopping in grocery stores. Every ingredient in every box needs to be identified by origin. And the definition needs to be strict--possibly even tighter than 100 miles. We chose that distance based on our own landscape, because a vast mountain range begins about 100 miles back from where we live, cutting us off from other regions. In areas with a tradition of small farms--such as the northeastern US or Europe--local can be even smaller range, for the simple reason that more varied produce would already be available.
A study in the UK showed that 20 miles is the magic distance within which, even if food is conventionally grown, it can have less overall environmental impact than organic food flown in from afar. In sparser landscapes, such as the prairie, desert, or high alpine, a much larger radius would be required to feed people. The folk I met in Minnesota who did a one-year local eating experiment picked 250 miles, for the whimsical reason that a pasta factory was in that range. Power to them, I say. They churned their own butter and picked acorns that they ground into flour.
For me these are the biggest issues: that people begin to question where their food comes from, and to be concerned about the social and environmental impact of long-distance foods; and to eat more locally, more often. If people in North America shifted over so that just one-third of their diet was local, think of the fossil fuel savings in that. And it's not a sacrifice--the food tastes better! -ADS
