As we begin our careers as licensed cheesemakers, we’re squarely confronted by an ethical dilemma: We believe in local food. We buy it whenever possible, and we want to sell it as well.
There are people in cities a thousand miles away who would love to buy our cheese. They’ll pay more per pound for it than the local market, too. But that’s not local. Shipping cheese by air freight across the country in insulated containers with individual ice packs is anything but energy efficient. It would contribute far more greenhouse gas per pound of cheese than selling locally, and would increase the amount of waste headed for landfills.
Do we stick to our beliefs and sell only in local communities? Or do we decide (like many other people) that environmental ethics are great in theory, but just not practical for us?
We’re going to stick to our beliefs and sell our cheese in local markets. And when we do expand, our closest major city is Las Vegas, just three hours away. Even Los Angeles can be reached in two days by ground freight. There’s no reason for us to be flying cheese all over the country– there are plenty of markets within driving distance.
In short: local food, yes. national sales, no. We’ll spend our energies on the net promoting the value of local food instead.
