Health & Nutrition

Buying local is good for you and your taste buds. Fresh, local food is rich in diverse nutrients and was probably picked within 24 hours. It's crisp, sweet and loaded with flavor. Locally grown food, purchased soon after harvest, retains its nutrients. By contrast, produce transported for days from others places is inevitably older. Several studies have shown that the average distance food travels from farm to plate is about 1,500 miles, which means your average supermarket produce has spent a week-long (or more) delay from harvest to your table. During this time sugars turn to starches, plant cells shrink, and once fresh fruits and veggies lose lots of flavor. Also, local food preserves genetic diversity because local farms grow a huge number of varieties to provide a long season of harvest. By contrast, large industrial growers produce only a handful of varieties that meet the rigorous demands of full-scale distribution. This means consumers miss out on the diverse nutrients and flavors possible otherwise. Educating consumers about the importance of local, diverse, nutrient-rich produce, helps our farmers market cultivate good nutrition and confront rising health care costs.

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Environment

Buying local is good for the environment. Transporting foods from industrial farms to supermarkets produce travels several days and anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 miles to get to market, losing vital nutrients and freshness and adding carbon dioxide to the environment with the travel. Buying locally is also sustainable, which minimizes energy used in food production, transport and storage, which in turn minimizes harm to the environment. Between 20 and 30 percent of the global warming caused by human activity is contributed by food and agriculture systems. Reducing the distance food travels from producer to your table brings measurable improvements in greenhouse-gas emissions and positive effects on climate.

Visit www.Foodroutes.org to learn about the journey the typical supermarket food travels from source to the grocer.

Community

Buying local benefits our community in many ways. First, direct marketing via the farmer market helps local producers and artisans sell their products in local communities for higher prices than they could get from wholesalers. Second, there are tremendous economic benefits. According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy. But when businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction. According to a 2007 study by Project for Public Spaces, there is a 3 to 4 times multiplier affect to local economies by farmers markets and the vendors they attract. MFM vendor and attendee numbers have nearly doubled since 2006, resulting in a $4.5 million economic impact to our community in 2008. Third, buying locally preserves our rural spaces since farmer markets improve small, local producer business opportunities, which in turn makes selling farmland for development less likely. Finally, local farms represent a net positive tax impact because they pay more in taxes than they require in services, whereas suburban development costs more than it generates in taxes. Finally, supporting locally produced, urban agriculture means supporting our future. By supporting local farmers today, we can help ensure that there will be farms in our community tomorrow, and that future generations will have access to nourishing, flavorful, and abundant food. This is the definition of sustainability.