Interesting idea and would be a challenge to apply down here as most of the produce in supermarkets comes from all over the continent. Meats can come from anywhere, fruit and vegetables from as far away as north Western Australia (google "Ord River Irrigation Scheme").

Don't think you would have much hope applying this to when you are on the trail as you can be a long way from anything down here. And small towns just don't have the resources to provide the range of goods that most of us would be use to.

Day-to-day it could be done for some things in the Sydney basin. I recently discovered a local Asian grocery store buys vegetables from market gardens in our region of Sydney and gets multiple deliveries a day from them. There was a local kill butcher (meaning he slaughtered and butchered) about 10km away, don't know if he is still there though.

I have to admit never having thought of this before and it has been an enjoyable mental exercise to ponder over. Looks to me to be a "Act Local, Think Global" idea, which is good.

Cheers,
Michael.