We all know there is a growing farm crisis in the U.S. today. The decline of community-based family farms, low income from agriculture products, and the negative impacts on rural communities are well-documented. The U.S. government claims that increasing U.S. farm exports will eventually save U.S. agriculture. It is true that the U.S. is enjoying outstanding successes with its agricultural export policies. The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service reported to participants at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting last November that agricultural exports generated $122 billion in total economic activity in the U.S. in 1998. Exports account for 25% of U.S. agriculture production.
Export agriculture is big business, and that is the problem for small-scale and community-based family farmers who are not able to complete with transnational corporations for export dollars. While the U.S. government's export strategies and the WTO offers economic hope for industrial-scale agricultural operations, little is being done to help the family farmers.
Help for Community Based Family Farmers
What we need are additional strategies that will help community-based family farmers open local/regional markets for another 25% of U.S. agricultural production. In addition to the WTO, I propose we form local trade organizations (LTO's) to facilitate the linkage between farmers and food buyers in the same communities or regions. I envision an LTO to be a community organization that:
Why support local farmers with local trade?
Why are local food systems and for that matter, community-based family farms, desirable at a time when U.S. consumers enjoy a dazzling variety of convenient and "cheap" food? Why do I think the food buyers may want to pay a little more than the average 10% of their annual income for food? Here are some reasons:
Can it be done?
Local food projects require a new way of thinking about agriculture. The farmers must adapt to producing food that can be sold directly to food buyers in their communities. Their food items must be appealing to their potential customers and may require some local processing for the convenience of their food purchasers. Food buyers must agree to buy at least 25% of their food from local farmers to keep them in business. They may have to learn how to prepare fresh food rather than simply serve ready-to-eat-meals. They may have to shop around and even pay a slightly higher price.
How does an LTO help?
I use the term "local trade organization (LTO)" to illustrate that if a community organization dedicates as much effort into promoting local food systems as the federal and state governments are dedicating to exports under the WTO, we could offer an incredible opportunity to small-scale and community-based family farmers.
An LTO is simply a community organization that creates a local food project. The group educates the public, finds food buyers including restaurants, hospitals, schools, grocery stores, and individuals. It facilities direct marketing opportunities such as farmers' markets, community supported agriculture projects, and on-farm sales. The LTO lets the public know where their food is coming from and where their food purchasing dollars are going. It identifies area farmers who produce or can produce food that can be marketed locally.
The LTO encourages a new generation of farmers to establish farms that can produce local foods. It helps develop food delivery systems and even processing facilities. It works with local and state governments to provide tax incentives to local food businesses and to promote local food systems. Governments already promote and subsidize export agriculture so they should be willing to support local food systems.
I founded a local food project at Hendrix College in 1986 that eventually allowed us to buy 30 % of our food from local sources. Together we need to explore how local food projects might work in the northern plains and other regions of the country. Each community must define what is local. In Washington, D.C., local can be the neighborhood around Dupont Circle that now supports an incredible farmers' market. In South Dakota local might mean several counties. The key question is does a local food project support family farmers who are sensitive to the well-being of their home environment, the other residents of their "local" community, and their farm animals. That's where a local trade organization can help.
Local food systems do not threaten industrial-scale farms that produce for export markets. The USDA and other government agencies will continue to provide strong support for the 25% of agriculture production that helps the U.S. with its balance of trade situation. Local Food systems exist side-by-by side with export agriculture and help small-scale and community-based farmers thrive in a new market, 25 % of the food for their communities.
The only way local food systems challenge industrial-scale agriculture is to discourage U.S. corporations from establishing farms in foreign countries and marketing their production as if it came from U.S. family farms. When food buyers understand the economic, social, and environmental benefits they get by purchasing locally grown food, they will want to encourage and patronize family farmers in their community. It will be at this point that they will want to establish a local trade organization. Surely, that is at least equal to importance of the World Trade Organization.
