The Locavore's Dilemma Summary

Evaluation of "The Locavore's Dilemma"

"The Locavore's Dilemma" is a piece written by Christophe Pelletier, owner of the consulting firm The Happy Future Group Consulting Ltd. and creator of the agricultural blog, "The Food Futurist". The Locavores, a growing group of humans in favor of eating locally grown food, believe that 100-mile food is the way to a more sustainable agriculture and consumption. Pelletier, on the other hand, feels that the Locavorian lifestyle is foolhardy as well as too ideological for society as a whole. The audience for my evaluation, I believe, is primarily low to middle class citizens that are exploring self-sufficient, healthy, alternative lifestyles that are affordable, manageable, and permit them to grow their own produce rather than relying on the norms such as grocery stores or farmer’s markets that sell mass produced commodities. From an evaluative standpoint, I feel that Pelletier’s article is useful for research when trying to gain a better understanding of the pros and cons of locally grown

foods, however, I felt it needed deeper research into urban gardening and also lacked the exploration of credible alternatives, such as vertical or container gardening, or even better: A co-op system for larger cities as well as smaller towns.
Pelletier creates a very disheartening and problematic view of a Locavorian society.

He states the purpose of the Locavore and details their progress as well as growth in his native Vancouver, British Columbia. Then, very swiftly, Pelletier begins to note the disadvantages to 100-mile food by showing the readers the loss of our beloved coffee bean as well as the barley needed to make delicious, ice cold beer we Westerners are so accustomed to. From this early standpoint, the article continues to list the negative effects as well as our economic losses under a Locavorian society. Pelletier then begins to explore what he feels is the most important issue with our current Agricultural programs: Becoming more efficient and environmentally aware of where and how our foods are grown. He implies that other resources, such as trade and aquaponic gardening, are better, more economically sound alternatives to a total Locavorian way of

life.
Pelletier does a good job of backing up his evidence with facts and statistics as well as his agricultural knowledge of the Vancouver area. While dramatic, the third paragraph bluntly details the faulty nature of a Locavorian lifestyle in British Columbia; the result of this would be that one out of every two inhabitants would die of starvation due the fact that British Columbia only produces 48% of all food consumed by the inhabitants of the area.
I feel that Pelletier's interpretation of Locavorian society and its effect on habitation is interpreted very easily. He paints a very transparent and unmistakable picture of what degrees of negative effects would result in such a lifestyle for humankind. His view point and concerns are displayed throughout the piece in an orderly, organized fashion.
Pelletier is also very detailed and knowledgeable about the economic repercussions of a 100-mile food plan. He gives extensive details as to what would happen in lesser populated areas as compared to heavily populated areas and also which countries this would effect. I feel that he demonstrates a clear and understandable knowledge of geography as well as economic standings in the countries he discusses.
This article lent a good degree of factual evidence to the writer's cause due to his use of clearly defined terms. In the introduction, Pelletier gives a detailed explanation of the "Locavores" and their belief system. He uses his current location, Vancouver, BC, as an example of how this movement gained ground and what types of effects they have on the local area. The reader then has a very thorough and comprehensive mental picture of Locavorian society throughout the remainder of the article. Other terms are also clearly defined and explained as well such as ideology, 'shelf life', and aquaponics.
Pelletier's explains his opposition is a very clear and logical way. He uses supporting facts, past and present comparative statistics, as well as detailed explanations to back up each of his concerns. Each concern is stated clearly and backing evidence is well placed throughout the paragraphs, giving credence to the author's viewpoint.
While the article is very factual and easily interpreted, it lacked a fairly addressed opposition to Pelletier's views and opinions. He attempted to offer a few alternatives but didn’t delve very deeply into possible other options. I felt that there should have been information of a food co-op or other gardening techniques, such as vertical or container gardening. These options help mankind to be more self-sufficient and teach them to utilize smaller spaces as well as help to share the results with others in a co-op setting.
In my opinion, this article shows a detailed yet biased viewpoint. Pelletier clearly has no positive feelings towards a Locavorian lifestyle and, quite the opposite, is more supportive of what he feels is efficient mass production and distribution. He gives multiple examples of the negative repercussions for society in general as well as the implications for farmers and lack of cost effectiveness. While the article was informative and entertaining to read, I would have liked to see more alternative options such as the ones I have stated in the previous paragraph Overall, I feel that this article would be a good source to utilize when doing research on the Locavorian way of life, however I would also utilize other, opposing articles such as “You Should Pay More For Your Food” by Marta Cleaveland or “Locavore: The Pros and Cons of Becoming One” by Alice Simons. Together, these can give the reader a more rounded, factual, informative idea of what this lifestyle entails as well as other alternatives to make self-sufficiency a doable way of life for the average human being.