Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or in a cave), you’ve probably noticed there’s an “eat local” movement going on. Typically, eating locally means eating food that is grown within 150 kilometers or 93 miles from where you live. Sure, there are times during the winter where this might not be possible, unless you live in an area where it’ s nice all the time and food can be grown year-round. In these cases, unless you are great at preserving, you might have to slack off when it comes to eating locally. Of course, farmers do use greenhouses these days so you might be lucky and be able to buy local year-round.
So why exactly should you eat locally, anyway? Besides the fact that it takes between 5 and 14 times less energy to feed yourself with locally-grown foods (McKibben, 2007) there are several reasons why you might want to consider leaving your grocery store alone and hitting up local farmers markets or farm stands.
- Save money. If for no other reason, if you shop in-season from local growers, you’ll save yourself money. You’ll be unlikely to buy expensive, out-of-season produce (because it isn’t available where you’ll shop) and might even try your hand at preserving foods while they’re in season.
- Food tastes better and is better for you. When you buy locally grown fruits and vegetables, it is often farm-fresh (picked within 24 hours of you buying it). It will have way more flavor and will also retain more of its vitamin content.
- Contribute to less pollution. Foods that are grown locally require less transportation to get to you, using less fossil fuels and producing less pollution. A standard American diet generally travels 1500 miles.
- Increase your connection to your food. Buying local allows you to meet the people who grow or produce it. It gives you a more meaningful connection with your food, where it comes from, and who grows/produces it. You’ll also develop relationships with these farmers, and who knows, you may strike up some great friendships and connections.
- Reduce waste. Compared to shopping at a grocery store, buying your food at, say, a farmer’s market will save a lot of packaging waste. It also requires less advertising. This, in turn, saves you plenty of money, because advertising and packaging makes up about 20 percent of the cost of food you buy conventionally.
- Promote biodiversity. People who run small farms are more able to grow more diverse crops compared to factory farms that grow huge crops of the same thing. Smaller farmers can grow different crops that have different harvest times and don’t worry so much about uniformity of size and potential shelf-life.
- Give farmers a reason to use farmland for food. With ongoing residential expansion, many small farms are sold each year. When you buy from local growers, you encourage them to keep their family farms and continue to grow food on farmland.
- Promote higher standards for farming. Smaller farmers tend to follow more organic principals of production, even if they aren’t licensed. They are less mechanized, use less chemicals, and use less fossil fuel.
- Support your local economy. When a farmer sells his or her product directly to you, he or she saves money on processing, packaging, transportation, and marketing. That means, not only does he or she make more on the product, but you can save money because the farmer doesn’t have to charge as much to make the same profit.
- It’s more sustainable. Why buy produce from China or other countries and pay to ship it here when we can easily grow it here ourselves? It makes no sense environmentally, economically, socially, or health-wise.
- It’s safer. With fewer steps (and people) between the farm and your table, the less chance there is that the food will be contaminated with harmful bacteria. Another great thing is that you’ll know exactly where your food comes from, so if there are any e-coli outbreaks, you’ll know your food is safe (or whether you need to discard it).
- Vote with your wallet. Lastly, when you buy from small farms that are local to you, you’re supporting what they’re doing rather than supporting large agribusiness farms that use conventional farming practices that are harmful to the environment, the economy, and your health.
When it comes to some items you can’t get from here, like spices, coffee, and chocolate, there’s no reason to abstain unless you’re hardcore into the “buy local” movement. If you must buy these things, though, it’s great if you can get your goods from companies that are fair-trade. These help support village economies and third-world countries. Fair trade gives you the chance to make ethical choices when it comes to buying your coffee, sugar, chocolate, and spices, and gives these workers a fair cut of the profits. They also help support positive environmental and economic practices.
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