from the keep-calm-and-carry-local-food dept.
The COVID‐19 pandemic affected American households in countless ways, but according to researchers, some of the most tangible shifts are taking place in the food system.
A combination of supply chain issues, tighter budgets, concern about shopping in public spaces, and increases in at-home preparation has led to a greater interest in sourcing food locally, but the question remains how long that interest will last. A team of researchers from Penn State's Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education conducted a study to find out.
[...] "During the pandemic, food consumption changed and so did the sourcing of that food," said Martina Vecchi, assistant professor of agricultural economics at Penn State and lead author on the study. "A lot of people started exploring different ways of purchasing food and we wanted to understand the determining factors in their decisions."
[...] "We thought of those as the two mechanisms that could influence the willingness to buy this type of product: anxiety and sense of community," Vecchi said. "We assumed that as people got more anxious because of the pandemic, they would buy more local food because they thought it was safer. We also thought it might strengthen their sense of community and would therefore reflect a higher willingness to pay for local food."
The results show a trend in the opposite direction. As anxiety increased, sense of community decreased. Vecchi explains that the rise in local food sales during the pandemic may simply be a byproduct of supply chain issues and fears about supermarkets, not a reflection of permanent changes in consumer behavior.
"It doesn't appear that their actual willingness to invest in local food was higher," Vecchi said. "Sure, they were paying for local food, just because they felt that was the safest option, but it's not that their actual willingness to pay for it was higher."
[...] "My advice to policymakers and farmers is to try and deal with consumers' anxiety and their sense of community first," Vecchi said. "We have to solve for that if we want to sustain a vibrant local food economy."
Good luck trying to manage anxiety in our world of social media news.
Journal Reference:
Martina Vecchi, Edward C. Jaenicke, Claudia Schmidt, Local food in times of crisis: The impact of COVID-19 and two reinforcing primes [open], Agribusiness, 2022. DOI: 10.1002/agr.21754
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday September 15 2022, @02:26PM (4 children)
Local food tastes better because it is picked when it's ripe, not weeks ahead of time. It's probably better for you, too. The lower carbon footprint is a fringe benefit.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2022, @02:36PM (3 children)
All true, but . . . [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday September 15 2022, @06:18PM (2 children)
Thank you. I don't usually follow links that aren't described, but I took a chance and it was good, and brief.
They make some good points, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it does take extra time, effort, planning, etc., to go to local farm markets. And that's if you even know they exist.
What I've seen a tiny bit, and would like to see much more of, is the large supermarkets selling local farm foods. It's still best to buy direct from the farmers, if you can, and if you even know they exist, and where.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 15 2022, @09:40PM (1 child)
I agree with all of that. The farmer's market is too far away, too expensive, and sometimes I don't think the food looks especially good. That's why I put my own farmer's market in. Step out the back door, walk ~20 feet, and harvest my own tomatoes and peppers, a few feet further, corn, beans, squash, peas, and so much more. And, if I don't recognize something growing there, I feed it to the goats.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday September 15 2022, @10:02PM
Recently I was on a bit of a business trip (driving) and passed by several farm stands. I didn't have time to stop (was already running late) and on the way home rush-hour traffic was horrific. I'd have stopped at one or two, but you couldn't see them, no signs or anything, until you were right there, but moving fast, traffic on your rear bumper, etc. Maybe someone could / should set up a website to list farm stands? Maybe some of the maps show some, but not all.
A good friend's mom passed away about 2-1/2 years ago at 101. She had been still living by herself in her house. She had been slowing down, but even in her mid-90s still gardening. And that's the point- she raised much of her own food, and had a pretty large garden most of her life.
She bought some food in stores, some organic, some she wouldn't buy either way. She was particularly unhappy with commercial chicken and would never buy any store brands. There are some high-end (expensive) natural organic foods markets in my area, so she went to them sometimes.
She also took several homeopathic supplements, but was aware of the dangers of many of them. She had studied bio-chem, was a very long-time RN (including in WW2, Army 2nd Lieutenant here in the States), and went to an interesting Dr. who was an MD (not DO) but sometimes wrote prescriptions for naturopathic / homeopathic stuff. Good for you for taking good care of yourself and your family.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Thursday September 15 2022, @02:40PM (3 children)
If I buy produce from my neighbor's farm stand, he's a bit richer. Which gives him the money he needs to hire the local handyman to fix up some of his buildings. Which gives the local handyman the money he needs to visit the local diner. Which gives the local diner owner the money they need to buy more produce from my neighbor's farm stand. And then eventually my neighbor hires me to build his farm a website. This produces a nice virtuous cycle of local economy.
