Toward a Just, Nutritious, and Sustainable Food System: The False Dichotomy of Localism versus Supercenterism.

The industrialization of agriculture concurrent with globalization and accompanying trade liberalization has substantially altered the US food landscape. Increasingly, consumers and researchers are confronted by an ostensible dichotomy of local, fresh foods vs. global, processed foods, where ‘‘local’’ is represented by alternative food initiatives such as farmers markets (termed here as ‘‘localism’’) and ‘‘global’’ is represented by supercenters such as Walmart (termed here as ‘‘supercenterism’’). Popular opinion holds that increases in localism represent nutritional, social, and environmental gains, whereas increases in supercenterism represent a shift toward an unhealthful, unjust, and polluted food system. But the world is not so black and white. For example, in the United States, at least one-half of organic foods are purchased at supermarkets and supercenters (2), and these venues account for a rapidly increasing share of local produce sales (3). The goal of this commentary is not to be a systematic review of the literature, but to caution against demonizing supercenters and glorifying farmers markets. The magnitude and complexity of the problems facing the US food system require that we identify and support opportunities across multiple venues to achieve sustainability. A more nuanced perspective supported by innovative and interdisciplinary research is needed in order to achieve a shared agenda of the following: 1) human health and nutrition, 2) economic viability, 3) social justice, and 4) environmental sustainability.