Most of man’s existence on this planet has thrived on local food. Indeed, all of nature is totally dependent on local food. Over the last half century or more, growing and processing food has been broken down into many stages, all of which tend to be thousands of miles apart. Whether you worry about climate change, Peak Oil, rising costs, GMO’s, or poor nutrition and taste, local food can provide a life-affirming buffer. Everyone who can, however, needs to contribute by growing a variety of foods that will adapt to future climate change, and use compost from local wastes, as well as harvested water. 

When the Sustainable Santa Fe Plan (http://www.santafenm.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=702) was being written, research begin to uncover just how unsustainable grocery store food is these days. Beef can travel over 3,500 miles from birth to plate, and when you add back-hauling- trucks returning empty- it can be a total of over 5,000 miles! Processed foods are a problem as well. Crackers, cookies, and other packaged goods can have wheat that has traveled over 5,000 miles. This figure of 5,000 miles fails to add all the other ingredients plus the packaging- possibly sugar from Brazil and petroleum from the Middle East to make the plastic wrapper. We have to ask ourselves how sustainable is this? How long can this waste continue? If we don’t want any more disasters like the horrific Gulf Oil spill, and we cut way back on petroleum, then our food will have to become far more local and less packaged. Begin now.