Can local foods catch on with large institutional food systems?
This local-foods thing is really catching on, at least here in the Bay Area. Kaiser Permanente, who runs 19 hospitals in Northern California, has decided to try a pilot program whereby they’ll use local produce from farmers in Fresno County: The results of Kaiser’s experiment will answer a question vital to the future of sustainable agriculture, and to the livelihood of small farmers in California and across America: Can an institution the size of Kaiser Permanente adopt the Chez Panisse model of buying locally and from many smaller sustainable farms — without busting the budget or bogging down its production of 5,000 to 6,000 inpatient meals every day for 19 Northern California hospitals? If the pilot program works, Kaiser plans to expand it systemwide and also put it into place in its staff and visitor cafeterias. This may be a watershed moment for the local foods movement. The idea is to turn the traditional distribution system on its head. The conventional food distribution system
