Dawn Thilmany McFadden

1 INTRODUCTION Mandatory funding for local food systems—agricultural production and marketing that occurs within a certain geographic proximity (between farm and consumer)—has increased with each successive farm bill, from 2002 to 2018. More than 30 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant and loan programs now provide more than $100 million in support and assistance for local food producer groups annually (Johnson et al., 2020).

1 INTRODUCTION Mandatory funding for local food systems—agricultural production and marketing that occurs within a certain geographic proximity (between farm and consumer)—has increased with each successive farm bill, from 2002 to 2018. More than 30 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant and loan programs now provide more than $100 million in support and assistance for local food producer groups annually (Johnson et al., 2020).

Introduction There has been a surge in nonemployer food manufacturers in the United States (US) in recent years. Since states have passed cottage food laws throughout the US concurrently, they could have contributed to this phenomenon. In general, cottage food laws allow small‐scale food entrepreneurs to produce nonrefrigerated foods in their home kitchen and market them via direct‐to‐consumer (DTC) channels (e.g., farmers markets, fairs, and home sales).