The Importance of Eating Local: How to Support Your Local Farmers and Community

Are you looking for ways to support your local farmers and community? Eating locally is one of the easiest and most powerful things you can do to make a difference. Eating locally helps reduce your carbon footprint, supports local farmers and businesses, and connects you with the natural world. Here we’ll look at why it’s important to eat locally and how you can get started.

What is Local Food?

Local food is defined as food that has been grown or produced within a certain geographic area. This could be as small as your own backyard or as large as your county or state. Generally speaking, the further away food travels from where it was grown, the less local it is considered to be. When you buy local food, you’re helping support farmers and other small businesses in your community which helps keep money circulating in your community instead of leaving it for corporate conglomerates.

Benefits of Eating Local Food

There are many benefits to eating local food. Here are just a few:

• It’s more nutritious: Local foods are picked at their peak ripeness which means they retain more nutrients than foods that have been trucked in from far away places.
• It tastes better: Many people report that local foods taste better than their store-bought counterparts because they are picked when they are ripe instead of being picked unripe so they can withstand transport time.
• It’s cheaper: Buying local food directly from a farmer or producer means there are fewer middlemen taking a cut which ultimately leads to lower prices for consumers.
• It’s better for the environment: Buying locally produced foods means fewer resources used in transportation like fuel, packaging materials, and energy used in cooling trucks – all of which contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that damage our environment.

How Can I Eat Locally?

Luckily there are lots of ways to start eating locally right now! Here are a few ideas on how to start eating more locally sourced foods:

• Shop at farmers markets or join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program — both will provide access to fresh produce harvested within days of purchase;
• Get involved with gleaning programs where volunteers help gather excess produce from farms after harvest;
• Buy directly from farms — many have roadside stands or offer delivery services;

• Join community supported fisheries (CSF) programs which provide access to fresh seafood caught by local fishermen;
• Visit restaurant websites — many will list information about where their ingredients come from;
• Find out if there is an online farmers market near you – these allow customers to buy directly from producers without ever leaving home;

Conclusion

Eating locally is one of the easiest ways we can make an impact on our communities and our environment while supporting small businesses and keeping money circulating within our communities instead of going into corporate pockets elsewhere. With just a little bit of research, anyone can find ways to start incorporating more locally produced foods into their diets!