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| Food produced locally
is fresher and higher in nutrients. Produce loses vitamin potency when
picked days or weeks before you eat it. Many items are picked unripe
for shipping and are not allowed to develop to their full potential.
Some produce is ripened or preserved artificially with gases, chemicals
or the process of irradiation. Local produce has been picked within
24-48 hours so your fruits and vegetables are fresh, ripe, nutrient
dense and do not require preserves other than refrigeration or ice. |
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| Local food requires less shipping and packaging to get it from the field to your dinner table, limiting the "food miles."
Shipping and packaging both depend on petrochemicals to produce the
fuel, plastic wrap and energy used along the way. Large scale
agriculture depends on petroleum based fertilizers which not only
pollute our food but the surrounding land and waterways near the
fields. The "dead zone"
in the Gulf of Mexico is suspected to be caused by fertilizer run off
into the Mississippi River that drains into the gulf. Local food is
also much less likely to be grown as monoculture,
meaning our farms grow a wide variety of items, keeping genetic
diversity and protecting ourselves from the consequences of
catastrophic crop failure. Farm land preservation also protects our
remaining open spaces from development, leaving them free for wildlife
or the possibility of farming in the future. |
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| Money spent on local products or at local farm
stands keeps the dollars in our community more efficiently than buying
products from a national chain store. It also improves our collective food security,
keeping agriculture as a viable way to make a living and ensuring that
we have farms around us in the future when we may depend on them in an
emergency. |
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Many people assume
that local food is more expensive than comparable items purchased at
the supermarket. If you are only looking at dollars and cents,
sometimes they will be cheaper at the grocery store, but this is not
always the case. A study done at Seattle University in 2007 found that farmers market prices were slightly lower
than supermarket prices, when items were compared pound for pound.
What
we may see as high prices on some local goods are a lot closer to the
true cost of producing that particular food, as opposed to the
industrial food system which depends greatly on externalizing costs.
This means that the cost of an item is artificially low by taking
advantage of someone somewhere else. This is achieved by monoculture,
massive plantings of one item, "packing them deep and selling them
cheap" in the same way that big box stores have made material goods
very affordable. Cheap, illegal immigrant labor is another way
companies can save on costs, and the current state of industrial
agriculture does not really discourage the practice.
Let's not
forget about subsidies (our tax dollars) on crops that make processed
foods much more affordable calorie for calorie, when compared to fresh,
local produce. Subsidies make the raw materials (peanuts, rice, corn,
soybean, wheat) dirt cheap for processed food companies. This is why a
you get more chips than carrots for the same dollar.
We also
have to consider the toll industrial agriculture has on our
environment. While a broccoli crown may be a few cents cheaper at the
store, you can buy the local equivalent and know that you have done
your part to lessen your impact on the planet.
It is all a
matter of your priorities. 10 years ago we didn't have the spare time
we now have to spend checking email and searching the internet. 10
years ago we may have balked at spending $4.00 on a cup of coffee.
Buying local food is better for you, the environment, and the local
economy. Our lives depend on the health of these elements and if you
believe in that you will support them every chance you get. |
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