Seven Reasons to Buy Locally Grown Food

Today I wanted to share with you why it is so important to buy fresh, local and in season produce.  Not only is it better for your health, but it is important for the environment and your community as well.  Here are my top seven reason to buy locally grown food:

1) Locally grown food tastes better.  Local food does not have to travel so far and is usually picked at their peak so the food is fresh, ripe and tastes better.  Have you ever tasted a tomato fresh from the garden? An incredible difference! Food imported from far away has usually travelled for days on trucks and then sits in a warehouse where it is stored.

2) Locally grown food has more nutritional value.  Local food is usually harvested in 24 hours of being sold.  The shorter the time from being picked to on your plate, the less nutrients are lost. Plus they have usually been able to mature to their full capacity making available the most nutrients and flavor possible.

3) Local  food supports local economy. When you buy local food your money stays in the community and you support local services.

4) Local food supports farmers.  Fewer and fewer farms are able to stay in business. There is so much competition from corporate farms.  These farmers are providing us with fresh, ripe, organic, GMO-free  food we should want to use our dollars to support them not big business based elsewhere.  Local farmers who sell directly to the consumer cut out the middle man and thus get full retail for their price.

5) Locally grown food decreases your carbon footprint. Imported food on average has travelled 1,500 miles either  by plane, or in trucks for days.  Since local food does not have to travel far, this reduces carbon dioxide emissions and all the packing materials involved.

6) Local food is sustainable.  Family owned farms usually use farming techniques that use less energy consumption and fewer chemicals, protect air and water quality.  Thus, they are able to produce food without having a negative effect on the environment.

7) Locally grown food keeps you eating in season.  When you eat according to the seasons, you are eating foods that are in season thus at their peak in flavor and nutrients.  In season foods usually cost less too because they are more abundant.