Whereas if I buy produce from Walmart, the local shelf-stockers get a couple of dimes, the local cashiers get a couple of dimes, the trucker that brought it into the store might have been a local, and the rest of the money definitely leaves my local economy, and a lot of it ends up in the hands of people who are already ridiculously rich and basically won't use it for anything.
You can think of imports and exports on a much smaller scale than we tend to. What does your area bring in from elsewhere? What does it sell mostly to people outside of the area? If what you're selling is less than what you're bringing in, then your area is becoming poorer, whether you realize it or not.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Thursday September 15 2022, @07:22PM (1 child)
It's hard to really track though. People running a wordpress design companies, or graphic arts/logo design company, medical form transcription service, and a zillion other invisible services out of their basements or non-descript 2nd floor office spaces above a strip mall that you aren't even aware of and collectively be bringing in millions of dollars to your area that you don't "see".
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday September 15 2022, @10:36PM
I know it's not 100% foolproof. What I also know is that when you look at what a lot of economic development planners think is the commerce they want, it's doing whatever they can to attract big box chain retailers or online retailer warehouses, without understanding that each of those is a vacuum pump pulling money out of their community.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday September 17 2022, @05:06AM
Countered by more of your time and money available for stuff other than buying food.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday September 15 2022, @03:35PM
I like to think that once people get a taste of a good thing, they continue it even after things "return to normal."
If local food is "a good thing" it may drop back from peak pandemic levels, but it should stay elevated from pre-pandemic levels.
Some things that have "stuck around" in my experience: work from home, instacart delivery, smaller crowds in most "daily use" public places (special events are still nuts.)
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday September 15 2022, @04:42PM (5 children)
I go into my backyard, pick some veggies and cook.
Short-lived? Not with it tasting THIS good and all-natural! YUMMmmmm......
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Interesting) by istartedi on Thursday September 15 2022, @06:47PM (3 children)
Were you doing that pre-pandemic? I was. The pandemic changed nothing for me. The drought had more impact, since I decided to grow less and avoid water intensive crops, namely corn.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday September 15 2022, @06:58PM (1 child)
I started my aspargus garden about, what, 4 years ago? I over-harvested and so this year i went without harvesting at all and it has thrived. I'm hoping next year will give a good crop. (Also, f*cking squirrels dug up some of my asparagus plants and killed half my plants....grumble grumble, harumph harumph)
We've had garden boxes for, again what, seven years now? Eight?
My wife doesn't square foot garden, so wastes a lot of space in my opinion (she thinks like a farmer because her parents gardened like farmers and 'farmers' are the worst to try to convert to square foot gardening), but when i retire i plan on taking over a second garden box and SFG the f*ck out of it and can what i can.
Canned asparagus, tomatoes (chili, spaghetti sauce, etc), frozen zuchhini..... mmmmmm.........
Where i live, the drought hasn't had as much of an impact for gardening, but it IS getting worse and we had to stop watering our lawn for a month....
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Thursday September 15 2022, @07:43PM
I don't know if you'd call this SFG, but I companion plant and close-plant so that the ground gets as little light as possible. I still have to pull a few weeds, but I never run a hoe through rows or anything like that. Corn+pumpkin shades the ground very well. Once tomatoes are established, a dense planting also shades the ground very well. No boxes, just firewood around the garden, LOL. Pro-tip for wood burners: Douglas fir does not get eaten by termites. Store the Doug fir on the ground, stack the oak on top of it. YMMV. We have ground-dwelling termites that will eat oak and long-needle pine wood.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 15 2022, @09:44PM
Yeah, the drought.
I thought I had it bad. Have watched a few videos, and learned that a lot of people were much worse off than I. At least I'm not entirely dependent on my garden, some people are!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday September 15 2022, @10:38PM
I sincerely hope the pandemic convinced more people to do that. Gardens are great, even if I suck at maintaining mine right now (I recently got back into working full-time, so all my garden-tending time disappeared).
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by GlennC on Thursday September 15 2022, @05:44PM (10 children)
At least, that's what the average American has been led to believe.
Far too many seem to think, "I want what I want, when I want it, as cheaply as I can get it. Fuck everyone else and screw the consequences!"
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday September 15 2022, @06:22PM (5 children)
You would enjoy the youtube vid the AC linked above- it's only 2:37 long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpOnqIuR5F4 [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by GlennC on Thursday September 15 2022, @06:36PM (4 children)
Sorry, but I don't go clicking on random video links.
