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Fair Trade vs. Eat Local?

by Jen Maiser

In an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday paper, William G. Moseley takes a swipe at the eat local movement in an article titled "Farmers in developing world hurt by 'eat local' philosophy in U.S."

While I respect Mr. Moseley's attempt to bring any attention to the admirable fair trade movement, his finger is pointed in the wrong direction.

Eat Local advocates are often painted as coffee-shunning, chocolate-declining masochists who eschew absolutely everything that is not local.  The truth is much less compelling in print, so the moderates among us are not often in the spotlight. 

Putting my time & energy where my mouth is

by Sara Zoë

This Saturday will be the Seacoast area of New Hampshire and southern Maine's first Holiday Farmers' Market. Almost 30 farmers and food producers will be there, selling everything from fresh greens to turkeys to venison to bread, with a whole lot of winter vegetables for good measure. We'll have music and students of the McIntosh Atlantic Culinary Academy will be doing cooking demonstrations of over 13 different local products throughout the 9am - 2pm market. Best of all for me, I will be able to stock up not only for my 100-mile Thanksgiving, but also for the next month, until our second Holiday Market takes place on December 22nd.

The seeds were sown a year ago. The seasonal markets end at the end of October, and I was in pretty much the same boat as everyone else - my access to local food had just gotten much more challenging, and more limited. But last year I was able to see that there is still plenty of food to be had - it was just hiding out on individual farms, and required phone calls to arrange shopping excursions into the barn, where wonderful food was being stored. I can do this, and I will again because it is worth it to me and I enjoy visiting farms, but it is certainly not as conducive to eating locally as a farmers' market, where you still get to buy directly from the farmer but all your trips are condensed into one.

A case for local eating this Thanksgiving

by Jen Maiser

"If 10,000 ... households spend their Thanksgiving meal dollars on local food, we'll invest about $381,000 into our own communities."

This fact came from the Ideal Bite newsletter this morning based on the American Farm Bureau's statistic that the average amount spent for a family Thanksgiving for 10 is $38.10 in the United States.

Interested in participating in the 100-mile Thanksgiving?  Go to the 100-Mile Diet website to learn more!

Jennifer Maiser is the editor of the Eat Local Challenge website.  She is often found behind a camera or writing for her site, Life Begins at 30.  Photo from her Flickr site.

OUP Word of the Year? LOCAVORE.

Oxford University Press has declared the word of the year to be Locavore.

They say,

“Locavore” was coined two years ago by a group of four women in San Francisco who proposed that local residents should try to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius. Other regional movements have emerged since then, though some groups refer to themselves as “localvores” rather than “locavores.” However it’s spelled, it’s a word to watch.

Bonnie at the Ethicurean sends congratulations to:

the original locavore four, and the legions of Eat Local Challenge participants, "Animal Vegetable Miracle" readers, and "Plenty"-inspired 100-Mile dieters who spread this important philosophical meme throughout America!

That's you!  Thanks for doing everything you do to spread the word about eating locally.  You deserve a big pat on the back.

100-Mile Thanksgiving

by Jennifer Maiser

Our friends Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon at the 100-mile diet website are hosting the second annual 100-mile Thanksgiving, challenging participants to plan a Thanksgiving meal using food products grown, raised or gathered from within 100 miles of their home.  Check out their website to sign up.  I will be participating to the best of my ability -- bringing dishes made from local products to my family's potluck Thanksgiving dinner.

Jennifer Maiser is the editor of the Eat Local Challenge website.  She is often found behind a camera or writing for her site, Life Begins at 30.

Eat Local Challenge in the Media

• The PBS NOW program this week is featuring a program called "Growing Local, Eating Local" that can be viewed on their website.  The web material also includes and article called "10 Steps to Becoming a Locavore."


• The Deconstructing Dinner podcast featured a whole hour dedicated to the Eat Local Challenge in October.  In it, Canadian Eat Local Challenge participants talked about their experiences with the challenge.

The World Trade Organization, U.S. farm subsidies and local food

By Marc

Here's something unexpected:  the World Trade Organization (WTO) -- one of the most powerful forces for globalization and international homogenization -- might actually help the local foods movement in the United States. 

A little while ago I wrote about how planting restrictions in certain farm subsidy programs.  These restrictions impede the creation of a local food system by requiring farmers to permanently withdraw from the program if they grow fruits and vegetables on the program land.  Clearly, no one should receive corn, soy or cotton subsidy payments for land that is used to grow fruits and vegetables, but I think it makes no sense to permanently penalize farmers for trying to grow crops that people who live nearby might want to purchase.

It turns out that the WTO might have a problem with those planting restrictions. It is another example of the messiness that exists at the intersection of international relations and domestic politics.

A recent FarmPolicy.com newsletter explained the WTO's concerns and the implications for U.S. farm policy in great detail.  In less detail, the WTO agreements strive to eliminate all trade-distorting subsidy programs (subsidies that give certain producers an advantage over others), thus allowing something resembling "free trade."  In WTO documents, farm subsidies are classified into three "boxes" according to their trade distorting effects  "Blue box" payments are the most trade distorting and are essentially forbidden by the trade agreements; "amber box" payments are marginally distorted and are subject to a limit;  "green box" payments do not distort trade and therefore have no limits. 

Another Harvest Season Passes

by Expat Chef

It seems like each year I do the Eat Local Challenge that it becomes a greater part of my life. Not only does the amount and types of foods that I buy locally increase each year, but I feel myself becoming more deeply connected to this way of life.

I tried my hand at putting up foods for winter, mainly freezing and seed saving, although my current tactic is stockpiling vast amounts of sweet potatoes, pumpkins and squash. (I actually have even more now). I just finished preparing many of the season's last vegetables as nine quarts of soup and stashing that in the freezer for a cold winter's feast. However, the one thing I did not try my hand at during September's challenge was canning. I wanted to, I just could not find the time amidst all the weekly cooking and little one running around.

This does not stop me from stockpiling information along with my pumpkins. I took some time to ask an expert, Julie Smith of Treehouse Berry Farm, for some good advice for a beginner like myself. Julie and her family have an orchard and can and sell a huge variety of jams, salsas, preserves and jellies at my local farmers market. They also make homemade lollipops to which my child became addicted. Julie was kind enough to answer a few questions for me despite a tremendously busy season of canning, wholesale business and fall festivals. We finally caught up and she shared some great tips for all of us inspired by this year's September Challenge.

Question: Canning is kind of a lost art. What is the most important advice you could offer someone who is just learning to can and preserve? How did you get started?