Usually we save the big picture debates for the wintertime -- in summer there is too much running around for much deep thought. But a customer at one of our farmer's markets send us a link to this this article and I found if very thought provoking. In my email response to him, I explained that we (perhaps obviously) have first hand experience with three occasionally conflicting currents -- the surge in interest in organic/local, the reduced efficiencies of local production, and the public's habit of paying subsidized food prices at the supermarket. It is a bit of a conundrum.

For example, sometimes we charge what might be considered a premium price by supermarket standards, and people assume we are getting rich. We aren't, trust me. It is just that crappy industrialized food is so subsidized, and has so many more economies of scale, that we look expensive by comparison. The article linked to above discusses how small, local farms can become economically sustainable, given some of these problems.

In the end, however, the richness of our farm comes in different forms, and while it is not always financial, we love this life, and wouldn't want any other.