The current industrial food system relies heavily on fossil fuels and is damaging the environment through soil erosion, water contamination and pollution. Local, sustainable farming practices that use less fossil fuels and replenish the soil are better for the environment. Educating consumers about the benefits of local food and connecting them directly with farmers who use sustainable practices can help shift people's food choices to options that are healthier, support the local economy and reduce environmental impacts.

1. Local Foods
Your Environment

2. Modern agriculture is dependant on
economics of scale. All commodity crops
are produced on the principle of lower
input costs to achieve the most yield
possible. This system is completely
dependant on a stable and cheap supply
of fossil fuel. The system has worked
extremely well for 60 years. Food costs
are very low by historical standards.
Lately, some issues have started to surface
about this system!!

3. The current industrial food system is using
18% of our total US oil consumption.
The water and soil around our country is
showing signs of contamination, such as
the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. The
soil erosion is getting worse every year
as we monocrop our farms. The ultra-
high concentration of animals in
Concentrated Animal Feeder Operations
(CAFO) is also causing ecological
problems such as fish kills and excess
harmful pathogens in the soil.

4. The Midwest imports 97% of the food we eat!
We are in the middle of the best agricultural
land in the world and most of our food
travels 1500 miles to reach our table.
We are convinced strawberries should be
available all year and do not question the
environmental impact of this consumption.
As long as food businesses offer us $1.00
menus, why do we care how they do it?
Our preference for quality food or
responsible stewardship of the
environment is really controlled by money.

5. Business Environment
United States
Gross Expenditures on Food
$444,000,000,000
South Dakota
Gross Expenditures on Food
$1,466,098,125
Regional
Gross Expenditures on Food
Sioux Falls $432,609,375 Rapid City $314,964,375
Brookings $115,106,250 Aberdeen $113,891,250
Vermillion $106,745,625 Pierre $100,023,750
Watertown $99,380,625 Huron $74,295,000

6. What factors influence your food purchasing
decision ?
1) Low Prices
2) Convenience
3) Flavor
4) Healthy / Safe Food
5) Animal Welfare
6) Worker Welfare
7) Ecological Impact
8) Transparency
9) Sustainable Farms
10) Organic Production

7. #1
Price
 Lower Wages
 Limited Benefits
 Out-flow of dollars from the community
 Increase production units
 Source inputs from lowest cost provider
 Apply economics of scale to production
 Replace human energy with fossil fuel
 Replace nutrient inputs with fossil fuel
 Distribution reliant on fossil fuel

8. #2
Convenience
Many of us make our food choices on easy
access, short term decisions and
perceived time constraints.
The current food industry has convinced us
time is more important than nutrition,
enjoyment of food or social interaction
while dining.

9. #3
Flavor – Taste
It is interesting we choose short term
satisfaction over so many other factors.
Flavor is so important food companies
spend millions in research to study how
people react to various additives to
increase product consumption.

10. #4
Healthy / Safe Food
Concerns about food borne illnesses, heart
disease, diabetes and obesity have made
food safety a much greater concern. As
our food system becomes centralized
and highly processed, our health is
deteriorating.

11. #5
Animal Welfare
Many large meat producers are very
concerned about how their production
practices are perceived.
The current production practices and
product quality of large confinement
operations are beginning to experience
consumer resistance.

12. #6
Worker Welfare
Who is the labor force providing the food
on our plate? It is interesting we place
animal welfare ahead of humans. Do we
feel that people have freedom of choice
and animals do not? Do the agricultural
workers in our system have reasonable
working conditions? Do the workers
providing your food have reasonable
working conditions?

13. #7
Ecological Impact
Pollution, petroleum consumption, erosion,
climate change, pesticide contamination
and consumer waste are all non-issues
to the majority of the consumers. Do you
think about any these factors when you
purchase food?

14. Many local farmers, environmentalists, animal
welfare advocates, locavores, Slow Food
movement advocates, Buy Fresh Buy Local
proponents and many others see a different
path.
Eating local food connects the consumer with the
farmer. The food becomes artisan, as
individual as the producer. The food is not
ultra-processed into unhealthy products.
The farmers are producing under sustainable
practices which replenishes the soil as it
produces diverse crops. Many farmers are
practicing organic methods, some certified
organic. The food is healthy, whole and
nutritious.

15. Education Campaigns
The first phase to bring local foods back to the community
is education. An organized effort with clear goals and
objectives must be planned, local champions
identified, financial budgets prepared and a plan of
work prepared.
The traditional questions must be addressed:
Who
What
Where
When
Why

16. “Buy Fresh Buy Local”
FoodRoutes Network is the lead organization responsible
for the format and continuity of the state and regional
chapters.

17. Local Foods
New opinions often appear first
as jokes and fancies,
then as blasphemies and treason,
then as questions open to discussion,
and finally as established truths.
George Bernard Shaw