Also, I'm just stating what I see.
I wish things were different, but I know that there's nothing I can do to make a difference.
It is what it is.
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday September 15 2022, @07:00PM (2 children)
>I know that there's nothing I can do to make a difference.
That's a problematic attitude, particularly when it's expressed by most of the population.
I wrote this: https://5050by2150.wordpress.com/ [wordpress.com] about 11 years ago. At the time, just about every single person I discussed it with said things ranging from: "nice idea, but it will never ever happen" to "you're f-ing insane, what kind of person would ever even imagine such a thing?" Now, I didn't devote my life to promoting the idea, it wasn't even a "big" thing for me, just a sort of idle concept that I'd e-mail around occasionally to people who I thought _might_ have some kind of interest or influence that could move the needle. Then, in 2016, a respected top tier biologist probably independently had arrived at a very similar concept on his own, probably long before I did, but he decided the time was right to go public, publish a book, a foundation was formed, annual conferences, 8 figure annual fundraising, celebrity endorsements, etc. And, you might say they're _still_ getting nowhere, but the world is moving in our direction now, much much faster than it was 15-20 years ago.
You may not think or feel that you're making a difference, but even if you're just "quietly making noise" it moves the needle and some movement, any movement, in the right direction is an improvement over just letting things continue to slide and implicitly approving through silence.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2, Insightful) by GlennC on Thursday September 15 2022, @07:08PM (1 child)
Good for you.
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday September 16 2022, @12:27PM
The question was posed, "how much does it matter?". Reading the thread on this story, though, struck me because so many of us have independently arrived at the same general conclusion: grow your own. It is possible for many people to do that, even those who live in cities (community gardens, rooftop planters, etc). It is a hedge against food insecurity to a greater or lesser degree, but perhaps even more valuable it's a hedge against psychological insecurity. So many have given up all sense of agency, and being able to grow your own food is an enormous balm.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2022, @09:45PM
But, it's not a random link. RS3 posted the link, and recommends it. I will also recommend it. But, suit yourself.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday September 15 2022, @06:51PM (3 children)
>"I want what I want, when I want it, as cheaply as I can get it. Fuck everyone else and screw the consequences!"
No seem about it, that's the primary driver of the economy, the anti-regulation lobbies in government and every other damn thing that's making it impossible to live with 8 billion people on this one rock.
Could we cram more people in here without completely trashing the place? Absolutely, but never with the current attitudes of "As long as I get mine, everyone else can just f-off and die for all I care."
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 1, Disagree) by khallow on Saturday September 17 2022, @10:52AM (2 children)
The primary driver of the economy is people want stuff. They want communal and societal level stuff too - it's not all me me me. And once again, we have the glaring ignorance of the problems of regulation that drive anti-regulation. If regulation were mostly sensible, anti-regulation would still be there, but you wouldn't care enough to write about it. That's the thing about reactionary political forces - get rid of the problem and you get rid of the force.
We don't need terrible regulation (particularly the enormous problems it creates) in order to have good regulation. And most of the drama about anti-regulation lobbies would go away.
Sure could, but why would we want to? As I've noted [soylentnews.org] before, peak human growth was back in 1988. There's no time in history when people just willingly slowed down making more people. Past slow downs were due to famine, disaster, disease. This is new.
Elsewhere you've discussed setting aside half of Earth. We're already a signification fraction of the way there (crudely 30% on land and 20% on ocean [soylentnews.org] of the way to half of Earth set aside mostly for nature).
Something huge and positive is happening. Why are we whining about imaginary problems rather than acknowledging those huge improvements? My take is that stories ultimately are about failure - something going wrong. We can't have the New Galactic Republic just win. That would end the movies and merchandising.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday September 17 2022, @03:00PM (1 child)
There are many perspectives on what happens in the world.
The perspective I care about most is the "power" perspective. What are the people who, in aggregate, control 50%+ of the policy and decision making for the majority of the important issues actually doing? They control a large chunk of the media, they put out messages of hope faith and charity, but when you look at what's actually happening as a result of their actions, and where it's taking the rest of us (far FAR more than 50% of the population) in the foreseeable future, to me the trends are clearly: F the rest, I'm the best, I've got mine and they will just have to deal with the scraps leftover.
The scariest part of the whole situation are the scrap pickers who suck up to the assholes in power and aspire to be as much like them as possible.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 1, Disagree) by khallow on Sunday September 18 2022, @02:38AM