[DoodleBob]

Buuuuuut the assumed objective function of the article's readers may differ from that of the writer. In short, with "buying local"...

You just have to recognize that you're building relationships and getting a good value, not saving the planet or the local economy.

And that's the point. I care about my family, first and foremost. I don't care about the plight of farmers in some distant area or the climate impact of my individualism, or the profit maximization of Archer Daniels-Midland.

The pandemic may have had an unintended (and maybe unwanted...) consequence of making people a little more self-sufficient and selfish. I know many people who now go to a farmer to buy meat vs Piggle Wiggly, and who uber-care if their canned goods come from Pennsylvania vs Transylvania.

Maybe they pay a little more for a steak from the cow down the interstate and green beans from the farmer 60 miles away, but their utility function's low weight on some imaginary carbon footprint is what frightens these concern trolls.

[BlackAdderess]

I care about keeping American farmers going, because the alternative is some multinational buying up the farmland, and then what are you going to do?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I agree. I go local to avoid the corporates, when it comes to buying some veggies and meats.

[Mr Rogers]

I live in Arizona. If I went local, I’d starve.