One of the common human basic needs is food. These days, it is a notable trend that the vast distances of transportation for consumption demands in industrial food have been widespread. A controversial debate emerges as promoting the eating from local farmers which improves the economy and environment. Despite its advantages, I point out that the severe disadvantages would be more significant.
On the one hand, the environmental pros and economic growth are attributed to two primary impacts. Regarding natural attainment targets, it has been linked tightly to the reduced logistical efforts which are witnessed in deliveries. Due to decrease in food transported from the remote distance, the fuel consumption utilized to operate the logistics and supply chain management can be lessened. The implication of this is not only making a huge saving for fuel costs but also limiting significantly a plethora of carbon footprint emissions. Therefore, a wide range of environmental issues can be tackled, including greenhouse effects and global warming. Another worthy aspect to emphasize is boosting employment opportunities. For instance, the job market encompassing farming, processing or distribution sectors aids citizens in gaining sustainable incomes to cover the cost of living, through these job opportunities. As a result, their living conditions have been enhanced gradually, also the reduction of unemployment will be coincident with decreased crime rates which makes a contribution to the economic growth of each region.
On the other hand, these conceptions have several considerable drawbacks on cultural exposure. Because of the region’s climate and seasons in a particular local area; there exists a great deal of exclusive food produced in non-local cuisine. This could give rise to a situation where the locals are limited to cultural exchanges from another area and unable to gain a sense of satisfaction from food experiences. A further point worth considering is environmental degradation. To exemplify this point, consider a case when in specific local fields producing certain output, consumer demands become more overwhelming that record an imbalance between supply and demand relationships. This poses the farmers to unmindfully utilize some chemical substances in their intensive agricultural practices. As a consequence, this leads these fields to be uncultivated by the pollutants and soil pollution, indeed have deleterious impacts on not only the ecosystems but also human well-being.
In conclusion, although some undeniable merits of local consumption brings for environmental enhancement and wide opportunity employment, I strongly believe that most likely some societal aspects will be missed and lead to exacerbating the environment and consumers’ health, indeed cultural limitations. Thus, balancing the domestic economy and experiences of various production from other regions can maximize comprehensive development and preservation, and minimize a range of threats.
