This post is inspired by sharkfu's great post "Notes from a bitch - nutrition..."
In the last years, there's been a lot of talk about sustainability, the importance of good food, etc. I recently moved to Madison, WI and it is a particularily big issue here. Buying local food is obviouly good for the environment, it helps sustainable business and the local economy, you pay a fair price, it's considered healthier (not by everyone, as I read in the comments of the post) and, did I mention it's delicious and tastes way better? This food, by the way, is often, but not neccesarily, organic (apparently, some farmers choose not to get the certification, but it is definitely naturally grown).
The catch? Of course, it's the price. While it the real cost might be higher, the upfront cost, when you re on a tight budget, is definitely an issue. That's why I wanted to give a shout out to this midwest inniative: Community Supported Agriculture. It consist on...
"a unique social and economic arrangement between local households and farmers who work together to share the responsibility of producing and delivering fresh food. Households support the farm by paying an annual fee in the winter or spring that entitles them to a "share" of the season's harvest. Once harvesting begins, members pick-up a weekly box of fresh foods which may include produce, fruits, cheeses, eggs, meats, poultry, flowers, herbs or preserves."
Luckily, this is one of my job benefits but, to help people participate, local insurances offer up to a $300 rebate to those who participate in the CSA program (the insurers must belong to the group of people who think it's indeed healthier). However, all this is probably not enough for anyone whose reality "has more to do with to eat or not to eat than to shop or to nourish." That's where the Partner Shares Program comes in. individuals and families who qualify have half of their share covered. Anyone reading this can help make healthy food more accesible by donating (you can make a any donation or pay $100 to help cover the cost of participants' shares), and anyone from the area can also help volunteering. For those who might want to participate, unfortunately, I found out a little late. The deadline to apply this year is this March 30th, but if see this on time or want to find out about it you can read about it here .
Hopefully, people shaping policy (like Alice Waters) will promote these kinds of innitiatives as ways to respond to the price problem of eating local sustainable food, as much as they try to convince people they don't need two pairs of very expensive shoes.
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Ok, now there are a lot of folks, like me, who's insurance is paid for by employer contributions to a union trust fund.
And there are a lot of people who use publicly funded health insurance (medicare, medicaid, child health plus, ChampUS, ChampVA)
For folks like us, that $ 300 dollar rebate would be worthless.
Besides the fact that, for the vast majority of Americans who live from check to check, $ 300 dollars several months from now is useless because you need the money NOW to pay upfront expenses like rent, the phone bill ect.
That's why it's far cheaper to just go to the supermarket and buy the low cost, high quality agribusiness produced food - you get more calories for your buck, and for working class people, this is a life or death issue.
Limousine liberals like Alice Waters just don't understand that cold hard reality!
Which is why organic food in America is just a high priced food fad of the rich and prosperous, inaccessible to the vast majority of working class Americans.
As for the whole ideological agenda of "support local businesses" - I'm sorry, but I support businesses that supply me with the lowest cost product available, it matters not to me if they're in the Bronx, Bakersfield, Bratislava or Bangkok.
I'm not going to pay extra to support some businessperson who happens to be in my zip code or my state.
Beyond that, I think there's a fundamental arrogance and self-absorbtion in thinking that you can really change the world just by your personal consumer choices - the economy just doesn't work like that!
How ironic. A friend of mine was just telling me how she signed up for a CSA in our area and then I come and read about it here. I think it's a great concept and one that I hope takes off.
FYI -- My friend says that you can have the cost reduced even further if you agree to provide some kind of labor assistance.