In the early 2000s, the development of local food systems in advanced
industrial countries has expanded beyond creation and support of farmers markets
and community supported agriculture farms and projects to include targeted Buy
Local Food campaigns. Non-governmental groups in many U.S. places and regions
have launched such campaigns with the intent of motivating and directing consumers
toward more local food purchasing in general. This article examines the current
manifestations and possibilities for social justice concerns in Buy Local Food campaigns, by considering them within the more general category of ‘‘selective patronage’’ campaigns. Historical campaign examples, such as Buy Union, Buy American,
and Buy Black campaigns, offer instructive comparisons to contemporary consumer
campaigns promoting local food. Through examining the construction of threats,
intended beneficiaries, products to be avoided, and those to be preferentially selected,
the paper demonstrates how selective patronage campaigns have emphasized social
justice needs and concerns for designated groups in ways that have been potentially
exclusionary of other disadvantaged groups and thus undermining of social justice
more broadly. As a contemporary instance of ‘‘selective patronage,’’ Buy Local
Food campaigns exhibit similar contradictory impulses, which are intensified by the
conceptual and practical pitfalls in designating ‘‘local.’’ The article concludes by
considering how the challenges and prospects for commitments to social justice in
local food consumer campaigns reinforce the importance of emerging initiatives
centered on domestic fair trade.In the early 2000s, the development of local food systems in advanced
industrial countries has expanded beyond creation and support of farmers markets
and community supported agriculture farms and projects to include targeted Buy
Local Food campaigns. Non-governmental groups in many U.S. places and regions
have launched such campaigns with the intent of motivating and directing consumers
toward more local food purchasing in general. This article examines the current
manifestations and possibilities for social justice concerns in Buy Local Food campaigns, by considering them within the more general category of ‘‘selective patronage’’ campaigns. Historical campaign examples, such as Buy Union, Buy American,
and Buy Black campaigns, offer instructive comparisons to contemporary consumer
campaigns promoting local food. Through examining the construction of threats,
intended beneficiaries, products to be avoided, and those to be preferentially selected,
the paper demonstrates how selective patronage campaigns have emphasized social
justice needs and concerns for designated groups in ways that have been potentially
exclusionary of other disadvantaged groups and thus undermining of social justice
more broadly. As a contemporary instance of ‘‘selective patronage,’’ Buy Local
Food campaigns exhibit similar contradictory impulses, which are intensified by the
conceptual and practical pitfalls in designating ‘‘local.’’ The article concludes by
considering how the challenges and prospects for commitments to social justice in
local food consumer campaigns reinforce the importance of emerging initiatives
centered on domestic fair trade.