Southern Illinoisans aren’t there yet, but the Daily Egyptian reports that my neighbors downstate are edging closer to building a sustainable food system – one in which residents can get fresh produce from farms not more than 250 miles away.
The region needs more than willing farmers to pull off a fully connected system. Storage and distribution have to be addressed. And it would help if there were key anchors to keep up demand, like institutions such as universities, grocers, restaurants and prisons.
On the positive side, there are more and more consumers, farmers and entrepreneurs egging this whole process on. But there needs to be so much more education and more resources directed at small and mid-sized farmers and producers for a truly sustainable food system to materialize.
I’m feeling a little pessimistic today after reading the Chicago Tribune’s piece about the city’s second-to-last dairy, which just closed for good.
Elgin Dairy Foods, which created the first McDonald’s milkshake formula, sold out to Dean’s, which isn’t planning on keeping the facility open. Instead, it’ll simply fold Elgin’s customers into its vast dairy empire.
Here’s a stat from the Trib story that even startled me: Into the 1950s, there were 150 dairies in Chicago’s city limits. Today, there’s a mere 42 statewide. Yes, statewide. And most of those don’t produce anything, but are instead transfer points for larger players in the industry.
“Companies like Elgin Dairy became an anachronism in a market that rewards large-scale operations and demands a lower price point,” the Tribune observes.
“Don’t cry over spilled milk” photo from eqqman’s flickr photostream.
Virtual Farmgirl 