Resisting Global, Buying Local: Goldschmidt Revisited

Through the globalization of the food system, distance has grown between the producer and consumer and wealth and power has been consolidated in the hands of few corporations, consequences that Walter Goldschmidt prophesized years ago. Recently, there has been an attempt to counter these effects through a ‘local food movement. ’ The purpose of this paper is to examine the meaning that is attached to the word ‘local, ’ and to discuss the potential of the movement to counteract some of the negative effects of corporate agriculture. Often, ‘local ’ is associated with attributes such as quality, freshness, ecologically sound farming, and/or small-scale farming. However, in a ‘spatially proximate ’ food supply system, where there is no interaction between producer and consumer, there is no guarantee that the food possesses any of these qualities, and hence may in fact be supporting corporate agriculture. Face-to-face supply systems take on additional meanings of ‘local’ associated with social relationships, trust and reciprocity, by reducing the distance between producer and consumer. In either case, while buying local may enhance the social well-being of farmers, there is no evidence that the effects of corporate agriculture are being countered