Economists tell us that this world of industrialization and globalization is flexible, innovative, and that it stimulates new technologies. From a short-term point of view, it's a consumer's paradise, with as much choice as money can buy. We might question whether or not factory chickens and cardboard strawberries constitute a consumer's paradise, but much more is at stake. We simply cannot continue using up resources and dumping the by-products of our wasteful production processes. This future is characterized by entrepreneurial, green, regional food systems.
People buy local food because they trust it.
Large companies with integrated food chains capture some of the consumer desire for variety, but, more and more, farmers and their neighbors provide fresh local meat, cheese, and produce, and create recreational opportunities on farms. Cattle and sheep are weaned from grain diets and put back on pasture, which their four stomachs were created to digest. Manure is an asset instead of a liability, and rotations with grass and legumes restore health to grain-belt soils. Individuals become healthier, and cancer rates decline as we gradually eliminate the toxic load of pesticides from plants, soil, water, air, and our bodies. Farmers join together in a wide variety of businesses to transform farm produce into higher value food and fiber, thereby capturing a larger portio of the money now spent on products transformed under corporate control.