Shocker! Local food movement sideswiped by free markets!

'Locavorism' and Slow Food and the whole effort to decouple our quality of life from the ever-growing risks of globalized industrial capitalism cannot survive in open free-market conditions.

It is no surprise that this reality affects entrepreneur-cum-activist chef Jamie Kennedy as much as anyone else. The Toronto restauranteur and champion of the local food movement recently told The Globe & Mail newspaper, “I'm losing money because embracing the local food movement where costs are inherently higher, is challenging" (go here for the Globe & Mail's breathless take on his business fortunes).

That is the nature of the marketplace - it will systematically undervalue environmental integrity, human health, and all forms of exchange that do not produce profits at some point in the cycle. That is one of the keys to lower prices, which itself is a key to consumer behaviour.
It's a myth and a misleading canard to think that changing our world is mainly a matter of consumers being more 'ethical', or that only cultural change will do the job - the regulation of markets is critical as well. Parmasan cheese does not survive in Italy as a way of life because consumers are so motivated about it (though they are) but rather because protectionism around the cheese producers is coupled with attentiveness to local tastes and preferences to create a 'sheltered' food oasis.

Once we recognize that the free market will not deliver what we want and need in our food system, we can then turn our attention to crafting fair and reasonable constraints that will support local producers and benefit consumers with healthier, sustainable alternatives to the global food industry.

Here at home, we only need to look at how excellent community organizations like FoodShare manage to do what they do - with middle-class engagement around social needs, to be sure, but also with government subsidies to deliver the services Torontonians want. No free market will do that on its own -- not here, and not anywhere.