Local Food Glossary

Farm-to-Table

A restaurant sourcing practice where chefs buy ingredients directly from local farms rather than through commercial distributors.

Farmers Market

A regular gathering — typically weekly — where farmers and food producers sell directly to consumers.

Terroir

A French term describing how a place's soil, climate, and tradition shape the character of the food grown there — originally applied to wine, now extended to cheese, coffee, produce, and meat.

U-Pick (Pick-Your-Own)

A farm-visit model where customers harvest their own produce directly from the field or orchard, typically paying by the pound, pint, or bucket.

Agritourism

Farm operations that welcome visitors for experiences — pumpkin patches, corn mazes, u-picks, farm dinners, tours, weddings, overnight stays — as a revenue stream alongside production.

Cold Chain

The unbroken refrigerated handling of perishable food from farm to consumer — critical for food safety, shelf life, and quality.

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)

A membership model where customers pay a farm upfront for a share of the season's harvest, usually delivered weekly.

Direct-to-Consumer (D2C)

Selling food directly from producer to end consumer — at a farmers market, farm stand, CSA, online store, or delivery — without wholesale intermediaries.

Farm Share

A synonym for CSA share — a subscription purchase of a portion of a farm's harvest, delivered weekly over a season.

Farm Stand

A larger, usually staffed on-farm retail operation selling the farm's own products (and sometimes complementary goods from neighboring farms).

Food Hub

A regional business or cooperative that aggregates product from multiple small farms, handles distribution, and sells to wholesale buyers — bridging farms too small for direct wholesale and buyers too big for individual farms.

Market-Style CSA

A CSA model where members pick their own items from a selection at each pickup — combining CSA economics with farmers-market choice.

Roadside Stand

A small unstaffed or lightly-staffed seasonal farm sales structure placed beside a public road, often operating on an honor-system or simple payment basis.

Traditional CSA

A CSA model where the farm decides what's in each week's box and members receive whatever is at peak harvest that week.

Wholesale (Food)

Selling food in bulk to intermediaries — restaurants, grocers, food hubs, distributors — rather than direct to end consumers. Lower per-unit pricing, higher volume, simpler logistics.

Aquaponics

A closed-loop farming system combining hydroponics with aquaculture — fish waste fertilizes plants, plants filter water for fish.

Biodynamic Farming

A holistic farming philosophy pre-dating organic certification that treats the farm as a self-contained ecosystem; includes specific seasonal practices and certification via Demeter.

Cover Crop

A crop planted to cover soil (rather than to harvest) — improves soil health, prevents erosion, adds nitrogen, and suppresses weeds between cash-crop seasons.

Heirloom Variety

A traditional (usually pre-1950) crop variety grown from saved seed, valued for flavor, visual character, and genetic diversity rather than shipping durability or shelf life.

Heritage Breed

A traditional livestock breed — typically raised for flavor, hardiness, or cultural significance — rather than the commodity breeds dominant in industrial agriculture.

Hydroponics

Growing plants in nutrient-rich water solutions rather than soil — enables indoor, vertical, and urban production with tight control over inputs.

Permaculture

A design system for sustainable agriculture and land use that emphasizes perennials, polycultures, working with natural systems, and minimal external inputs.

Regenerative Agriculture

A set of farming practices aimed at improving soil health and ecosystem function — including cover cropping, no-till, rotational grazing, and diverse planting.

Urban Farming

Growing food commercially within a city — in vacant lots, rooftops, warehouses, backyards, or community gardens.

Cottage Food Law

A state-level legal framework that lets home cooks and small producers sell certain non-potentially-hazardous foods (like baked goods, jams, and dried herbs) directly to consumers without full commercial kitchen licensing.

GAP Certification (Good Agricultural Practices)

A voluntary USDA-audited certification confirming that a farm follows food-safety best practices — typically required by larger institutional buyers, some grocery chains, and hotel groups.

Grass-Fed

A claim that ruminant animals (usually cattle) were fed grass and forage rather than grain; can be partial ("grass-fed, grain-finished") or total ("100% grass-fed").

Non-GMO

A claim or certification that a product is made without genetically modified organisms; often third-party verified (e.g. Non-GMO Project Verified).

Pasture-Raised

A claim that animals had significant access to outdoor pasture for a meaningful portion of their lives; loosely regulated in the U.S.

USDA Organic

A federal certification standard that farms can earn after a transition period and annual audit; regulates use of synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs, and certain other inputs.