Local Foods Hit the Big Time

The concept of “local food” often conjures up images of the farmers’ market and family-run artisan dairies, with limited to no marketing or advertising, only word of mouth to build the brand.
But major food corporations have been paying attention to the momentum local foods have been receiving, and are now getting in on the action, often interpreting the concept of local food in new ways. Companies getting into some form of local foods marketing include Frito-Lay and ConAgra Foods, the latter via its Hunt’s tomatoes business.
Although some locavore purists view these developments with skepticism, some analysts see this move as similar to the expanding and legitimization of organic foods in recent years.