FOOD

Rebuilding Local Food Systems

for Consumers
Fact Sheet • February 2011

I t’s trendy for food retailers to label some of their produce as coming from “local”
farmers or to feature specific farmers in their ads. But why is it such a novelty to
carry a product that is produced near where it is sold? And why is it such a small
portion of the food, and usually only fresh fruits and vegetables? Is it that hard for
grocery stores to sell food that comes from regional or local producers?

Regional food systems used to be the norm, with networks

of producers, processors and distributors set up to sup-
ply consumers with food produced in their region of the
country. But in the last three decades, our food systems
have changed. Instead of regional networks, the systems
for bringing food to markets became national. This change
wasn’t simply the result of better logistical systems or the
growth of interstate highways. The rise of agribusiness con-
solidation and corporate mergers led to the loss of vital lo-
cal infrastructure that was used to turn livestock and crops
into the foods we buy at the grocery store.

Some foods like fruits and vegetables can be locally grown

and distributed directly to consumers through farmers mar-
kets and community-supported agriculture plans. But many
other crops, like grain, milk and livestock, need to be pro-
cessed in some way before they are ready for consumers to
buy as bread, milk, butter, cheese or meat. Even fruits and
vegetables need processing to be turned into “value-added”
products like frozen vegetables, sauces or jam. The infra-
structure that used to exist to allow smaller independent
producers to bring these products to nearby markets disap-
peared when rapidly consolidating agribusiness companies
bought up processing facilities, closing those that were
duplicative or not “efficient” enough.
Meat and dairy may offer the starkest examples of how the
consolidation of agriculture has left producers with fewer
and fewer options for getting their products to market.
The number of cattle and hog slaughter plants declined by
about a third between 1996 and 2006.1 Between 1972 and
1992, the number of fluid milk processing plants fell by
70 percent.2 This consolidation is not just about how many
facilities there are to process food; the entire supply chain
has changed. Instead of having multiple options for selling
their agricultural products, farmers are increasingly locked
into a system with a few buyers — or only one that buys in
their area.
The rise in corporate consolidation in the food industry
has also led to the decline of independent, locally owned
infrastructure. No longer are there independent suppli-
ers of farm inputs like seed, feed or machinery. In their
place is most likely one corporation that supplies inputs
through contracts with large farms, and a single mill or
slaughterhouse to process the grain and livestock for all of
the farmers in surrounding towns. The loss of these local
meatpackers, poultry producers, milk processing plants and
grain elevators breaks the links between local food produc-
ers and nearby consumers.
Independent slaughterhouses, milk and meat processing
firms, locally owned grain elevators, and local feed and
equipment dealers provide employment, investment and
stability to rural communities. Economically viable farms
are the lifeblood of rural communities.3 The earnings from
locally owned and locally controlled farms generate an
economic “multiplier effect” when farmers buy their sup-
plies locally and the money stays within the community.4
When these businesses disappear and are replaced by just
a few larger facilities, rural economies suffer. And the earn-
ings and profits from meatpacker-owned cattle feedlots and
hog production facilities are shipped to corporate head-
quarters instead of invested locally.
The loss of infrastructure means that it is that much more
difficult for farmers to get their products sold in nearby
communities. Even with growing consumer demand for lo-
cally produced food, the infrastructure needed to get these
foods to market without going through large corporate pro-
cessors and distributors does not exist. The costs of rebuild-
ing this infrastructure are too great for individual farmers or
small businesses to bear on their own. So instead of farmers
having a variety of options for where to sell and process
their food locally, food is shipped across the country to gi-
ant processing plants and distribution centers, then sent out
to large chain grocery stores. It is no wonder that during
snowstorms shelves in grocery stores are empty — supplies
have to come in cross-country through the storms to restock
store shelves.
This change in the food system didn’t happen by accident.
Decades of bad farm policy and misdirected economic de-
velopment policy drove these changes in rural economies.
It’s time to rebuild the links in the food chain that connect
farms and ranches with consumers, and to make sure that
independent, locally owned businesses are part of that
rebuilding.
Every five years, Congress passes a farm bill that creates
hundreds of millions of dollars of spending by the U.S. De-
partment of Agriculture on rural development, ranging from
grants to local governments and community organizations
to government-backed loans to businesses. Unfortunately,
many past farm bills have focused funding only on larger
projects like broadband access or businesses that don’t
help rebuild food systems, like hotels or convenience stores
selling processed food. Funding needs to be dedicated to
reinvigorating the local economy by investing in small and
medium-sized agricultural enterprises. These investments
would maximize returns to the local economy and allow
smaller regional food producers to process their products
and bring them to market.
The next farm bill needs to focus on leveling the playing
field for independent farmers, ranchers and food processors
and to redirect rural development programs to rebuild miss-
ing infrastructure that can serve regional food systems, not
corporate supply chains.
For more, go to www.foodandwaterwatch.org/fairfarmbill
Endnotes
1 USDA Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration.
“Assessment of the Livestock and Poultry Industries: Fiscal Year 2007
Report.” May 2008 at 9 and 11.
2 Ollinger et al. (2005) at 16.
3 Democratic Senate Agriculture Committee Staff Report (2004) at 2.
[Comment: See my questions above at clxxvii.)
4 Pew Commission (2008) at 41.
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Copyright © February 2011 Food & Water Watch