Nice post, I agree and disagree with some points.

To recap:
Communities are important
Local food fosters community
Ideally, we would all eat local food
Equity considerations can sometimes favor bringing in food from abroad.
Let's use fair trade agreements to support communities elsewhere.

I agree with #1 and #2, but I wouldn't put too much weight on #2. Your argument applies equally well to consumer products: is it really important that my computer be built in the same state as me? I would argue, "maybe in a perfect world, but not really." Same with food. It's nice to have the sense of community, but I'm not sure it's critical that local community be fostered through food choices.

More fundamentally: why should I cultivate greater care for the people near me, compared to the people far from me? This sounds like it verges on xenophobia. You might argue that caring about the local community is not mutually exclusive with caring about people farther away. That might be true. It's a psychological question, really. Your argument might be that a) you cultivate care where it's easiest because that's the most efficient way to do it, b) it's naturally easiest for us humans to care about stuff we can see and touch and live near; and c) once you care about some stuff, you start caring more about everything else too. If so, that's a plausible argument, though I'm not sure whether I agree.

Anyways, I disagree with #3. but #4 and #5 sound pretty good. "Fair trade" is kind of a murky issue (people can sometimes do more harm than good by trying to overpay for something) but it might be worth it.

Excellent article but I have trouble with the conclusions as well.  When in season, we get the absolute best grapefruit (Rio/Ruby Red) and greens in the world.  When not in season, we have to buy from God-knows-where.  Fruit and vegetable growers try to space their crop production so they can get several months out of it, and maybe a month beyond that, but that's it - the stuff rots.  It has always been that way, since the dawn of Mankind.  To call any of it a "community" is rather weird.  I'll stop before I go into the hunting / fishing dialectic so you vegetarians (another inappropriate name because most eat fruit) won't be disgusted.  /sammie

Onward through the fog

in, say, Michigan in February.

Or why not try eating the foods that are in season, instead of transporting out-of-season foods from god-knows-where?

And preserving food when it's in season to use when it's not. I suspect even primitive human ancestors engaged in some type of food storage activity. Interesting how we have forgotten the art of home food preservation in one, maybe two generations.

Anyone read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle?

One very important link in this complicated chain is eating with the seasons.  If we all adapt our eating habits to what is in season, we won't  worry about where things are coming from, because we are only eating "in season" items.  This is, of course, an ideal, but to me it goes along with creating community.  And I am not saying shun those more than 200 miles from you, but taking care of where you live is a huge part of societal responsibility.  Just something to consider...

"Evils that befall the world are not nearly so often caused by bad men, as they are by good men who are silent when an opinion must be voiced."

I guess someone did mention it. :)  Sorry about that...anyone know how to delete a comment?

"Evils that befall the world are not nearly so often caused by bad men, as they are by good men who are silent when an opinion must be voiced."