Local & Regional Food Systems: Trends, Resources & Federal Initiatives

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). 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. This book provides background on local and regional food systems, focusing on available data on direct-to-consumer sales, farmers’ markets, farm-to-school programs, community-supported agriculture (CSA), and community gardens. It highlights available resources within existing federal programs administered by USDA and other agencies that may be applied to support local food systems. This book also describes some of the Obama Administration’s initiatives that leverage existing USDA programs to support local food systems. Finally, this book discusses some of the legislative options that have been proposed by Congress and intended to broaden support for local and regional food systems.