Sales of locally produced foods comprise a small but growing part of U.S. agricultural sales. USDA estimates that farm-level value of local food sales totaled about $4.8 billion in 2008, or about 1.6% of the U.S. market for agricultural products. An estimated total of 107,000 farms are engaged in local food systems, or about 5% of all U.S. farms. There is no established definition of what constitutes a "local food." Local and regional food systems generally refer to agricultural production and marketing that occurs within a certain geographic proximity (between farmer and consumer) or that involves certain social or supply chain characteristics in producing food (such as small family farms, urban gardens, or farms using sustainable agriculture practices). Some perceive locally sourced foods as fresher and higher in quality compared to some other readily available foods, and also believe that purchasing local foods helps support local farm economies and/or farmers that use certain production practices that are perceived to be more environmentally sustainable. A wide range of farm businesses may be considered to be engaged in local foods. These include direct-to-consumer marketing, farmers' markets, farm-to-school programs, community-supported agriculture, community gardens, school gardens, food hubs and market aggregators, and kitchen incubators and mobile slaughter units. Other types of operations include on-farm sales/stores, internet marketing, food cooperatives and buying clubs, pick-your-own or "U-Pick" operations, roadside farm stands, urban farms (and rooftop farms and gardens), community kitchens, small scale food processing and decentralized root cellars, and some agritourism or other types of on farm recreational activities. The 2008 farm bill (P.L. 110-246, Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008) contained a few program provisions that directly support local and regional food systems. However, many existing federal programs benefiting U.S. agricultural producers may also provide support and assistance for local food systems. These include farm support and grant programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and may be grouped into several broad program categories: marketing and promotion; business assistance; rural and community development; nutrition and education; agricultural research and cooperative extension; and farmland conservation. Examples include USDA's farmers' market programs, rural cooperative grants, and selected child nutrition programs, among myriad other grant and loan programs, as well as USDA's research and cooperative extension service. Farm bill proposals debated in the 112th Congress would have expanded several of these programs. The 113th Congress will likely consider reauthorization of the 2008 farm bill and may reconsider proposals debated in the 112th Congress to address expiring farm bill provisions, including provisions that either directly or indirectly support local food systems. Although the 2008 farm bill contained few specific programs that directly support local and regional food systems, many community and farm advocacy groups have been arguing that such food systems should play a larger policy role within the next farm bill, and that laws should be modified to reflect broader, more equitable policies across a range of production systems, including local food systems. The 112th Congress introduced legislation, including several comprehensive marker bills, which would have expanded the benefits for local and regional food systems. These issues may continue to be of interest in the 113th Congress.

In the post-World War II era, widespread rural poverty, most notably among farmers, dominated rural policy concerns. The Eisenhower Administration's Undersecretary for Agriculture, True D. Morse, began a rural development program in 1955 to assist low-income farmers. Because agriculture was the major economic activity in many rural areas of the time, a focus on farms and farm households became de facto rural policy. The war on poverty during the 1960s continued the focus on rural poverty as a central policy issue. When agriculture began to decline as rural America's dominant economic activity, policy attention shifted to rural revitalisation. The 1980s farm financial crisis and economic dislocation in rural America brought the importance of rural structural change to the forefront of policy concerns. The further decline of farming to less than 8% of rural employment and the loss of many manufacturing jobs during the past decade have highlighted the growing gap between many rural areas and the Nation's urban/suburban areas. While no overarching framework guides rural policy at the federal level, adequate housing, employment creation and business retention, human capital concerns, poverty issues, medical care, and infrastructure development remain key foci of federal rural policy.

When agricultural production and related businesses dominated rural economies, policies that strengthened and improved agriculture tended to strengthen and improve the well-being of most America's small communities and rural residents. As the strength of this linkage declined over the past century, many have felt that the rural policy has been left largely fragmented and unfocused, compromising a patchwork of programs and initiatives rather than a coherent policy. Yet agriculture remains the primary policy framework for Congresses' consideration of rural issues. Significant changes are occurring in the structure of the US agro-food system. These changes are likely to pose important questions about the direction and coherence of current rural policy. Several significant trends in the evolving structure of agriculture are discussed in this book: (1) a continuation in the trend toward fewer and larger farms; (2) a potential acceleration of that trend as production shifts to more tightly integrated and vertically co-ordinated production through supply chains; (3) greater environmental pressures on conventional agricultural production practices stemming from urban and suburban interests; and (4) changing food consumption patterns.

U.S. Agriculture is also changing rapidly from a sector characterised by production of undifferentiated bulk commodities sold in spot markets to one of specialised markets driven by new end-user demands. As production shifts away from commodity agriculture to product agriculture, vertically integrated agribusiness firms are increasingly organising production into agro-food value chains to synchronise all stages of production from seed to supermarket. Value-added production is a central element of agro-food value chain, and control over specific "identity preserved"(IP) trait is basic to the development of product agriculture. Many farmers and ranchers are beginning to consider how they might reorganise their operation to better anticipate these changes and to participate in them, for example, by forming "new generation" value-added co-operatives, and engaging in increased contract production as sources of new markets, lowered risks, and higher farm and ranch incomes. Emerging opportunities for biomass-based fuels and materials processing facilities, new food processing plants, and alternative farming system (e.g., organic) could create important new markets for producers. Smaller-scale producers find new opportunities in regionally branded products, farmers markets, new speciality crops, ethic markets, or in establishing direct marketing links between farms an regional groceries. This new book examines the status of this important development.

This book undertakes a study of the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) and a comparison with the Appalachian region. The eight-county San Joaquin Valley, part of California's Central Valley, is home to 5 of the 10 most agriculturally productive counties in the United States. By a wide range of indicators, the SJV is also one of the most economically depressed regions of the United States. This book analyses the SJV's counties and statistically documents the basis of current socio-economic conditions. The book further explores the extent to which the SJV shares similarities with and differs from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) area and a 68-county Central Appalachian sub-region which contains some of the most economically distressed counties in Appalachia. The book also examines the role of federal expenditures in the cities and counties of the SJV. In addition to examining socio-economic conditions in the SJV, the book provides analysis of water supply and quality issues especially those concerning agriculture, air quality concerns, and rail and shipping issues. It is fully indexed.