Planning Proposal for Establishing a Local Food System in North Central North Carolina to Increase Food Self-Reliance

Background and Significance: What is a "local food system"? In the past decade there has been a growing movement of relocalization of food systems. When defining a "local food system" people tend to think of the distance that the food has travelled before becoming available for purchase. However, there is no generally accepted definition or defined distance for "local food" set forth by governmental agencies, academic institutions or industry. According to the definition adopted by the U.S. Congress in the 2008 Food, Conservation, and Energy Act, the total distance that a product can be transported and still be considered a "locally or regionally produced agricultural food product" is less than 400 miles from its origin. Popular books like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver define "local food" as food that traveled less than 100-miles from farm to consumer. Grocery stores will often have their own definition of "local food." Whole Foods Inc. for example defines a product as local if its travel time to the store was less than 7 hours by car or truck while Walmart defines local as products grown and sold in the same state. Some will define local foods as products produced in small regions of a state or at county levels. The local food market accounts for a small but growing share of the total U.S. agriculture sales. There are two basic types of local food markets, direct-to­consumer markets and direct-to-retail/foodservice markets. Direct-to-consumer markets include farmers' markets, roadside stands, community supported agriculture (CSA) membership clubs, and "pick your own" operations. Direct-to-consumer sale amounted to $1.2 billion in 2007. The number of farmers' markets has increased from 1,755 in 1994 to 5,274 in 2009. CSAs have also increased from 2 established CSA in 1986 to 1,144 CSA organizations in 2005. Such increases have also been seen in direct to retail/foodservice markets. Direct-to-retail/foodservice markets include sales to restaurants and institutions that include hospitals, schools and prisons. The number of farm-to-school programs has increased from 2 in 1996 to over 2,095 in 2009. Statistics on farm sales to other institutions do not exist at the national or state level. In addition to expansion of markets over time, surveys have shown that there is an increasing interest in the procurement of local food at the consumer level. In the 2009 U.S. Grocery Shopping Trends report, conducted by the Food Marketing Institute, it was found that consumers purchase local food at direct markets or in conventional grocery stores because of freshness (82 percent), support for the local economy (75 percent), and knowing the source of the product (58 percent).Master of Public Healt