Since the "green revolution" of the 1970's our food system has shifted from one of local production around and for cities, to a massive business of industrial agriculture which uses chemical and mechanical inputs to produce high yield crops of a single variety. Due to an ever expanding global economy, foods are often transported across countries, continents, and oceans before arriving at our table. Based on the marvels of science and engineering, the dominant food system, inaccurately labeled "conventional agriculture," has put small scale, local farmers out of work in the face of insurmountable competition and artificially low prices. Other side effects of industrial agriculture and agribusiness are environmental problems such as increased usage of pesticides and fossil fuels, loss of biodiversity, water pollution, and depleted topsoil. Then there are social consequences, such as exploitation of farm workers, social disconnect from food, endemic obesity, diabetes, and other health risks and diseases. For every problem, however, there are solutions: People in the Bay Area, and across the globe, are awakening their senses, minds, and mouths to the alternatives to large scale agriculture. This article highlights just some of the ways growing masses of people are getting involved in creating local food systems that counter the ills of industrial agriculture.

Organic and Sustainable

A truly sustainable food system promotes biodiversity, uses no chemical and few mechanical inputs, and does not incur long distance transport. The underlying assumption of sustainable food production is that it is healthy for the farmer, worker, consumer, economy, animals, and the environment. It is important to realize that sustainable and organic are not necessarily interchangeable terms: crops grown without chemicals are organic, but can only be part of a sustainable system if they are produced locally. Increased energy efficiency and minimal processing are the additional elements required of a sustainable system, but not of organics. While commercial food production focuses on single crops and controlling higher yields, sustainable food production operates in a system of natural interaction and is inextricably linked to other issues such as environmental protection, human health, and social justice.

In his new book the Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Penguin Books, 2006), author Michael Pollan discusses the problem with what he terms "industrial organic", that is, the co-opting of the label organic by large scale agriculture. Many of the mega-marketers of agribusiness have picked up on our growing concern for eating healthy food and have gone into the organic business, while their products remain part of the industrial system, producing foods that are heavy in mechanical inputs and often highly processed. Pollan takes this idea further, exploring industrial, sustainable, and native food chains in detail. By tracing the lineage of four meals he lays out what our food choices really mean, to our society, our health and the environment.

Community Supported Agriculture and Farmer's Markets

According to Local Harvest (www.localharvest.org), a national group that supports local food economies, "Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for the food buying public to create a relationship with a farm and to receive a weekly basket of (farm fresh) produce." By making a financial commitment in advance to a local, sustainable farmer, consumers can invest their food dollar in healthy produce and become members or shareholders of the farm. This community support allows farmers to raise the capital needed to produce more food, and lowers their risk by guaranteeing purchasers will pay a fair price for what is grown. In community supported agriculture there are no middle-men, i.e. produce wholesalers, whose goal is to get the lowest price for the farmer's goods, and grocery stores, which pass their operating costs to the consumer. Produce is delivered fresh to the subscriber's door, or to a drop off site, and transportation costs are drastically reduced. The community's investment ensures the success of the farm and the health of the community. Some CSA farms have programs where members work a small number of hours on the farm during the growing season, fostering a connection between the consumer and producer, between you and the food you eat. A CSA season typically runs from late spring through early fall. An ever expanding movement, the number of CSA farms in the United States was estimated at 50 in 1990, and has since grown to over 1000.

Another direct connection between consumers and farmers are Farmer's Markets, of which there are at least a dozen in the Bay Area. Cultures around the globe employ these markets, to sell anything from produce and meat to handicrafts, flowers, jewelry, and textiles. Several recent experiments with Farmer's Markets allow formerly marginalized groups to grow and sell food directly to the public, with profits going immediately back to the seller- a social justice innovation. Programs are underway in such diverse places as Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project and Curitiba, Brazil. Locally, San Francisco Food Systems, an agency that works with the Department of Public Health, has advocated for food stamps and WIC to be accepted at all Farmer's Markets including the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, which showcases the city's best selection of sustainable produce and meat, and the Bayview Farmer's Market, which brings farm fresh produce to a neighborhood with a proliferation of liquor stores and few grocery stores, benefiting both the community and the farmer. Supporting local Farmer's Markets means tipping the scales of social and economic justice in your favor.

