"Eat local" is a big rallying cry these days, but why?
Here are four reasons:
1. Taste!
What do you want in the food you eat? Great flavor is at the top of the list for most of us. But most supermarket produce is brought to you by a system that favors shelf life, shipping durability, and uniform appearance – at the expense of flavor and texture. To get truly great eating quality, you need to eat local and seasonally. This lets you try varieties that may be bruised if shipped cross-country, or which don’t keep for weeks, or which have variable colors or funny shapes – the varieties that have been selected over generations for their amazing flavor.
2. Good farming practices!
If you know your farmer, you can ask about their methods. This protects your health and your local environment, and lets farmers know that consumers appreciate sustainable practices. It’s also fun and educational to know where your food comes from! Most farmers are very willing to help their customers reconnect with the land and the growing process, and we eaters can learn amazing things along the way.
3. Local economic health!
If you spend money with a local farm, more of it will stay in your local economy than if you spend money that goes to a farm across the country.
4. Food security!
Our present-day food system depends on cheap oil, artificially low transportation costs, and other factors that are likely to change. When these factors change, we will need to rely more on our local communities for our needs. We have a great opportunity to prepare now by preserving and growing the number of working local farms, in every area of the country. How many older farmers in your area retire with nobody from the younger generation to take their place on that farm? How much farmland is turned into nonproductive land in your area every year? Buying produce from local farms helps to guarantee those local farms can stay in business, making farming a viable option for young people, and keeps local areas more self-sufficient – which keeps our system as a whole more resilient in changing conditions.
