By clicking 'Got It' you're accepting these terms. Strolling of the Heifers has released the Locavore Index, which ranks the 50 states and DC in terms of their commitment to local foods. This is the fourth year the organization has produced the index. As part of their index this year, Strolling of the Heifers offers 10 reasons to increase the use of local foods , which, the nonprofit says, are better for consumers, better for growers and better for the environment.
About Contact Us. Other local food producers can grow certain types of foods year round within greenhouses or orchards. This will often depend on your local climate and your community. Other popular foods to purchase locally include dairy products, like milk and cheese from cows or goats.
Even specialty foods like honey, nut butters or canned foods can often be purchased from local producers. As concerns grow over the sustainability of meat production, many families are choosing to purchase their meats from local producers. The more steps between you and your food supply, the greater the risk of food contamination. Buying directly from local producers reduces the risk of eating unsafe food. Choosing to purchase locally grown food is an important way to support your local economy, contribute to your community, improve your health and do your part to protect the environment.
Getting involved in the local food system helps us to gain back the separation we created between humans and food production. Because of this, people are looking to repair their detachment from food production and actively learn more about their local food economy. If you make small weekly purchases from local food producers, your money and support can go a long way toward strengthening your local food system.
Further, with growing demand, they might also be able to supply their produce to local restaurants. And as restaurants use more local produce and more people get behind buying local, in turn, more custom will result. As a result, you are also helping restaurants to thrive and supporting the local economy which means more business for local farmers 9. In turn, we help to protect green space and habitats for wildlife to exist locally in our homes and communities.
It is all too easy to support supermarkets while forgetting about local producers. Choosing to spend your money on local produce helps ensure that the money stays in your community 2 - another great reason to buy local food. Further, community farms, allotments, and markets can pop up providing places for people to meet each other and foster community spirit. Somehow getting your hands dirty growing or purchasing and then eating local food can provide more links, talking points, and commonality in any community.
Certainly more so than passing each other by silently in the supermarket aisles with shopping trolleys full of plastic-wrapped mass-produced goods.
When you choose to buy more locally, you are also supporting job creation. If local producers can grow and need to increase productivity then they will need workers. Therefore, by purchasing locally, you are helping to create local employment opportunities. Many families have farmed all their lives and for generations. Therefore, for many, it is all that they know. Many farms are run by families and this way of life means everything to them.
By purchasing local food, you are helping to keep farms going. Mass-produced produce typically requires some type of mechanical processing. From diesel-powered tractors, through to picking and sorting machines.
Each of these requires energy to run, typically drawn from C02 producing fossil fuel sources. Smaller-scale local production is usually less mechanized which is better for the environment.
Mass farming and agriculture also use a lot of water. Oftentimes, when rainwater is not enough, this is drawn from natural water tables or rivers resulting in a negative impact on nearby wildlife and ecosystems. Further, the pesticides and chemicals used in large-scale farming regularly run off the land into nearby waterways. As a result, causing problems to local fish stocks and can pollute these delicate habitats which are home to a variety of wildlife.
Fortunately, there are now more ways than ever before to purchase local food. This makes it more accessible, instantly available, and provides consumers with more options. Related: Our top picks of zero waste kitchen products.
Your community might hold regular markets and the seasons will play a part. Seek them out near you and give them your support. You will usually find fresh meat, fresh fruit, vegetables and salad as well as other produce. There is something quite exciting about picking your own produce. This is a great option if you have children too. Commonly, during the summer months, local growers will open their fields and allow consumers to pick their own produce.
Many small, independent stores are now going local when it comes to food. Eating local food is easy when local stores stock fresh produce. Many of these foods will be clearly labeled in the store. This way, consumers know what they are getting and where it came from. It is now possible to buy locally grown food by having it delivered.
Many businesses now work with farmers to distribute their produce to the community. Therefore, for a fee, you can either sign up to have produce delivered regularly or you can make one-off purchases. Whatever you choose, it can all help local producers.
As consumers, we have the right to make a choice. However, the supermarkets have carried the mantle for too long. Despite this, consumers now have more of a voice than ever before. One study conducted in New Zealand aimed to understand how consumers define local food, what attributes they associate with local food, and the extent to which life cycle-based environmental aspects are represented in these attributes.
The study, in which a majority of the respondents considered that local food may be defined as food that was produced in New Zealand, identified that support for community was the most important attribute associated with local food, while reduced greenhouse gas emissions, conserving the landscape, and organic production were the life cycle-based environmental attributes that were associated with local food.
In another study , which looked at consumers' perceptions of local foods in Indonesia, "location", "quality" and "price" were found to be the most salient characteristics of local foods. Meanwhile, in another study , the characteristics of the people who purchase local food was studied. It was shown that for people who expressed a strong intention to purchase local food, this behaviour was linked to the types of food they ate e. A range of personality and other personal characteristics were found to differ between local and non-local food buyers, with the former segment being more liberal, interested in quality and frugal.
The study also asserted that consumers who expressed an interest in purchasing local foods were a demanding segment of the population whose interest in food made them critical judges of produce. Other reasons often given for consumers buying local foods include their freshness, flavour and nutritional content. In contrast to produce grown on distant shores, which may have spent weeks travelling across the globe to reach its destination, losing valuable nutrients and flavour along the way, local food is often harvested shortly before being sold - an appealing factor for many consumers.
In addition, a wider range of varieties of fruit and vegetables may be on offer locally. When being grown for distant markets, the ability of fresh produce to survive the journey without damage is an important consideration, as is the ability of the chosen variety to resist disease, ripen simultaneously, withstand the harvesting process and survive on the supermarket shelf for a reasonable amount of time in good condition.
As locally grown produce does not need to endure such conditions, different varieties are likely to be chosen for local markets, quite possibly with a greater focus providing good flavour, an array of colours, or heirloom varieties that have been around for hundreds or thousands of years.
As well as offering consumers the opportunity to try produce in new flavours and different colours, growing a wider assortment of varieties has another important consequence — it helps preserve genetic diversity, thereby increasing the resilience of the crop to potential future threats. Another reason many consumers choose to buy local food is its benefits for the local economy — in the Packaged Facts report mentioned earlier, more than half of consumers said they bought local products to support local businesses.
This, in turn, may help maintain the viability of small, local farms and, as money spent with local farmers and growers is more likely to stay close to home, it has a greater chance of being reinvested with businesses and services in the local community. The perceived benefit of local food to the environment is another reason often given for consumers choosing local food. But how much difference does buying local really make? It has been estimated that conventional food typically travels between 1, and 3, miles to reach the consumer, and usually requires additional packaging and refrigeration.
However, the concept of food miles has been criticised as a reliable indicator of the environmental impact of a food. Those who dispute the concept of food miles as an indicator of the sustainability of a food say that the impact of a food on the climate depends not just on the distance it travels but, more importantly, on what happens before it is delivered.
Further research also expressed concern regarding claims about the benefits of local food.
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