A Critique On Locavorism. Locavorism - 1422 Words

Hailey Kruger English 125 Professor Miller 30 September 2015 A Critique on Locavorism Locavorism – the idea that food grown in close proximity to where one consumes it is not only more nutritious and better tasting, but also more environmentally responsible than mass produced food – seems to be igniting a food revolution in America (The Week Staff). The movement has gained momentum across America as the number of farmers markets has increased fivefold since 1994 (The Week Staff). Locavores, those who champion the locavorism movement boast that buying and eating food locally is more environmentally sound, more nutritious and safer, but do their claims hold up? Sums of historical and scientific data disprove claims that locavorism is an all around better system than that used by agri-business. While buying and consuming food locally makes sense at times, confining people to only consuming local food is actually less sustainable, less, nutritious, and less safe than consuming food that is mass produced. Scientific data has disproven Locavore’s claims that buying food locally is more environmentally friendly and sustainable than purchasing globally grown food and instead illustrates the benefits of â€Å"agri-business† food. Locavore’s claim that the distance food travels from where it was grown to where is will be consumed – known as food miles- seriously contribute to environmental problems (Shimizu and Desrochers Introduction). However, transportation composes only a small