Local vs. International Foods, Essay Example

Promoting Local Food Network to Improve National Health and Economic Status of the Nation

 Introduction

Food is considered to be one of the most basic needs of humans for survival. It could be analyzed that food, above all is one of today’s most vital concern especially for those living in urban areas where most food sources are processed through food factories or at some point are promoted to be easily prepared so as to fit the fast paced life of humans living in the said areas. Even though the importance of food in human survival is inevitable, it could be observed how much it is currently being neglected by the human society as they intend to give attention to the supposedly more important thing in their lives such as that of work. This immense consideration on earning money has become a general matter that humans give attention to at present. This is the primary reason why even food is becoming a highly compromised element that humans tend to control so as to be able to contend with the economic dilemmas that the society is living with at present.

One of the effects of such increasing problem is the emergence of food shortage. The field of international trade and the way it has opened both the export and import proceedings between nations have specifically changed the pattern by which food exchange is being handled in the world today. Countries began exchanging food sources as a sense of compromise and camaraderie in response to the current status of global commercial brotherhood evolving in the world’s economy at present. Some of the drastic results of such condition specifically involve the course by which local food producers become robbed of from their market because of the many choices that international food networks provide. In exchange of this, the more the people would want to spend on internationally processed food, the less income the local producers receive hence making the flow of economic sustenance directed outwards. In this case, it could be noted how such system weakens the capacity of a nation to sustain the economic competence of the local industries that specifically produce food for local public consumption.

In the discussion that follows, a considerable foundation of reestablishing the strength of the local network of food production is specifically presented so as to make sure that the resolution to possible food shortage and economic downfall intensified by the emergence of economic globalization. Through establishing the power of local food network, it is expected that re-empowering the capability of the nation to produce its own food from local farms and other agricultural industries would create a definite form of indication that would help increase the capacity of the country to not only support its food-based needs, but also reestablish the economic assistance it hopes to provide the local food producers with.

Defining Local Food Network

Coming from the term “local”, this network is expected to remain in a defined status that would specifically provide the local communities with food from local areas and procedures of food development. In the United States, there are some territories of the country that are connected with agriculture that are now being slowly transformed into industrial zones due to the fact that they are not being used effectively anymore. With the entrant of new food products from other countries, the agricultural industry of the country has weakened hence making it harder for the food producers from the said sector to make considerable adjustments as to how they would improve the manner by which they make considerable produce that would supposedly suffice the need of the society that they aim to serve. As a result, the communities that used to depend on such local industries begin to shift their attention to what the international market has to offer; further pushing down the economic capacity of the local industries to make extensive economic developments that are needed for progressive conditions that are dedicated to support national development as well.

It is deemed that through the considerable process by which food networks are established, the capacity of the nation to progress alongside all its different sectors of industrial development becomes strongly refined. Bringing back the people the right capacity by which they can respond to their own needs would of course empower the entire nation to reconstruct its national reputation in the face of economic competition in the international trade and even within the local sectors of development.

Local food networks usually involve the effective utilization of food resources that are produced directly from the territories of the nation. Understandably, these food resources include agriculturally processed resources involving crops and freshly sourced out food from both land and water in a more natural manner. The consistency of such process depends on how much the government would pay attention on developing the said procedures hence empowering the workers to make better and higher amount of produce which would be ready for local consumption.

Enhancing agricultural processes at present may involve the need to implicate the utilization of highly technological facilities that are designed to increase food production. Respectively though, there are some instances when the farmers as well as the fishermen could research on traditional ways of agricultural procedures that are best able to produce more food source and crops not only during a particular season or a particular span of time, but within the whole year round.

How the Network Works

As mentioned in the previous section, the network depends on the collaborative involvement of both the workers and the government that supports them. In the United States, it is also essential that the network operates in a sustainable system that would enhance food production that would suffice the nation’s needs for a whole-year round affair. One way of doing so is the capacity of the farmers to adapt on effective procedures of crop rotation.

Although it is already considered as an olden-time approach to farming, it is still deemed to be strongly effective especially when seasons and crop compatibility is given particular attention to. True, it is hard to assess crop rotation procedures effectively especially that it involves climate leveling, soil assessment and water availability valuation. These elements of agricultural development are expected to impact the manner by which chosen crops are to be rotated within a particular area within the year. The capacity of the farmers to produce as much crops from their lands repeatedly is again not an easy task, nevertheless, it is not deemed impossible either. In fact, there are areas in Southern America that are already following this particular pattern of operation and are seemingly getting good results from it.

