Urban Agricultural Policy Needed

"The famed Wal-Mart slogan notwithstanding...lower prices for consumers often incur alarming costs in terms of transportation, congestion, air pollution and security. 'What happens if your food supply chain is trucks that have to travel 2,000 miles? And then diesel prices triple, or there's a security issue? Or you're relying on such a few huge meat-processing factories and there's a tainted meat problem? How secure is that?' The smart regions...will be those that get their act together to promote local food production, a critical step in a perilous global economy to bolster physical health, conserve open lands, save dollars and assure new self-sufficiency."