10+1 Reasons to Eat Local
1. The taste factor—The average item on your dinner plate travels over 1500 miles before it reaches the consumer. On the route to the supermarket, which can take as many as fourteen days, many valuable nutrients are lost (plus your food is often made appealing through artificial means, including gassing and dyeing). Food purchased at a farmers' market is usually picked the same day, a difference your taste buds will appreciate! At our markets, all of the farm products sold are from CT farms and travel no more than 55 miles, meaning you get real flavors straight from the source.
2. Stronger communities through local economies—Local farmers tend to invest more in their local communities , keeping the money they earn close by. During CitySeed's 2005 market season , for example, our network of four markets had an estimated local economic impact on our region of over $1 million - $1,005,481 to be exact (calculation based on the Sticky Economic Evaluation Device developed by the Economics Institute at Loyola University – New Orleans.) Local food dollars can have a large impact!
3. Farm viability–Through the conventional food distribution system, farmers, on average, receive less than twenty cents for every dollar of food they produce. By contrast, farmers who sell directly to consumers at farmers' markets earn an average of ninety cents per dollar.
4. Environment—Food that travels further tends to be monocropped translating into less genetic diversity, lower food security, more intensive use of agrochemicals, and more packaging than do local foods. In addition, the 1500-mile trip most food makes from farm to table – a distance stretching from New Haven, CT to Superior, Nebraska - expends significant energy resources. Local food, overall, has less of an impact on the environment.
5. Farmland Preservation—One hundred years ago 80% of our land was farmland. In Connecticut, we lose over 9,000-10,000 acres of farmland a year and remaining farmland is less than 12% of our land area. In fact, CT has the dubious distinction of ranking first in percentage of farmland lost from 1997-2002 – almost 13%. Preserving local farms preserves open spaces and keeps communities intact. Most of our farmers do not completely develop their farmland meaning that much of this farmland is precious habitat for Connecticut's wildlife. In New Haven, for example, Common Grounds High School, devotes a section of their land to local wildlife while also maintaining a farm.
6. Fairer Taxation—Much of our lost farmland is developed into housing and commercial spaces, which use more services than they provide back in taxes. For every dollar a farmer pays in taxes, $0.20 to $0.30 is used in services, while a development uses approximately $1.17 in services for every dollar paid to the community through taxes.
7. Diversity—Commercially available food is produced for travel and durability—not for taste. Local farms produce delicious varieties of produce that can't travel very far and will not be seen in a supermarket.
8. Food Security—Access to fresh healthy foods is a challenge in any community but becomes impossible in many lower-income communities. Food security is a measure of a community's ability to feed itself and produce for itself healthy fresh foods. CitySeed's farmers' markets enhance our region's food security and provide fresh healthy food to all members of our community. In addition, our markets accept WIC and EBT/Food Stamps to ensure that they are accessible to the entire community.
9. Nutrition—Local foods are usually sold within 24 hours of when they are picked, which means they have most of their nutrients intact. Our farms are also proud of what they have less of—pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals.
10. Community—Yes, farmers' markets are about good food, but they are also about community and connection! After all, we all must eat. Farmers' markets – the main source for local food in most communities – become a way, then, to bring together a wide cross-section of the community, week after week, during market season. In addition, buying locally means being in touch with the seasons and the farmers who produce the food. The honored connection between farmer and household is re-established in the midst of a vibrant, community event.
11. Respect- Our markets are about respecting ourselves and what we feed ourselves; the families that produce our food and the product of their labor; and the environment that surrounds us and continually provides for us.
Sources:
http://foodroutes.org/whycare3.jsp
http://organicconsumers.org/btc/btcwhy.pdf
http://www.ctfarmland.org/basic.php?page=preservation
http://www.foodpc.state.ct.us/farmland_preservation.htm
http://www.salmonnation.com/tale/Tale_of_Toms_FF.pdf
http://agmarketing.extension.psu.edu/images/fooddollar1.gif
http://www.greensgrow.org/pages_04/10reasons.html
http://www.organicconsumers.org/btc/14reasons.pdf
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