Wendell Berry’s claim that local food economies are the only viable alternative to an agro-food system that cares more about profit than either environmental health or human well-being has generated considerable controversy. The strengths and limitations of Berry’s vision, I argue, stem from its indebtedness to Jeffersonian republicanism. Furthermore, I demonstrate that John Dewey’s The Public and Its Problems offers an alternative to Jeffersonian republicanism that embraces the third president’s faith in popular rule but lacks his preoccupation with economic self-sufficiency. Dewey gives contemporary citizens a framework for resisting the industrial food system that is more open to diverse perspectives and experiences, and more attentive to human interdependency. He also provides criteria that can be used to differentiate romantic and potentially reactionary forms of localism from efforts to build communities capable of challenging undemocratic concentrations of power.
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