• Home
  • Mycopedia
  • How To…
  • Fungi Frenzy
Let's Grow Together
  • Home
  • Mycopedia
  • How To…
  • Fungi Frenzy
Home  /  Mycopedia • Uncategorized  /  Local Food Systems
08 April 2016

Local Food Systems

Written by Hannah Glückspilz
Mycopedia, Uncategorized 1 Comment
Share On

What are Local Food Systems? (And why do we love them?)

More and more people (aka Locavores) join the local foods movement. What exactly does local food mean and what are the advantages of “supporting your local farmer”?

Everyone eats. Therefore, everyone needs food. (Duh!) If you don’t happen to be a self-sufficient farmer, living off your own crops, you are relying on “food systems”: systems that include all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population.

Today, there are two different types of food systems: the global industrial food system and local food systems. While there is only one global food system, there are many local ones. The two types differ from each other in aspects of food production (how food is grown or raised, packaged or prepared to be sold) and distribution (where and how food is sold to customers and how it gets there).

How did these food systems develop? Read more about that here!

What’s wrong with the Conventional (Global) Food System?

Conventional food systems aim to maximize efficiency in order to lower consumer costs and increase overall production. Mechanized agriculture, chemical fertilizers, the processing of foods and the packaging require fossil fuels. Furthermore, since industrialized agriculture relies on producing huge amounts in order to reduce production costs, local, regional or even global ecosystems are compromised through fertilizers, pollution and greenhouse gas emission. Also, in order to reduce costs, companies outsource production (steps) to countries where economic costs (labor, taxes) are lower or that have less environmental regulations, which again increases CO2 emissions for transportation. The globalization of food production can further result in the loss of traditional food systems, ecosystems and cultures in those countries.

What’s different about the Alternative (Local) Food System?

A local food system is a method of food production and distribution that is geographically localized, rather than national or international. Food is grown and harvested close to the consumers’ homes and distributed over much shorter distances than in the industrial food system. This contributes to one of the principles of sustainable agriculture: Environmental Preservation. Smaller distances to the consumer means less pollution from transportation and less need to use excessive packaging material and preservation techniques. Sustainable agriculture is the production of food using farm techniques that protect the environment, public health, human communities and animal welfare. Sustainable farms produce crops using no toxic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers or genetically modified seeds. They protect biodiversity and help the development and maintenance of healthy ecosystems. If possible, every part of their crops is used and even waste products are recycled. One example for this is composting. Bio waste can be composted and used as natural fertilizer. At Sublicious Farms, mushrooms are grown on a mixture of horse manure, straw, coconut husk and other ingredients, decomposing this substrate as they grow. After the mushrooms are harvested, this mushroom compost is then used as a soil amendment, providing a lot of nutrients for plant growth. While local does not equal sustainable, in general, local food systems are associated with sustainable agriculture, while global industrial food systems rely upon industrial agriculture.

However, because of the ambiguity of the term’s definition, some producers just use the term “local”, although their food is not grown very close or sustainable. So, if you see the label “local”, make sure you find out more about their production practices in order to determine whether a local food is also sustainable.

 

Sources:

Halweil, B. (2002). Home Grown: The case for local food. Worldwatch Paper 163. Retrieved Sept. 20, 2012

http://www.sustainabletable.org/246/sustainable-agriculture-the-basics

http://www.sustainabletable.org/254/local-regional-food-systems

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK114491

Hannah Glückspilz

I'm a Biology and English teacher from Germany and have just moved to Florida. I lloooovvee Mushrooms and gardening and learning and teaching about everything related to these topics. For those of you who don’t speak German, let me explain my name. In Germany, someone is a Glückspilz (literal translation: “lucky mushroom”), who is the object of good fortune. I consider myself lucky in many ways, especially for finding my mushroom loving better half, Scott Lyons, who encouraged me to start writing this blog.

 Previous Article Mushroom Cultivation
Next Article   How did Food Systems develop?

Related Posts

  • Benefits Composted Horse Manure

    May 6, 2016
  • How did Food Systems develop?

    How did Food Systems develop?

    April 8, 2016
  • How do Mushrooms Reproduce?

    How do Mushrooms Reproduce?

    March 21, 2016

1 Comment

  1. Pingback: How did Food Systems develop? - Let's Grow Together!

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Recent Posts

  • How to grow mushrooms (Part 1)
  • Benefits Composted Horse Manure
  • How did Food Systems develop?
  • Local Food Systems
  • Mushroom Cultivation

Recent Comments

  • marvel Future Fight Hack apk on The Mushroom Life Cycle
  • Clash royale hack download on The Mushroom Life Cycle
  • marvel contest of champions hack ios on The Mushroom Life Cycle
  • marvel contest of champions hack free on What is Bulk Substrate?
  • lords mobile hack download on The Mushroom Life Cycle

Archives

  • May 2018
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2014

Categories

  • Fungi Frenzy
  • How To…
  • Mycopedia
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Newsletter

© Copyright 2018. ShroomCity.