Essay On The Locavore Movement

The Locavore movement is trending at the moment because it’s meant to promote eating locally grown and freshly-made produce. It’s said that this movement improves nutrition and sustainability, and further supports local farmers. However, this movement does not account for those who live in large cities and may not be able to support locally grown food, and the minimal affect eating locally has on the economy does not make up for the effort it takes for some to take part in such a movement.
Those of us living in expansive cities and largely urban areas often do not have access to locally-grown food grown by independent farmers. City dwellers typically visit local grocery stores or markets because they are easily accessible and less expensive than purchasing locally-grown produce (time is money, after all.) There are also many different definitions of local depending on the size of specific areas; a “local” area in Washington may not hold the same definition in a larger area, like Texas. Additionally 80 percent of the United States population lives in densely-populated cities, “and typically hundreds of miles, often thousands of miles, from the major centers of food production.” (F). …show more content…
Some local farms may produce food in a more inhumane or environmentally harmful way; for example, someone living in London would be better off buying lamb from New Zealand instead of the UK because “New Zealand lamb is raised on pastures with a small carbon footprint,” while lamb raised in the UK is “produced under intensive factory-like conditions with a big carbon footprint.” (C.) Food transport is also a factor that those taking part in the locavore movement should consider, as a higher quantity of food traveling a longer distance would use the same amount of fuel as a smaller amount of food traveling a shorter distance, when “food miles” are a factor.