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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.
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