When local food systems are derided for their lack of efficiency, the attached story is the type of reporting that we need to counter with. After all, efficient can be the enemy of sensible. The longterm unequal distribution of resources is one of the main reasons for the necessity for our work, painstaking and incremental as it is. It is also important to note that as the story is written, it will lead some to blame the producers or port workers rather than the industrial system that discourages local distribution for this food.

I might also suggest that this book should be required reading for any local system actor; Princen’s description of the history of the overuse of the term efficiency is provocative and he makes a fascinating case for inserting sufficiency rather than efficiency into formulas for production especially as related to finite (such as natural) resources and labor.

Washington farmers are dumping unprofitable apples | NOLA.com.