Local+Food

Is your food choice a moral choice? In a country where five percent of the world's population glugs down a quarter of all the fuel, also belching out that much of the world's waste and pollution, our food choice is a BIG moral choice. Transporting a single calorie of perishable fresh fruit from California to New York takes about 87 calories worth of fuel. That's as efficient as driving from Philadelphia to Annapolis, and back, in order to walk three miles on a treadmill in a Maryland gym. There maybe many people who'd do it - but I'll buy local instead.

By purchasing local vegetables instead of South American ones, we are not hurting farmers in developing countries. Developed nations promote domestic overproduction of commodity crops that are sold on the international market at well below market price, undermining the fragile economies of developing countries. Often this has the effect of driving small farmers into urban areas for jobs, decreasing the agricultural output of a country and forcing the population to purchase those same commodities from abroad. Those who do stay in farm work are likely to end up not as farm owners, but as labor on plantations owned by multinationals. They may find themselves working indirect conflict with local subsistence. Thus, when Americans buy soy products from Brazil, for example, we're likely supporting an international company that has burned countless acres of Amazon rain forest to grow soy for export, destroying indigenous populations.

Most people no longer believe that buying sneakers made in Asian sweatshops is a kindness to those child laborers. Farming is similar. In every country on earth, the most humane scenario for farmers is likely to be feeding those who live nearby - if international markets would allow them to do it. Food transport has become a bizarre and profitable economic equation that's no longer really about feeding anyone: in our own nation we export 1.1 million tons of potatoes, while we also import 1.4 million tons. If you care about farmers, let the potatoes stay home. For more information visit www.viacampenina.org. Source of above information: Kingsolver, Barbara, Camille Kingsolver, and Steven L. Hopp. //Animal, Vegetable, Miracle A Year of Food Life (P.S.)//. New York: Harper Perennial, 2008. Print.



Local foods are foods that are locally produced. The question is, how local is local?. Recently, the USDA has proved that 400 miles is the actual maximum distance under which local can actually defined. The **//Local Food Movement's//** main purpose is to save green house emissions by reducing transportation costs.The "locally grown" title is part of a myth to lure consumers into desiring fresh and safe produce that support small, local farms which helps the environment God has given us by not trucking produce so far, supporting food production methods that are healthy, not harming the environment, respecting workers, being humane to animals, providing fair wages to farmers, and supporting farming communities. Food-safety experts say there's no evidence that locally grown products are safer, especially because small producers often lack food-safety evaluations as opposed to big producers. In Psalm 65, David clearly states that God shows delight in his creation by providing good rain and good harvest. Also, he makes clear that there will be a future time of harvest with the coming of God's kingdom to earth.
 * //Shadaetca, December 6,2009//**

//**Sources:** [|**http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/eatlocal/#what**] [|**http://spiritual-growth.suite101.com/article.cfm/devotion_and_activities_for_thanksgiving_day**] [|**http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-10-27-local-grown-farms-produce_N.htm**]//