Reading Notes for Attack of the $3 Tomato

Sean Porter October 21^st 2006

Dundas, Z. Attack of the $3 Tomato (Willamette Week, August 17, 2005, 1p.)

Summary

Dundas expounds on the motivations behind local produce and the move towards knowing where your food comes from. He touches on the reasons for the higher costs, mostly lack of subsidies from the government. He also points out the interesting intersections it creates between the more liberal Portland residents and the rural conservatives in the rest of Oregon. The ultimate conclusion he comes to is that, although it's more expensive, local food is a good thing. It may just be that in the future, the local food movement may follow in the footsteps of the micro brew industry and become a truly significant economic force. He cites the fact that Oregon farming has been increasing steadily as evidence that there may be some real change on the way in this respect.

Relevance

Because we live in Portland, we see the farmer's markets and the co-ops every day (or nearly so). We have a choice to make regarding our contribution to the establishment of a lasting economic presence for local food. We should all see that keeping money in the local economy, as well as reducing the amount of fossil fuels used in the production of our food is worth the somewhat higher cost, not to mention the greatly increased quality.

Questions

1. What other benefits, if any, are there to purchasing locally produced foods?

2. Where is the best place to find information about buying locally grown food in Portland?

3. Where can we find out about co-ops?