Selling Local: Why Local Food Movements Matter - Softcover

Robinson, Jennifer Meta; Farmer, James Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0253026989 ISBN 13: 9780253026989

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2017

Synopsis

In an era bustling with international trade and people on the move, why has local food become increasingly important? How does a community benefit from growing and buying its own produce, rather than eating food sown and harvested by outsiders? Selling Local is an indispensable guide to community-based food movements, showcasing the broad appeal and impact of farmers' markets, community supported agriculture programs, and food hubs, which combine produce from small farms into quantities large enough for institutions like schools and restaurants. After decades of wanting food in greater quantities, cheaper, and standardized, Americans now increasingly look for quality and crafting. Grocery giants have responded by offering "simple" and "organic" food displayed in folksy crates with seals of organizational approval, while only blocks away a farmer may drop his tailgate on a pickup full of freshly picked sweet corn. At the same time, easy-up umbrellas are likely to unfurl over multi-generational farmers' markets once or twice a week in any given city or town. Drawing on prodigious fieldwork and research, experts Jennifer Meta Robinson and James Robert Farmer unlock the passion for and promise of local food movements, show us how they unfold practically in towns and on farms, and make a persuasive argument for how much they deeply matter to all of us.

About this title

About the Author

Jennifer Meta Robinson is Professor of Practice in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University where she teaches courses in communication, culture, and pedagogy. She has been formally studying local food since 2005, publishing numerous articles, book chapters, and The Farmers' Market Book: Growing Food, Cultivating Community.

James Farmer is Assistant Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies in the School of Public Health at Indiana University where he focuses his scholarship and service on community food systems and natural resource sustainability.

Edition details

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0253026989
• ISBN 13: 9780253026989
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224