Twelve Great Reasons to Buy Local

Increasingly we hear about recalls of tainted food in the media and calls for better inspection and enforcement. Can we trust our food supply today, when you hear of people dying eating ground beef and tomatoes?  What can we do about it? 

A positive change in your food buying habits is to buy local.  There have been no notable incidents of health issues related to consumption of locally grown, raised or processed foods. 

Here are just a few reasons that we share with customers at local farmers markets and with restaurant owners interested in buying local.

• 1.) Locally grown tastes better.

  Perhaps foremost as a reason is that local produce and prepared foods taste better. Local produce is usually picked within a few days of sale.  Produce shipped in is often two weeks old.  The average distance food travels is 1500 miles.  This delay from harvest to table causes plant cells to shrink, sugars to convert to starches, and loss of vitality. Most local produce are varieties selected for taste and nutrition instead of appearance.

• 2.) Local produce is better for you. 

  Produce nutrients are greater if picked ready to eat.  Produce will lose nutrients quickly.  Locally grown food, purchased soon after harvest has more nutrients and retains it better than shipped-in produce, harvested while green.

• 3.) Locally raised meats are better for you. 

  Local ranchers and meat producers tend to raise their cattle, lamb, pork, and poultry in pastures, feeding more off of their natural diets. Livestock in feedlots and in cages have less Omega-e, vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals and more fat in their muscle than grass-fed and pastured livestock. Free-range chicken often have ¼ the saturated fat and the eggs have as little as ½ the cholesterol as caged chickens.  See what makes Georgia's meat different.

• 4.) Buying local saves energy and reduces carbon emissions. 

  Most local farmers use less energy per acre than large-scale agribusinesses. Buying local also eliminates the fuel and energy of long-distance shipping and the carbon dioxide emissions of long-distance hauling and shipping from overseas.  

• 5.) Local food is GMO-free. 

  Most local farmers don’t have access to genetically modified seed. Studies suggest the increase in food allergies is related to GMO-soy, corn, and potatoes. 

• 6.) Local food preserves genetic diversity. 

  Hybrid produce from “big” agri-businesses was to withstand packing and shipping; and for an ability to have a long shelf life in the store.  Local farmers grow a larger variety, which mature at different times and provide a farmer a longer harvest, an array of eye-catching colors, and the best flavors.

• 7.) Local food supports local farm families.   

  Local farmers have become a vanishing breed, who struggle to compete with subsidized factory farms and imports. By cutting out the middleman and selling direct to consumers, a local farmer receives full price rather than only about 10 cents for retail food dollar, and can break even.
  

• 8.) Local food builds community.

  When you buy local, you are re-establishing a local food economy. Knowing the farmers gives you an insight into the miracle of growing food and faith in its goodness.

• 9.) Local food preserves open spaces. 

  We are increasingly developing our farmland. The country landscape of lush fields of crops, meadows of wildflowers, and picturesque red barns, will only survive as long as farms are financially viable. By buying local you are helping preserve our agricultural landscape.

• 10.) Local food keeps your taxes in check.

  Farms contribute more in taxes than they require in services, whereas suburban development costs more than it generates in taxes.  For every urban tax $1 government must spend $1.17, thus requiring higher taxes.  For every farm tax $1 government spends only $0.34 cents in services.

• 11.) Local food supports a clean environment, reduces carbon emissions and benefits wildlife.

  Local farms value fertile soil and clean water. Small-scale farmers have smaller carbon footprints (less CO2 emissions) per acre. They also rotate crops and grow cover crops to prevent erosion and replace soil nutrients.  Cover crops capture carbon emissions and help combat global warming.  Local farms support wildlife, butterflies and beneficial insects.

• 12.) Local food is about the future. 

  Buy local. You can help assure that there will be farms in your community tomorrow, and that future generations will have access to nourishing, flavorful, and abundant food, and that we will not be vulnerable to security threats from food delivered across long distances.

Categories: Health Food Industry,

Tell Us What You Think

1. I agree with all of the above.

   — pat mclaughlin · Mar 28, 05:20 AM · #

2. Thanks for supporting local growers and local businesses. Even the big farms, like the rice farms in Katy, help conserve our national waterfowl by giving them a place to spend the winter. Farmers feed us and help us live in many other ways too.

   — Nancy Edwards · Apr 16, 12:58 PM · #

3. Great article.

   — Mona Metzger · Apr 20, 10:32 PM · #

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