A Bioregional Economy

There are a number of advantages to a bioregional (locally and regionally based) economy.  Obviously, it provides markets for local farmers and artisans, who have trouble accessing or profiting from multinational chain store sales.  The chains pay so little and have such poor terms for the producer, that only those who have achieved a sizeable scale of operations can make the margins and risks work to their advantage.  People who work with us get 70% of the money spent on their product.  It is easy to make a living like that.  When people shop at a farmers market or go to the farm to buy things, the farmer gets 100% of the money.  That is even better.

Because there are no middle people or transport companies involved, a locally focused (bioregional) grocery store has prices that are relatively low.  Organic foods in most places are produced by multinationals, shipped by trucking company to brokers who then distribute to wholesalers (another trucking company hauls it there) or to brokers in other countries or parts of the country.  Those brokers sell to wholesalers (haul it) who then sell to retailers (haul it) who then sell it to you.  The multinational making the product had to get their tomatoes cheap, so the farmer gets squeezed.  They then can it and box it and ship it off with healthy margins for the company.  Every trucking company that touches the products is going to take a chunk of money.  Typically 8 to 10 cents per pound.  Each wholesaler or broker will have a markup of between 15% and 30%.  The retailer needs 30%.  If the farmer gets 10% that would be normal.  Our farmers get 70% of what you pay and we get 30% of what you pay.  And you pay less.  Bioregionalism is common sense when it comes to food production.  Bioregionalism is a deep ecology term referring to the area you live in.  This can be described a within a watershed, or within a specific kind of ecosystem (eg: the Great Plains, or the Short Grass Prairie).  I use it more as a distance from home, since the further something travels, the more pollution, the more wear and tear on vehicles and roads, the more likely it came from a large corporation.  Local products are best where the supplier can have a direct relationship with the buyer, or at least with the retailer.  These are the kinds of relationships we want to build.  Such a local store would seem nuts to the manager of a Superstore, since they would have to have relationships with hundreds of farmers, just to keep up with their beef sales.  If we ever get that big, I will absolutely have relationships with hundreds of beef suppliers, or with a co-op that represents them all and has a portable killing plant to allow all animals to die at home without the stress of transport or of a feedlot or a kill plant.

Another advantage of a bioregional economy is that money spent into that economy gets spent into that economy again.  For example, if you buy a steak from me, or some rolled oats, i have to get more oats.  I spend your money back into the local economy.  Now if my farmers go to superstore and spend the money I give them there, well, the money is then lost.  But we got to spend that money twice.  We doubled the value of that money in our economy.  If my suppliers buy from each other and from me, the money just keeps circulating and generating activity.  that is when you have prosperity.  This leaky bucket of an economy that allows all the profits to escape out of the province is stupid.  I have no idea what our leaders were thinking of when they allowed chain stores to set up in the province, or the RM.  They made it easier for the chains to take the money out of our economy after a single cycle.  It ensured that prosperity will always rely entirely on commodity prices and weather.  If we plug the holes and produce what we can in the region (and buy it from those producing it) the money cycles repeatedly and prosperity can be achieved.  It has been proven by several studies that money spent in locally owned and operated businesses (not including locally owned chain store franchises which buy everything from head office) spend between 58% and 74% more money back into the local economy than do chain stores.