[FOOD, not agriculture, because the techniques don't matter.]

Historically small farms have been the rule, but in the modern era, Big Agro has amassed great power. This has brought with it:

* more transportation
* more fertilization/pesticide use
* diversion of water
* loss of genetic diversity (seeds, etc)
* health hazards (E. coli, etc., as result of shipping/packaging)
* excess production of certain crops to sustain mass food production (high fructose corn syrup)

local food means less transportation

more transporters who transport over short distances (this might not mean less pollution)

less global shipping = less eco damage,
less need for preservatives, etc.

'Openness' here means sharing of techniques and knowledge, but also 'open' seeds, as in seeds which are not engineered to last only one season to suit the proprietary interest of a corporation.

Reference again: bell curve gives way to long tail)
End of large scale food production,
transformed into many small scale productions
(issue of storage and transportaion, cf. food)

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Plurality = many producers, many sources

Diversity = perma-culture, no longer monoculture

M2M = We go from big to small. Fewer big producers and fewer big distributors give way to a more flexible network of many smaller producers and many smaller distributors

P2P = We go from vertical to horizontal. Instead of choosing my grocery store, I can choose my farmer or farm directly. Result is increased satisfaction and choice for the person consuming the food.

D.I.O. = Urban, collective farms (and vertical farming). Backyard/'victory' garden renaissance. (But this will not be universal. Some people will always prefer to buy, rather than grow, their own food.)

Objects & relations = For objects, the 'farm' can take many forms: hydroponic, small-scale farm, urban farm, each form adapted to fit some different environment).

For relations, this means the food we eat may come from different sources. So if one source comes up short, you can easily shift to another one. Or as one's taste changes, so can the sources one goes to for the food one eats.