Perceptions of Place and Community in the Dallas Local Foods Movement

Increased interest in local food production and its associated qualities has re-awakened a sense of the local community in many parts of the industrial world. This thesis examines the spatial distribution of local food in the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) Metroplex and the farmers’ markets as nodal localities for local foods systems, around which producers and consumers create place and community. Research methods include informal interviews with farmers and farmers’ market coordinators, collection of data on local farms, ranches and dairies and a GIS analysis of the spatial distribution of food in DFW. This study revealed that place and community are formed largely around the nodal farmers’ markets, as opposed to other centers of local food, and that community is particularly important to the identity of the local foods movement. We propose that the local food in DFW is a movement based on reconstructing senses of community and place.