The LocalHarvest Blog

Welcome back to the LocalHarvest newsletter.

Fifteen years ago this March, we launched LocalHarvest.org, and this month I offered to be the guest newsletter writer so I could share some thoughts on the "good food movement."

Back in 2000, the organic food movement was well established, but many people, including me, thought that it was starting to lose touch with what we saw as its true 'essence.' We wanted a food system that went beyond the "no synthetic chemicals" imperative of organic to create a food economy that existed on a more 'human' scale. We hoped this movement would create structures that renewed local economies and environmental health, strengthened our communities, and led to the mindful enjoyment of sharing fresh and delicious foods with our loved ones.

At that time we hoped that by redirecting the conversation to include local food, we could take back the 'good food' flag from the money interests then starting to take over the organic market space. We wanted to return it to its legitimate grassroots owners: the small farmers, CSA subscribers, farmers markets, and myriad small businesses working hard to create food systems based on quality, authenticity, fairness, and environmental responsibility. We joked that the day might come when 'buy local' would be trendy and if that happened, real CSAs would have to defend their businesses against franchised CSAs or other inauthentic attempts to capitalize on the demand created by good, honest food.

That day did come. We now have dozens of venture capital-funded enterprises trying to capitalize on local food, farm to table, and other permutations of the good food movement. But who is benefiting? Unfortunately, in many cases, it is not the farmers. The reality is that handcrafted, sustainably grown food is expensive to produce and in most cases cannot compete against conventional agriculture on price. The margins on good food are so slim that companies cannot both pay farmers well and create the kinds of returns on investment that traditional investors expect. Fortunately, there are now other "patient capital" options, like Slow Money, that will fund food businesses without unreasonable expectations of large liquidity events. We believe that these sources of funding are essential to the health of the good food space.

At LocalHarvest, we believe that for local, sustainably grown foods to become more than a niche market many things still need to change. Energy prices need to reflect their true costs - including their environmental costs. The very fabric of our culture needs to change so that more people have the time and resources to choose their food with considerations of community and quality in mind, rather than exclusively by convenience and price.

Cultural changes come slowly. We are aware that this is a generational change that we've embarked on. The groundwork has been laid, however, and we feel hopeful about the continued changes that the next 15 years will bring.

Guillermo Payet
President
LocalHarvest

Guillermo

06:00 PM CST