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Locale: The New Local

The National Grocers Association makes an interesting prediction in its just-released annual consumer poll. While the survey found that 79% of respondents feel locally grown produce and local packaged foods are either or important in choosing a store, the NGA notes that the mainstreaming of the local trend is likely to give rise to a new desire for where consumers seek out those products which identify

The National Grocers Association makes an interesting prediction in its just-released annual consumer poll. While the survey found that 79% of respondents feel locally grown produce and local packaged foods are either “very” or “somewhat” important in choosing a store, the NGA notes that the mainstreaming of the local trend is likely to give rise to a new desire for “locale,” where consumers “seek out those products which identify proudly their U.S.-based origins and key in to agriculture benefits, e.g., tomatoes from California, blueberries from Michigan and, yes, even orange juice from Florida.”

Under this definition, local would expand beyond the commonly agreed-upon 100-mile radius, to products that are able to demonstrate authenticity and provenance.