Local, National, Global: Introduction to Local Food Systems Colloquium

In the 20^th century, food production in the US migrated away from farms surrounding communities supporting a local food system to industrial production centers often distant from consumers.  The efficiencies of both scale and environmental conditions in the production centers provided inexpensive food year-around to American consumers.  The food, however, had to travel significant distances from the farm field to the consumer table with a significant supply chain to support the storage, transport, and sale of the mass-produced food products.  With recent concerns about food miles, rising costs of petroleum-based fuels used in transport, consumer environmental and health concerns and perceptions, increasing interest in product quality and freshness, as well as interest in local economies, there has been increased consumer interest in more locally or regionally produced foods.  This interest has stimulated a significant number of farmers’ markets as well as programs by retail food chains acquiring, marketing and selling local foods.   With the increased interest in locally produced foods come both opportunities as well as challenges including availability of farms, farmers and products, appropriate scale-neutral or small scale technologies needed for locally produced foods, new supply chain systems to handle multiple small and medium scale producers, etc.  Further, questions of sustainability of food production in smaller scale and non-optimum environments become apparent. With the perceived increased interest and need for more local foods there is a need to have programs to initiate and sustain the food production system.  This colloquium is developed to explore issues of local food systems addressing the opportunities and challenges so that appropriate science may be initiated, technologies developed and educational and outreach programs developed and implemented to support local food systems.