Farm Hands Down
To create a truly sustainable food system, we'll have to confront the farm-labor crisis
By Tom Philpott

When I think about what a truly healthy, vibrant food system would look like, I envision more farms: small farms serving specific communities, and diversified, midsized farms geared to supplying their surrounding regions.

Of course, there would still be interstate and global trade -- you can't grow olives or coffee in Iowa, or enough wheat in Florida to supply the state's bakers. But with more farms across the nation, we could all generally eat much closer to home, consuming fewer resources and throwing off less pollution in the process. Traveling would be more interesting as well. Imagine finding region-specific, seasonal specialties -- not standardized burgers -- at train stations across the land. (Oh yeah, in my vision, there'd also be a high-functioning national rail system.)

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