The relative adjustments that they have made especially on the manner by which they tend to their available resources for agriculture have consistently given them good results and have considerably increased their economic capacity to sustain living in their own communities. In a way, they have also contributed well in defining their role in contributing to national GDP development as they have already established their own status in the field of agricultural development.

This however is only one part of the network. Local food network specifically refers to the local exchange of food resources between the regions in the country. Given that each region has its own product to share, these regions are expected to share in the process of increasing the capacity of the local network to sustain the needs and demands of the local market. The idea herein is to develop a process that would be able to turn the attention of the market back to the food that is locally produced in the country and somehow give more options to the market compared to what the international food sources are providing them with. To contend with this desire, continuous and effective production is expected to be established.

Cooperation among regions is essential in considering this process. It is expected that the approach would become more effective especially if the regions of the country would all join in the campaign hence attracting the market to appreciate what the industry has to offer them with. Setting the difference of freshly grown and sourced out local foods from internationally transported products would further increase the competence of the industry and the trust that the market would be able to provide them.

Improving Health

One of the benefits of supporting local food networks is the establishment of an improved health status in the country. Given that food would cost lower because it has been produced and transported locally, more would be able to consume them and more would be able to benefit from the vitamins they provide. In a way, it could be analyzed that with such an immense procedure of development, the members of the nation would have a chance to consume food at its best condition.

It could not be denied that at least 45% of the food sources coming from the field of international trade are processed and canned. Notably, the procedures used to supposedly enhance the life-span of the food that has been packed in plastics and cans reduce the vitamin content of the food. Besides that, due to the said process and the shipping or transport fee incurred to be able to obtain those food supplies are expensive, the cost of such food choices would be more expensive than local food choices as well.

The local food networks would be able to contend with such challenge through better yielding corps that is freshly released in the market for consumption. Due to the fact that the products are to be locally exchanged between regions, it is expected that the prices would be much lower than that of the other food supplies in the market. In this case, the choice of consuming locally produced food products would not only benefit the farmers and other workers in the field of agriculture but would also benefit the health of the local residents of the country.

Empowering Local Economy

The more that this system of food production and distribution is supported; the more established the economic standing of local communities would be. It is learned that the integrity of local communities in depending upon their own sources of economic confidence directly strengthens the capacity of the nation to establish strong economy that could withstand international financial challenges. This way, the country’s regular supply of foods do not need to depend on what the international market could provide hence lowering the possibility of food shortages especially during times of increased prices in the international market due to value fluctuations.

The people, having confidence in their own system of operation in the food industry would of course become more satisfied hence making it easier for them to decide to stay in their own original areas of residence and contribute to the progress of their own states and regions. This would empower the country to rise as one nation of fully competent producers and not as dependent growers who sternly define their integrity based on the international market’s capacity to provide them with the important resource they need to survive, food.

True, self-sustainability is the idea being suggested alongside the establishment of strong local food networks in the country. The need to sustain food requirements of the people does not only respond to problems of food scarcity but also redefine the process by which local communities redefine their capacity to stand within an economically established consideration upon the process by which they are able to sustain their need for employment that allows them to remain satisfied not only with their suffice food supplies but also with the employment opportunities that are left open for them to fill.

Conclusion

The option of establishing local food networks is specifically an inviting course of economic and social development for both developed and underdeveloped nations. This does not aim to remove the said nations from the connection they have with international commercial systems but instead aims to make their stand stronger through internal operations. Nevertheless, it is the cooperation of the parties involved that counts so much in refining the application of such procedure in the face of extensive global development.

As of today, the market has already been accustomed to living in a fully diversified source of food that provides them the desires of their taste buds. Most often than not, food choices that are available in super markets come from international food producers. Empowering the local food networks to produce more and entice the taste buds and even the pockets of the modern market would likely improve the capacity of the local industries to respond more effectively to the needs and demands of the local market. Relatively, it is through this manner that a nation such as the United States would be able to contend with international challenges of price-hike increases and the impending problems that it comes along with through the use of empowering its internal forces in the field of agricultural industries.

References

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