Eating Seasonally, the Locavore Challenge, and the Hunger for Connection

Of course, eating directly from a farm or Farmer's Market means that many of the products we are accustomed to having, at any time of the year, are not always available to us. Eating farm fresh, while connecting you to the farmer, also connects you to the earth and the seasonality of fresh foods. No tomatoes in the winter, and no pumpkins in the summer. Eating with the farmer means taking risks and giving up dependencies on certain food luxuries, but the trade off is healthy, sustainable food and connection to that food.

A group of concerned Bay Area citizens have presented consumers with the ultimate challenge: to eat locally, exclusively, for the month of May 2006. The Locavores Challenge (www.locavores.com) is another grassroots effort to support local food economies by eating food grown within 100 miles of home. In comparison, the average distance food travels to your table in our industrial system is 1500 miles, contributing both to our society's dependence on oil and taking accountability out of the food production process. Being a Locavore means no bananas, mangos, coffee, chocolate, coconut milk, nor many of the other products that we are accustomed to finding year round on our grocery shelves. While this might be a difficult challenge or what seems like a mission impossible, at the very least it encourages us to think about where the food we eat comes from, what it takes to bring it to us, and how we can affect change through our choices.

Locavores co-founder, chef, and food activist Jessica Prenctice recently published a book, Full Moon Feast and the Hunger for Connection (Chelsea Green, 2006), in which she explores our innate desire for connectedness to the land and to the food we eat. She ingeniously describes the cycle of food in relation to the thirteen month lunar calendar, traditionally used by agrarian societies, drawing on native nutrition and Farmer's Almanacs as resources. The result is an excellent and informative read which describes her personal history with food, and details which foods correspond with each month or moon, according to age old wisdom. This amazing knowledge base is linked back to the industrial food system, explaining both our disconnection and our desire for re-connection, and is interspersed with healthful, seasonal recipes.

The Slow Food Movement

Slow Food is an organization which has attracted people the world over who eschew not only "fast food" but a fast-paced existence. The emphasis with this group is three-fold: first, a return to locally produced, seasonal food; doing so preserves local economies. Slow Food also puts great emphasis on the ability of people to actually enjoy the food they are eating; pleasure, tradition, and artisanal foods are valued more than efficiency in production. Finally, the group strives to educate food eaters in an "ecologically aware consumerism," so that people know where their food comes from, what it took to produce and deliver it, and how much healthier their food choices can be, for themselves, local farmers, animals, economies, and the environment. While this initially seems rooted solely in food, the Slow Food movement is really about a return to sustainable systems of living in a world obsessed with industry and efficiency. What better and more pressing place to start than in food systems, without which humanity cannot survive?

Vote with your forks!

People who are interested in supporting and becoming involved in sustainable food systems will have many alternatives to consider; first and foremost, what feels most comfortable for them. This often means convenience and price are primary concerns. More and more people are discovering, however, that CSA programs and locally produced foods are often less expensive and just as convenient as large food retailers. Being connected to our food means we care to investigate all of the associated concerns, such as how and where the food was raised, how much it has been processed, how it impacts human and environmental health, and whom it benefits economically. The value of shopping, producing, and eating locally, in terms of social, economic, and environmental health, is evident. Many people opt for labeled organics, but what should be emphasized and made clear is whether the organic products we buy are truly sustainable. What we choose to eat and consume is a highly political decision. So vote with your forks for the kind of food systems you want, and for the equitable allocation of resources to accommodate those systems.

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This article was co-authored by Hillary Strobel