The Agricultural Marketscape: A Framework for Sustaining Agriculture and Communities in the Northeast

ABSTRACT This paper examines ways in which rural landscapes and communities in the Northeast have been, and continue to be, impacted by global and local food marketing systems. We provide a historical overview of globalization in agriculture and the food system and the relationship of these changes to other economic, technological and social changes. We present two food system models–“global” and “local”–representing contrasting socioeconomic paradigms, or understandings of the true and proper relationship between economy and society. Finally we explore some of the theoretical and real-life impacts of global and local food systems on landscapes in the Northeast, and discuss implications for achieving long-term agricultural sustainability.