This isn’t just local food.
Its local economics.
California, Arizona, and Mexico (an avg of 1,500 miles away)
$2.7B per year in supply chain overhead and $2.2B per year in food waste. A system built for volume, not community.
Extracts value from every community it serves.
100 to 300 miles away
Regional is not the same as local and it does not bring a clear differentiator to consumers. Stuck in the distribution model driving low margins.
A smaller version of the same extractive model.
In your community
No supply chain overhead and economic value stays in the community but is limited to seasonal outlets.
Right economics, but wrong infrastructure for grocery where most Americans shop.
They happen because:
Waste shrinks
Supply chains shorten
Production decentralizes
Economics finally work at the regional level
