Time to Throw Big Ag off the “Local” Gravy Train

The marketing world has gone crazy for local food. In an attempt to glom on to the local movement, companies like Frito-Lay (a brand owned by PepsiCo) are defining the term in the loosest way possible (see the article we are quoted in Tuesday from USA Today). What defines local food anyway? Is it produced on small farms, using certain principals of sustainability or is it “local” as long as it’s close to the consumer, no matter the standards? To whom is the locality important, the factory that is processing the food or the consumer on the other end?

Frito-Lay attempts to co-opt the social element and sense of community that corresponds with the local food movement, but it misses the point: each relationship is unique, not developed by a marketing team in some corporate office downtown.

In the new Frito-Lay campaign, 40,000 in-store displays will be customized for each “local” area. The fact that they will be working with 40,000 anything is the antithesis of the local food movement. In fact, it merely emphasizes the mono-culture of all mass-produced food, the only thing different about each locale are the numbers on the zip-code.

In today’s consumer society, there are already so many confusing words that lead to misinformation about food –”natural” and “cage-free” are perfect examples. “Local” has been fairly untouched until now, and most people associate “local” food with healthy food. Local foods are fresh, produced with less pesticides and chemicals, and are friendlier to the environment. But what happens when you start labeling junk food as local? People are misled. Frito-Lay is knowingly using the image of healthy, local food to disguise a fattening, industrially-produced product. After all, a potato chip by any other name is still a potato chip, even when it purports to carry the “local” label.

As Jill Richardson points out in her post on La Vida Locavore, a true locavore would never be eating Lay’s potato chips in the first place. And this list she created points out why:

How You Know the Lays Aren’t Local:

1. They have a national advertising budget.
2. They source potatoes from at least 27 different states.
3. Instead of meeting the farmer, you type an ID code from the chip bag into a website and it spits back the location of the plant.
4. They claim to “support farmers in tough times” but for $1.99 spent on a bag of potato chips, the farmer only sees $.07 (according to USDA NASS “Agricultural Prices,” May 2005).
5. Just one of their many farmers grows potatoes on 800 acres. Can you say ‘monoculture’???
6. They have a stock ticker symbol on the NYSE.
7. Instead of being sold at a farmers market, they are sold at over 40,000 stores.
8. They have brand managers to coordinate their brand.
9. You can’t visit the farm where they are made and chat with the farmer.
10. They are manufactured in a plant and delivered in a truck.

When we see so many groups promoting local for the wrong reason, it’s time for our concern. In this NYTimes article, “When “local” makes it big,” Kim Severson talks to Martha Moore, director of governmental relations for the 38,000-member Virginia Farm Bureau.

“If promoting local agriculture will help America to become food independent, that’s what we want,” she said.

She doesn’t buy into all the values many local food advocates hold dear, like cage-free eggs; limited use of herbicides, fertilizers and other chemicals; and small farms.

If Martha Moore doesn’t “buy into” said values, then she is in now way promoting the local food movement. Big agro has stolen the term, and turned it 180 degrees to fit their needs, not the needs or values of American consumers. It’s time to stand up for the true meaning of “local” with our minds, dollars, and our public response. Help the movement by supporting your local farmers – shopping at farmers markets, co-ops and using CSA’s.

written by Dawn & Sophy