General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Organic" Farming and the True Cost of Food-A Small Farmers Perspective [View all]BronxBoy
(2,286 posts)Depends on what mountains you are in.
Here in Georgia, people in the mountains can get access to local food because of our climate and season extension technique. If you are in Maine, different story entirely.
But here is another area where small farmers are at a decided disadvantage. Most small farmers need to produce what's known as "value-added" products. In a nutshell, this is taking a product grown on farm and turning it into something else. A fresh tomato into canned sauce or summer squash that is flash frozen for example.
Most successful small farms have some sort of value added products such as jams or jellies because the higher price they command can help us hold the line on fresh produce prices.
However, the infrastructure to do this in a legally safe manner is woefully lacking in many states and this has stymied the growth of local food in many areas such as farm to school and restaurant sales The local food movement has recognized this and there are efforts across the country to address this issue.
But a lot of the seed money to do this is in the miniscule amount of money that is allocated n the farm bill for sustainable farms which as I stated is always a fat target in budget negotiations.