Root Causes:
Supply

Assumptions:

• Local sustainable food is a good thing

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1. Demand for local sustainable food - at current prices (small to large premium vs non-local sustainable and not) - is not a problem
2. There isn't enough volume of local sustainable food in the regional system
   1. There aren't enough local sustainable farms and farmers
      1. Farming is difficult to do profitably
      2. Capital needs are high
         1. Land
         2. Built infrastructure
         3. Machinery, equipment, vehicles
         4. Operating cost coverage during transition to sustainable
      3. Labor shortage
      4. No career ladder
      5. Increasingly unpredictable weather & lack of whole farm insurance to mitigate risk
   2. The ones that exist aren't big enough to produce enough volume
   3. Many obstacles going from small to big
   4. Many obstacles for new farmers starting out