Local food = recession-proof?

From Caroline — Blog by Caroline Cummins

January 19, 2009

On his blog, Chews Wise, Sam Fromartz recently reported that local food is booming, at least in the sense of demand outstripping supply. That’s all good, I suppose, so long as the supply can continue to grow and keep up (somewhat) with demand.

My own local-food purveyors have been more of a mixed bag. My CSA, Dancing Roots, is doing so well it’s renting out additional land (because it’s maxed out the few acres it already has). But my former egg purveyor, Wooden Bridge Farm, is going out of business. Not because of inadequate demand, but because the farmers just got tired of another sort of demand: that of the farming lifestyle, with its long hours, heavy labor, and unpredictability (this winter’s floods and snows devastated the farm’s livestock).

I wish the Wooden Bridge folks well as they give up farming for a calmer, cozier life. And I wish Dancing Roots well as they continue to expand. As for me, my family is planning to focus more on really local food this year: our garden.