Step Forward | Think Local

Summer is the perfect time to get acquainted with local produce. Local gives “fresh” new meaning – providing food with far more flavor, nutrition and connection to the local landscape than supermarket fare. Purchasing produce close to where it is grown insures that it is in its peak form. Supermarket shipping and processing can put weeks between the vine and your table. In that time produce’s nutritional value steadily declines. Fresher food also lasts longer in your refrigerator.

Buying local fosters strong, symbiotic communities, by strengthening the local economy, creating jobs and reviving local food systems. Small family farms are a vital part of our regional heritage and rely on community support to compete with large scale corporate agriculture. Small farms are essential to the preservation of our diverse biological heritage, which is being threatened by production of the uniform agricultural products of agribusiness. If you haven’t tasted an heirloom tomato recently, you’re in for a treat.

August 2 – 8, in the US, is National Farmer’s Market Week, a campaign to communicate the vital role that farmer’s markets play in consumer health, local communities and economies. The Farmer’s Market, while remaining a tradition in many societies, has made a global resurgence in recent years. Approximately 5000 farmer’s markets in the US bring affordable, fresh food to local consumers on a weekly basis.

There are a variety of delivery systems from local farms to your door. Some farms allow consumers the hands-on experience of picking fruit and vegetables themselves. This is a wonderful opportunity for children who may have never picked a strawberry from other than a plastic supermarket basket. Picking our own produce reminds us to respect the farmer’s prodigious effort in delivering fresh, undamaged produce to the marketplace.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between a local farm and consumers, who purchase advance shares in the crop, for a weekly food pick-up directly from the farm. Some CSAs require that members work a number of hours at the farm during the growing season.

Locavores can tailor the acquisition of local produce to their lifestyle and location by adding farm stands, food co-ops and community gardens to the mix of local food outlets.

Consider advocating for local food systems and Farmer’s Markets. Organizations such as Food Democracy Now!, the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, American Farmland Trust, The Organic Consumers Association, and the National Food Security Coalition all organize action alerts. You might focus on a single issue, such as healthier school lunches, organic certification, farmland preservation or local food for disadvantaged neighborhoods, and share the awareness and advocacy with your network.

Links

• Local Harvest
• Sustainable Table
• Food Routes
• Eat Well Guide – Find Farms, Markets & More – US & Canada
• USDA
• Coop Directory Service

Additional Reading

To Market, To Market! Farmers Markets Should Make Some Noise During National Farmers Market Week

Next week, (August 2-8) is National Farmers Market Week as proclaimed by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and the nation’s 4,800 farmers markets have a lot to celebrate!

Why Diversity on the Dinner Plate Is Becoming an Endangered Species

Americans once grew and ate 15,000 varieties of apple, each different in name, taste and texture. What’s left today are about 10 percent of those varieties, the rest consigned to a fate people seldom associate with food.