Local Growing and Buying Produce

Reasons to Choose Local Produce

FRESH, HIGH QUALITY VEGETABLES AND FRUIT
Local food is usually sold to the consumer within hours of being picked. In contrast, the average vegetable in the grocery store is 5 to 7 days old, sometimes as much as 2 weeks old, before the consumer buys it.

MORE NUTRITIOUS THAN WHAT YOU CAN GET AT A GROCER
Why? The average fruit or vegetable at a chain grocery store may have traveled more than 1500 miles to arrive there.

BETTER TASTE AND BETTER FOR YOU
Most locally grown food is hand harvested when it is ripe for immediate sale to the consumer with good taste as a prime criterion. A recent study showed that fresh produce loses nutrients quickly therefore locally grown food, purchased soon after harvest retains it nutrients.

LOCAL FOOD SUPPORTS LOCAL FARM FAMILIES
Farmers are a vanishing breed, The farmer gets less than 10 cents of the retail food dollar. Local farmers who sell direct to customers, cut out the middleman and get full retail price for their produce. This means that farm families can afford to stay on the farm, doing the work they love.

ENCOURAGES GOOD EATING HABITS
Consumers eat greater varieties of foods, in season, when everything is at its best.

LOCAL FOOD PRESERVES OPEN SPACE
As the value of direct marketed produce increases, selling farmland for development becomes less likely. The landscape that you enjoy during a ride to the country will only survive as long as farms are financially viable. When you buy food locally grown, you are doing something proactive about preserving the agricultural landscape.

LOCAL FOOD IS GMO-FREE
Local farmers do not have access to genetically modified seed, and most of them wouldn’t use it even if they could. A June survey showed that 93% of Americans want labels on genetically modified food, mostly so they can avoid it. If you are opposed to eating bioengineered food, you can rest assured that locally grown produced was bred the old-fashioned way, as nature intended it.

CONNECTS CONSUMERS TO THE FOOD SOURCE AND FARMERS TO THE CONSUMERS
This bridges the urban/rural gap and puts everyone in touch with the seasons.

LOCAL FOOD BUILDS COMMUNITY AND OUR FUTURE
By supporting local farmers today, you can help ensure that there will be farms in your community tomorrow and that future generations will have access to nourishing, flavorful and abundant food.

Thank you for buying locally and supporting our farmers!!