Foodshed
The “farm-to-table” movement is focused on producing food locally within a foodshed, and delivering it to local consumers. Direct farm-to-table in the United States tends to comprise only a very minor segment of the food distribution system in terms of size and importance, but is growing in popularity.Nearly 5 percent of all farmers engage in some form of direct food marketing. Estimates of all farm-to-table sales within a foodshed range from roughly $550 million to $2 billion. Many local farms are family-run farms that are successful and do survive through poor economic conditions. Ecologists consider to be more adaptive and more likely to “reproduce” in highly variable and uncertain environments.
Farmer to Farmer
The Farmer-to-Farmer Worldwide Program was initially authorized by Congress in the 1985 Farm Bill and funded through Title V of Public Law 480. Congress authorized the current FY2013-2018 phase of the program, designating it the "John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program." John Ogonowski was the pilot of one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001; the project's name honors his extensive work with immigrant Southeast Asian farmers using his land in rural Massachusetts. Retired Congressman Doug Bereuter was the initial sponsor of the program.