"Farm-to-table is a social movement which promotes serving local food at restaurants and school cafeterias, preferably through direct acquisition from the producer."
The movement of food from local small-scale farms to consumers through direct sales and marketing.
Sustainable Agriculture: Covers environmentally friendly, economically viable, and socially responsible agricultural practices.
Organic Farming: Focuses on natural methods of farming without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or growth hormones.
Local Food Systems: Covers the distribution of food from farms and small-scale producers to consumers in nearby communities.
Food Safety: Involves measures taken to ensure the safety of food produced for human consumption.
Food Policy: Encompasses government and non-governmental efforts that influence the production, distribution, and consumption of food.
Food Science: The study of the science behind the production, processing, and preservation of food.
Agricultural Economics: Analyzes the economic aspects of agriculture and food production, such as market trends, supply and demand, and pricing.
Urban Farming: Pertains to the practice of growing food in cities, urban centers, and other non-rural settings.
Food Justice: Concerned with equitable access to healthy food for all communities.
Permaculture: A design system that mimics natural ecosystems and emphasizes the interconnectivity of all elements involved in agriculture.
Sustainable Livestock Production: Covers the use of livestock in a sustainable way, including animal welfare, waste management, and nutrition.
Agroforestry: The practice of combining trees with crops or livestock on the same plot of land to achieve sustainable and diversified agricultural ecosystems.
Food Waste Reduction: The implementation of practices that minimize food waste in the food supply chain.
Seasonal Eating: The practice of eating foods that are in season and grown locally.
Animal Welfare: Concerns the ethical treatment of animals in food production and processing.
Farmers' Markets: Farmers' markets are community events that allow farmers to sell their goods directly to consumers, usually in an open-air setting.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): CSAs operate on a subscription model, where customers prepay for a share of the farm's harvest. The farm then delivers the harvest to shareholders on a regular basis.
Farm to Restaurant: Farm to restaurant programs involve direct relationships between farmers and chefs. This system ensures that restaurants source their ingredients through local, sustainable farmers.
Farm Stands: Farm stands vary in size and location. Often located on roadsides or on the farm itself, they provide a way for farmers to sell their goods directly to consumers.
Pick-Your-Own: Pick-your-own systems allow consumers to visit the farm and pick their own produce. This system promotes a deeper connection between consumers and farmers.
Online Direct-to-Consumer Sales: Online direct-to-consumer sales allow farmers to sell their goods directly to consumers through online platforms.
Wholesale Distribution: Wholesale distribution involves a middleman who purchases the produce from the farmer and then sells it to retailers, restaurants, and other foodservice providers.
Community Gardens: Community gardens are communal plots of land where individuals, families, and organizations can cultivate fruits, vegetables, and other crops.
Food Hubs: Food hubs act as a central point for aggregating, processing, and distributing locally sourced products to consumers, retailers, and foodservice providers.
Food Cooperatives: Food cooperatives are collectively owned and operated grocery stores, allowing members to purchase products directly from the farm.
"The producer might be a winery, brewery, ranch, fishery, or other type of food producer which is not strictly a 'farm'."
"This might be accomplished by a direct sales relationship, a community-supported agriculture arrangement, a farmer's market, a local distributor, or by the restaurant or school raising its own food."
"Farm-to-table often incorporates a form of food traceability where the origin of the food is identified to consumers."
"Often restaurants cannot source all the food they need for dishes locally, so only some dishes or only some ingredients are labeled as local."
"The farm-to-table movement has arisen more or less concurrently with changes in attitudes about food safety, food freshness, food seasonality, and small-farm economics."
"Advocates and practitioners of the farm-to-table model frequently cite the scarcity of fresh, local ingredients; the poor flavor of ingredients shipped from afar; the poor nutritional integrity of shipped ingredients; the disappearance of small family farms; the disappearance of heirloom and open-pollinated fruits and vegetables; and the dangers of a highly centralized food growing and distribution system as motivators."
"The poor flavor of ingredients shipped from afar; the poor nutritional integrity of shipped ingredients."
"The disappearance of small family farms."
"The dangers of a highly centralized food growing and distribution system."
"[...] and in some cases farm-to-school."
"Farm-to-table often incorporates a form of food traceability (celebrated as 'knowing where your food comes from') where the origin of the food is identified to consumers."
"Direct sales relationship, community-supported agriculture arrangement, farmer's market, local distributor, or the restaurant or school raising its own food."
"The producer might be a winery, brewery, ranch, fishery, or other type of food producer which is not strictly a 'farm'."
"The scarcity of fresh, local ingredients; the poor flavor of ingredients shipped from afar; the poor nutritional integrity of shipped ingredients; the disappearance of small family farms; the disappearance of heirloom and open-pollinated fruits and vegetables; and the dangers of a highly centralized food growing and distribution system."
"The farm-to-table movement has arisen more or less concurrently with changes in attitudes about [...] food seasonality."
"The primary goal of the farm-to-table movement is to promote serving local food."
"Restaurants cannot source all the food they need for dishes locally, so only some dishes or only some ingredients are labeled as local."
"A community-supported agriculture arrangement, a farmer's market, a local distributor, or by the restaurant or school raising its own food."
"The farm-to-table movement has arisen more or less concurrently with changes in attitudes about food safety."