THE ECONOMIC PAMPHLETEER: Perspectives on past and future food systems

Abstract

First paragraphs:

In my previous column, I described the trans­for­mational changes I have seen in the past and expect to see in the future of American agriculture. Transformational change is not the usual incre­mental or adaptive change but is defined as “a dramatic evolution of some basic structure of the business itself—its strategy, culture, organiza­tion, physical structure, supply chain, or processes” (Harvard Business School Online, 2020, “Transfor­mational Change,” para. 1). I believe the changes in food systems, past and future, have been and will be just as transformational as the changes in agriculture. 

When I was growing up in the 1940s in rural Missouri, we had a local food system. Most of what we ate was grown, hunted, fished, or foraged on our farm. Most of the rest was grown and pro­cessed within about 50 miles of our farm. There were local meat processors and locker plants, dairy processing plants, fruit and vegetable can­neries, and even local flour mills. Coffee, tea, spices, some canned and packaged foods, and occa­sional bana­nas and oranges came from elsewhere. My best guess is that at least 75% of what we ate in the 1940s was homegrown or grown and processed locally. . . .