Rebuilding Our Local Food Economy, One Tomato at a Time

You may know that Our Common Table is Chef John Shields’ call to action to rebuild our local food economy through supporting and creating initiatives and partnerships that engage communities to live, learn, and protect the bounty of the Chesapeake region. But you might be wondering, what exactly is a local food economy and how do we rebuild it?

A local food economy is a local food system where food is grown, processed, sourced, and consumed in a given region. Supporting a local food economy means that you are choosing to buy and consume food from your local area whenever possible. In Maryland, our local food economy consists of our city, state, or larger Chesapeake region depending on where you live and what type of food is being sourced. What defines “local” in a local food system relies greatly on what is available in the area.

Some areas have higher access to locally produced foods, such as big cities making the geographic location of their local food system smaller and more compact. Local food systems in rural areas might have to be much larger to provide access to the same types of foods. Regardless of the geographic size of your local food economy, many different groups benefit from a healthy local food economy. These groups include local farmers and producers, our communities, our environment, and ourselves!