Luxury localism

When supermarket eggs were getting expensive a while back, a local farmer’s market vendor said she was raising the price of her eggs. Not because her input costs were increasing—they hadn’t, she said–but simply because the supermarket price had gone up. To paraphrase from memory, “It’s not right that I should not get paid just as much for my eggs, since they are a superior product.” I am as glad as anyone about the increasing preference for local products, particularly food, over the last few years. It’s so widespread, in fact, that I don’t even need to explain why it’s a good thing, because you already know. Anytime something gets popular, though, money comes along to ruin it. Now “local” has become a marketing gimmick, like “organic” and “fair trade” before it. “Local” has become a stand-in for high quality, even exclusivity. It has become the property of influencers with their selfie-ready, shit-free “farms”. This is the scourge of luxury localism. A healthy, local economy is about…