As the farmers' market season gets under way in the U.S., more shoppers than ever will be supporting local growers and producers. (According to a 2010 Department of Agriculture survey, at least 6,132 markets exist nationally, a 16 percent increase from 2009). While there has never been a more popular time for extolling the nutritional and culinary value of local food in the mainstream media, not everyone is convinced of the economic benefits of local food systems.

n a widely circulated article earlier this year, economists Jayson Lusk and F. Bailey Norwood argue that local food is a poor economic model and liken it to a fad diet that destroys community wealth.

They emphasize that local food is more expensive than non-local and suggest that government policies and programs (such as those supporting Farm to School) should not encourage widespread purchasing of local food. But their argument misses the mark regarding both costs and benefits.

The Cost of Local

There are three important things to keep in mind when we consider costs. First, early research suggests that many locally grown items at farmers markets -- even organic items! -- are comparable to or even less expensive than those same items (which may not be locally grown) in conventional grocery stores. Researchers from Bard College and the Northeast Organic Farming Association released a report on this issue in 2011 and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture conducted a similar study in Iowa in 2009. Read The Rest Of The Article

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