 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 3 ] Next Last |
The concept is often related to the slogan Think globally, act locally, common in green politics. Those supporting development of local food economy consider that since food is needed by everyone, everywhere, everyday, a small change in the way it is produced and marketed will have great effect on health, ecosystem and cultural diversity preservation. They say shopping decisions focusing on local food consumption directly affect the well-being of people, improve local economies and may be ecologically more sustainable.
In general, local food is in opposition to the ideas of global free trade. Critics argue that by convincing consumers in developed nations not to buy food produced in the third world, the local food movement damages the economy of third world nations, which often rely heavily on food exports and cash cropIn agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is sold for money. The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family. In earlier times cash crops were usuals.
Critics also say that local food tends to be more expensive to the consumer than regular food and could never provide the variety of foods currently available (such as having summer vegetables available in winter, or having kinds of food available which can not be locally produced due to soilSoil is the layer of minerals and organic matter, in thickness from centimetres to a metre or more, on the land surface. Its main components are mineral matter, organic matter, moisture, and air. Soils differ in the ratio of these components. Modern soil or climateThe climate is the weather averaged over a long period of time. A descriptive saying is that "climate is what you expect, weather is what you get". The IPCC glossary definition is: : Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the “average weather”, o conditions).
However, proponents indicate that the lower price of regular food (which is sometimes called cheap food ) is often due to governmental subsidiesA subsidy is a grant or monetary gift given by a private person or entity (often a government) to another private person or entity, as financial assistance or to help launch an enterprise. Critics of government interventions in free markets often use a wi (in the form of price supports or direct payments or tax break s) and often does not take into account the true costFull cost accounting (FCA) generally refers to the process of collecting and presenting information (costs as well as advantages) for each proposed alternative when a decision is necessary. Costs and advantages may be considered in terms of environmental, of the product. They further indicate that buying local food does not necessarily mean giving up all food coming from distant ecoregionEcoregions are defined by the World Wildlife Fund as "relatively large units of land or water containing a distinct assemblage of natural communities and species, with boundaries that approximate the original extent of natural communities prior to major ls, but rather favoring local foods when available.
The definition of local or regional is quite flexible and is disputed. Some see "local" as being a very small area (typically the size of a cityA city is an urban area, differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. City can also be a synonym for " downtown. Introduction A city usually consists of residential, industrial and business areas and its surroundings), others would rather suggest the ecoregion size, while others would define refer to the borders of their nation or state.
However, most proponents of "local food" state that "local" has little to do with distance or with the size of a "local" area. For example, some could see the American state of Texas as being "local", though that state is much larger than some European countries. In this case, the distance of transport of a food product across Texas could be longer than the distance between a northern and a southern European country.
It is also argued that national borders should preferably not be used to define what is local. For people living in, say, the South of England, food produced in Northern France is more "local" than food produced in Scotland. Similarly, a cheese produced in Alsace is likely to be more "local" to German people living in Frankfurt, than to French people living in Marseille.
Local is often defined in the view of ecology, trying to see food production from the perspective of a basic ecological unit defined by its climate, soil, watershed, species and local agrisystem s, unit also called ecoregion.
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|