Local Farmers Gaining Popularity With the Government

The NY Times Diner’s Journal picked up on the US Department of Agriculture dolling out almost $65 million in new provisions to help get locally produced food into the hands of wanting consumers and large institutions alike.


Government support of locally produced food is a critical step in sustainability, so it’s a step in the right direction to see action specifically geared towards getting local food into schools, (one of the initiatives many provisions) which is a huge market. Of course there are numerous hurdles in changing the food delivery system in such a vast and regulated market such as school lunch programs.


The USDA’s new campaign, called “Know your Farmer, Know Your Food,” is not just a bundle of money but the promise “to break down structural barriers that have inhibited local food systems from thriving.”


While Big Farm should not regulate the local food market, which in recent years has managed to set up successful farmers markets in countless cities across the US, the idea of having the government jump on the sustainable farming bandwagon is always a welcome one.


Laid out in the release are the announcements that “$3.4 million in funding for collaborative outreach and assistance programs to socially disadvantaged and underserved farmers.” The money is supposed to help crop producers employ direct marketing.
One way in which farmers can directly market to people with a passion for local, organic food that is catching on in city’s like New York and elsewhere, is Community Supported Agriculture.

This method of distributing fresh produce requires an initial investment where you buy into the harvest of a farm for a set price at the beginning of the season, and each week the participants take home equally weighed out bounties. While this concept is growing in popularity the most effective way to get the freshest local produce is still at a farmer’s market where they regulate the maximum distance from which the food can come from.


There is certainly a trend among Americans towards sustainable, organic produce. Consumers are now more conscious of where their food is coming from and the wasteful processes that may have brought it to them. Hopefully the USDA will take further steps to help balance the kinds of food that end up on peoples plates, starting with the school system isn’t a bad approach.