Good response for our local food page

Thanks to the folks who wrote in response to the launch of our local food topic page. The ideas and suggestions are more than welcome.

Just to share, here are a few of the miscellaneous things that floated in:

--Danny Schwartzman at Common Roots Cafe pointed to the local food coverage in Foodservice News, particularly an editorial taking up the challenges of a growing movement.

--Joyce Hoelting, assistant director for community vitality at University of Minnesota Extension, reminded me of a study by extension's Ryan Pesch, arguing that farm-to-school programs can substantially benefit local farm economies.

--Annalisa Hultberg, formerly of the Heartland Food Network, said she thinks more can be done in bringing Hmong and African farmers into school and other markets.

--Another reader asked for an RSS feed for the food topic page. Happy to oblige. Click here.

Meanwhile, Michael Caputo, my colleague here at MPR News has a good local food conversation going at his Insight Now site, focusing on cost.

One commenter suggested this morning that local governments could help create demand by establishing buy-local policies for their cafeterias.

As it turns out, I was just talking to Andy Wright at Co-op Partners Warehouse, a Twin Cities distributor of organic food. His job is to push the market into institutions like that -- colleges and corporations and high schools.

In his view, resistance from institutional buyers isn't related to price so much as it is to lack of incentive to break from existing suppliers. "To change anything is a big deal," he said.

All the feedback and conversation reinforces our sense that the interest in local foods is high but that there are a lot of challenges and complications surrounding the question of expansion.

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