WHY LOCAL FOOD?

Eat, drink, and grow local to support your community

• Local food is tastier & healthier.

  When your food travels a shorter distance from the farm to your plate, it is allowed to ripen on the vine (or tree), which packs more nutrition and taste better than food that travels long distances. You can taste the difference when you bite into a local tomato in the summer or freshly baked bread made from local ingredients.

• Local food supports our local economy.

  The true cost of food is largely hidden from consumers and subsidized by tax dollars. Supporting direct-to-consumer local food growers and businesses means supporting livable wages, more jobs, and more money circulating in the local economy. For every $10 spent on local food, $8-9 is retained by the producer or business. This means more of your food dollars are staying in the local economy and benefiting local farmers and food entrepreneurs.

• Local food is accessible.

  Local food purchased in season and directly from a producer through CSAs, farmer’s markets, or cooperatives can be less expensive than its out-of-state counterparts. If it’s on sale locally, you know it’s in season and at the peak of ripeness. Check out our comprehensive Good Food Finder directory of where to find local food growers and farmer’s markets near you.

• Local food is good for the environment.

  Local, sustainable agriculture regenerates the environment by building healthy soil that facilitates increased carbon sequestration and leads to cleaner air. It also creates less (or no) agricultural runoff, which keeps drinking water clean and improves wildlife habitats. Integrating natural mechanisms for composting and recycling diverts food waste from landfills and reduces the amount of methane released into the environment. In fact, eating local and sustainably raised food is one of the most impactful choices you can make to reduce your individual carbon footprint.

• Local food builds vibrant, biodiverse green spaces.

  When you grow, buy, and eat local food, you are contributing to a connected community by interacting with food producers at farmer’s markets, growing food in community gardens and backyards, and sharing homemade meals together with your family. Local food also creates and preserves green outdoor spaces to reconnect with nature and relearn where your food comes from - whether through urban agriculture, community gardens, small farms and ranches, school gardens, rooftop gardens, or urban food forests.

• Local food protects biodiversity.

  In the last century, we have lost 75% of the genetic diversity in the foods we grow and eat. Small farmers and gardeners grow heritage and native varieties, saving and sharing seeds that are especially adapted for the regions in which they grow. Biodiversity makes our local food system more secure since we are less dependent on a small group of vulnerable crops.