Restaurants are important to a local food industry, but they're just one part of the equation.

Eugene has built up an infrastructure for processing local foods that was abandoned nearly 100 years ago when the country's food system shifted to a national industrial model, said Douglas Gayeton, author of the book "Local: The New Face of Food and Farming in America."

That infrastructure includes a grain mill for turning local wheat into flour, a facility to clean beans, and a processing plant for vegetable oils. Some of this food makes its way into Eugene's farm-to-table restaurants. Some travels farther in the region.

Julie Tilt, co-owner of Hummingbird Wholesale, buys foods from these plants and distributes it throughout the Pacific Northwest. Her business has gone from $150,000 in sales 10 years ago to $8 million currently. She attributes the jump to a demand for more sustainable food.

"People are just much more aware of their health, and the health of the planet," she said.