The farm-to-table movement has helped thousands of farmers sweeten the fruits of their labor. But whether or not it can sustain itself remains an open question. Barring a radical shift in the movement’s general strategy, I’d say the prospects look grim. The national effort to localize food systems has its earliest roots in the Nixon era. It was then that Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz arrogantly decreed that American farms should “get big or get out.” For many Americans — even those brought up on TV dinners — this message was too much. Fed up with industrially produced junk that systematically harmed humans and their environment, consumers articulated an agrarian alternative that espoused farming practices considered “humane,” “sustainable,” and “non-industrial.” Small is beautiful, the saying went. Many farmers agreed. Knowing they’d have to pony up to support this vision, Americans did their part. Between 1994 and 2014, the number of farmers’ markets in the country grew from 1,755 to 8,268. Over the past decade, the number of small farms in the U.S. increased for the first time since the 1920s. Between 1997 and 2007, farms selling locally grown produce directly to the consumer spiked by 24 percent. So, yes, even … Continue reading The Future Of Farm-To-Table