Large-scale Local? Corporate co-option of ‘local’ foods

As I’ve mentioned before, a current concern for many promoting local food networks is the risk that the commodity label ‘local’ might be co-opted by industrialized agri-food businesses in the same way that ‘organic’ has been. Michael Goodman and David Goodman have written about this risk in the US (see book chapter), describing how the initial hope that federal regulation of ‘organic’ food would encourage and strengthen small-scale organic production has since dissipated, as agribusinesses spotted the growing market and established large-scale organic production under relatively weak USDA organics regulations. An article by Guptill and Wilkins (2002) expands the idea of a similar process occurring in the market for local foods:

“Just as organic production can and does take place under conditions of corporate concentration and social inequality, the promotion of locally produced foods in mainstream outlets could weaken the capacity of local food flows to empower regular citizens to shape the local economy (2002: 49).”

A prime target for those slamming the rise of large-scale corporate organics is Whole Foods Market, the US “natural-food” grocery chain. Michael Pollan singled the company out for criticism in his recent bestseller The Omnivore’s Dilemma, concluding that an industrial organic food chain is a “contradiction in terms” (2006: 183). What about an industrial local food chain?

In reporting the meteoric rise in popularity of local foods in middle-class America, Polly Ghazi writes that industry analysts expect the local foods market to become a $7 billion business in the next few years, compared to the organics business which is currently worth $15 billion. Even Wal-mart is moving towards encouraging more localized supply chains, and after an encounter between Whole Foods CEO John Mackey and critic Michael Pollan, Whole Foods announced that it would be assisting small-scale farmers with loans and other initiatives.

Polly Ghazi asks who is going to fund this predicted expansion in local food production? These moves by Wal-mart, Whole Foods and others suggest that corporate large-scale food production/distribution/retailers are planning on taking their slice – so does this represent a co-option of the ‘local’, echoing the co-option of the ‘organic’ in recent years?

Perhaps. But this co-option, if and when it takes off, will be a very different shift in agricultural markets, by the very nature of the inherent link to scale. Pollan suggests that

“today, the organic food industry finds itself in a most unexpected, uncomfortable, and, yes, unsustainable position: floating on a sinking sea of petroleum” (2006: 184)

This reference to industrial agribusinesses’ reliance on fossil fuel dependent farming and distribution highlights how different the co-option of ‘local’ foods would have to be. The economies of scale which make oil-reliant farming and transportation feasible are in direct contradiction to the logic of local food production. I would suggest that local food production only retain its advantages when the products are distributed, sold, and consumed locally. So perhaps we can optimistically conclude that a true co-option of the market for local foods by corporate agribusiness is not possible.