I would definitely worry about the health risks. Poisoned wheat (which ended up killing American pets) could be just the beginning. It seems we have to wait for someone to get sick before recalling contents from abroad.

You also save a ton of money on gas costs if you only use locally produced foods and vegetables. I read that the US puts almost 10 kcal of fossil fuel energy into our food system for every 1 kcal of energy we get as food. That seems a bit excessive.

Another big downside is taste. In order to move food long distances, they pick it when it's green and then gas it to "ripen" it after they take it off the truck.

Growing more food here just makes sense. We will be more self sufficient and provide more opportunities at home.

Let's see. If we grow our food in the US we create more jobs. We use less fuel, and the food will taste better. It sounds kind of like a no brainer to me.

The downside to only buying local is that you don't have certain foods year-round and some foods you won't have at all.

Umm. A much better route is the free market. If consumers don't buy imported foods, stores won't carry them.

I think that we need to grow more foods here -- look what happened with oil. We became dependent on other countries and actually went to war because of it. It would be silly not to learn from this mistake.

In response to mike:I'm not sure that's quite an accurate analogy. The problem with oil is that eventually we are going to run out. That's just not the case with food. So outside dependency isn't such a big deal.

In response to corinthians:That's very true. But that makes this issue very easy for us. We can try lots of different plans until we find one that works without the idea costing us very much.

I like the idea that it gives us better control over the safety of our food. Other countries cut costs by using human waste as a fertilizer -- yuck. I imagine that there are other practices equally distasteful and potentially harmful. Bringing it on home seems like a good idea.

I'd love to do this, but there aren't any community markets where I live. Even the stuff at the roadside stands have been shipped in from the next state. I think it would be good if communities raised money to support local farmers. I would be willing to pay a little more if I knew it were going to a good cause.

I heard on NPR that some small farmers get customers to invest. They buy a share in the farm for one or two years and the farmer shares a part of whatever he grows with the investors each week. I think that's a great idea!

I completely agree here. I am lucky and happen to live in area rich in agriculture. I can drive less than a mile and get fresh sweet strawberries that have just been picked the night before heh. I love our local farmers.

In response to mesagirl:I'm jealous. I used to live in South Florida and we could pick the strawberries ourselves a couple of times a year. There's nothing like vine-ripened for taste.