I think there are a couple of flavors of locavores. The first, as mentioned in the article, is where one expects the same level of availability at the farmers market as would be at the local mainstream grocery store. This IS unsustainable and not energy efficient.
Then there is the "kitchen garden" locavore. I see this one as a person who eats what is outside the back step (metaphorically in some cases).
Grass fed beef, shipped from Montana at this time of year (when the majority of beef harvest takes place so they are not fed over the winter) is sustainable. The swine and sheep raised in Washington have to be shipped out of state for slaughter. So it makes more sense to buy Oregon pork and lamb than Washington pork and lamb.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/downloads/slaughter_list.pdf&pli=1
Easter lamb from New Zealand is just as sustainable because it is the time for autumn harvest there in April/May. Easter lambs raised in the states are raised in barns, on their dam's milk, that is produced with mechanically harvested forage (not pasture).
It might take more understanding of the cycles of food to make intelligent locovore/ cosmovore decisions.
I personally find cold storage fruits disappointing (Low O2 warehouses). So in the winter, I switch to canned or frozen fruits and veg. Drying and preserving the harvest to last the rest of the year is my version of locavore. My family makes and freezes peach and apricot pies as an easy to bake dessert the rest of the year. This is where appropriate use of food science makes the locavore diet more sustainable.
Get your tomatoes from Eastern Washington in the summer and make sauce for the rest of the year. But don't forget the broccoli, peas and beans on your back step.
As to the fruit production increase from the third world? I'd be interested in how sustainable this increase in production really is. That might make sense on the East coast and mid-west (where fruit trees have a harder time), but I know too many farmers in this state who have ripped out productive orchards because their land is priced, assessed and taxed as potential housing developments.
The crops didn't fail, the system is stacked against it.
Kate Rider
B.S. Animal Science
206 229 3285
On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 9:54 AM, Elizabeth Wheat <elizaw@u.washington.edu> wrote:
Hello UW Farmers!
I am hopeful that we will see many new faces and some returning friends tomorrow at our work party at the Center for Urban Horticulture from 11-3!
One of the goals of the student farm is to help each other think broadly and critically about food production. I found this article really stimulating. I hope it can foster some banter on the list serve. I will look forward to hearing some of your thoughts about it:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/09/12/got_cheap_milk?page=full
The title may help you find the time to read it:
GOT CHEAP MILK? Why ditching your fancy organic locavore lifestyle is good for the world's poor.
Thanks for being present and getting dirty,
Beth
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Elizabeth Wheat, Ph.D.
University of Washington
Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow
Program on the Environment
Education Coordinator - UW Farm
206.550.4622
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