For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Farm Issues page, Politics and Democracy page, and our Breaking the Chains page.

It is time to make local passe. It is time to make regional  the new local. Enough of farmers markets, CSAs, and direct on-farm sales. Yes, they are exciting — they feel  like they are getting us somewhere. And, to be honest and give them their due, they have gotten us somewhere. The reality, however, is that they will never get us there, whither goest we must if we want to make a change — real change. I will say it as straight as I can: I want to see my pork in Price Chopper (a supermarket).

Can this be done with integrity? Yes, yes it can. But, you’ll need to have faith and let me, the friendly face you like to see at the farmer’s market, recede into the background again, let me fall out of the limelight into the limeless light of the sun shining brightly on me and the critters living lovely on the fields.

Wither goest? To work: to build infrastructure enabling us to regionalize our farm and food systems.