The Future of Sustainable Food: Local Markets and Big Organic

When you look at the swing of food culture, there are two distinct food cultures emerging at the moment. One is the food culture of heritage plants, local food, small organic growers, and slow food. This is the culture that I write about most often. It's a culture that some think is populated by holier-than-thou yuppies that spend countless hours pondering the flavors of local cheese and the best time to grow fava beans. This sustainable and local food culture promotes the relocalization of food through small-scale farming and farmers' market sales.

Then, there's the culture of mass produced food. This food is plentiful, often inexpensive, and available just about everywhere. Its products are not unique and are certainly not small scale. Often, they are shipped from a far-away central source and covered in durable packaging so that they can survive the trip. They're certainly not small-batch and niche market: the packaging, the recipe, and even the seeds used to grow the plants may be owned by a corporation. These food products have mass appeal due to the fact that they are easy to find and easy on the budget as well.

When the two food cultures meet, interesting things happen. Much has now been written about the birth of big organics. Organic has moved from a fringe movement of hippie and ultra health-conscious consumers into something that many people want to buy, especially for their children. But sourcing out small local companies can be time-consuming, so big organic has taken over the supermarkets: flown in from far away, it's easy to access and pesticide-free.

There's also an intriguing food fusion that occurs when local roots and branding meet global consumer demand. One of our local beer companies has long been one of my husband's favorites. He likes to buy the strong, eat-with-a-fork beers made by our local Canadian companies. It's a patriotic thing. However, this company has now become part of a global beer company that has kept the label and the cachet of the local company, so it isn't exactly local any more. Some argue that making foods locally has its drawbacks, in that each producer has to recreate production systems that work more efficiently at a larger scale.

Is the relocalization and small organic movement realistic and sustainable within itself? Can we feed our cities from farmers' markets, and will consumers pay more for food that supports local farmers through fair wages? Or should we go the big organic route, fusing mass market foods with sustainable foods, taking advantage of economies of scale to produce organic food that everyone can enjoy? Is big organic simply putting a false eco-spin on a faceless and globalized food market?

What do you think? Does industrial logic work in the world of food?