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Local Foods and Communities

Local foods are marketed through direct sales to consumers (e.g.,  CSAs, farmers’ markets, on-farm stores, or pick-your-own), food hubs, grocery stores, restaurants, schools, and other outlets.

Benefits to the community include: support for local farmers, job creation, economic diversification, attracting reinvestment and growth, keeping food dollars within the local economy,  and reducing food insecurity.

Learn about local foods through NAL collection items, exhibits, and selected external links to information.

Local Food Resources

Relevant Legal Issues

Data and Policy

Mailboxes, Mom and Pop Stands, and Markets: Local Foods Then and Now

The National Agricultural Library holds copies of many historical and current materials documenting the ways that food makes its way from the farm to our tables. This exhibit showcases these resources, placed within a larger context of agricultural marketing and purchasing.

Defining Local Food

An Analysis of State Approaches and Challenges.

USDA Local Food Directories

Agritourism, CSAs, farms, farmers markets, food hubs, and more.

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