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Why Local?

Buying local can mean many things, and depending on your values, needs, and access to various products, you may have different reasons for shopping the way you do.  Food is inherently tied to almost everything in our society, and it helps to take a look at local food economies through each of these lenses to better understand why you might want to “buy local.”

I. Food Miles
  1. Most produce shipped in the U.S. is picked 4-7 days before being put on supermarket shelves and travels an average of 1500 miles to get there.  That means your tomato from California has a higher carbon footprint (and will probably taste quite different) than one from the neighboring town.

  2. Small, local farms are run by farmers who live on their land and work hard to preserve it.  By being good stewards of the land, seeking out local markets, minimizing packaging, and harvesting food only when it is ready to consume, farmers can significantly reduce their environmental impact. In fact, studies show that sustainable agricultural practices can actually increase food production by up to 79% while at the same time actively reducing the effects of farming on climate change through carbon sequestration.
II. Strengthening the Local Economy
  1. Since the development of big agribusiness, the money in farmers’ pockets has been steadily decreasing and going into the pockets of middle-men such as distributors and brokers before it even gets to grocery store shelves.  Now, the average farmer makes about 20 cents for every dollar for their produce.  By buying a locally sourced product, more money goes into the pockets of farmers and local producers.  Many of our local farmers deliver their produce directly to our doors, eliminating the distributor and bringing more money back to the farmer. 
  2. In addition, buying local creates more revenue and job opportunity in your community beyond the farms and grocery stores.  According to an Andersonville Development Corp study in 2004, for every $100 spent at a local business, $68 dollars stayed in the local economy, as opposed to only $43 when that same money was spent at a non-local business. 


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III. Food Security
  1. Big agribusiness has also turned our fields into huge, unsustainable, and precarious mono-crop operations that put us at higher risk if the crop were to fail. For example, if the spinach crop we get from California were to fail or become contaminated, we’d need a local option to depend on. Production diversity = food security!

  2. Small, local farms often produce a wider variety of food than conventional mono-crop operations, and many preserve traditional heirloom varieties and growing methods that would otherwise be lost forever. Preserving “endangered” varieties and traditions is vital to a secure food future.
IV. Health and Wellness
  1. For certain products, such as honey, dairy, eggs, and meat, eating a locally produced version can be better for your health by reducing the risk of diseases spreading from one place to another. Local produce often tastes better and (especially if it is organic) has higher nutritional content because it includes the minerals and micronutrients from the soil in your area!
V. Global Connections
  1. The current system is possible only because of the artificially low price of fossil-fuel-dependent food production that uses petrochemical fertilizers and depletes the top-soil. Throughout the globe, top-soil is decreasing at an alarming rate. Supporting smaller scale, local food production has a global impact on preserving the soil and reducing dependence on oil.
VI. Peace of Mind
  1. When you buy local, you have a stronger connection with the person who produced your food and the land it was produced on, making it easier to trust in the way your food was produced, how its production affected your community, and the quality of what you’re putting into your body.