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Buy local

Wed, 12/26/2007 - 12:53am — efadmin

Anyone who longs for summer and the unbeatable taste of a home-grown tomato already knows the value of buying locally. Simply put, locally grown produce tastes better. It's also fresher, as most produce in the U.S. is picked 4 to 7 days before making it to the supermarket shelf, and is shipped an average of 1500 miles before being sold. "And this is when taking into account only US grown products! Those distances are substantially longer [7 to 14 days] when we take into consideration produce imported from Mexico, Asia, Canada, South America, and other places."

"The concept of buying local is simply to buy food (or any good or service) produced, grown, or raised as close to your home as possible. With industrialization, our food is now grown and processed in fewer and fewer locations, meaning it has to travel further to reach the average consumer's refrigerator. Although this method of production is considered efficient and economically profitable for large agribusiness corporations, it is harmful to the environment, consumers and rural communities."

  • Longer delays between harvest and consumption promote the use of potentially harmful preservatives to keep foods stable longer. "Industrial-produced foods are also difficult to grow without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics and growth hormones, all of which can be damaging to both the environment and human health."
  • Tremendous amounts of CO2 are produced in transporting foods from farmer to processing facility to supermarket. Much of the food found on grocery store shelves is trucked, flown in, or hauled in ocean freighters from all parts of the world. Buying from farmer's markets, food cooperatives and grocers who sell locally-produced foods goes a long way in reducing your CO2 footprint. "For every pound of local food you add to your weekly shopping list, you’ll keep 13 more pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere each year."
  • In addition to large amounts of energy needed to process food before it heads to the local supermarket and to keep it refrigerated en route, food processing facilities use large amounts of paper and plastic packaging to keep food fresher and to make it look more appealing. "This packaging eventually becomes a waste that is difficult, if not impossible, to reuse or recycle."
  • "Aside from the environmental harm that can result from processing, packaging and transporting long-distance foods, the industrial farms on which these foods are often produced are major sources of air and water pollution. Small, local farms tend to be run by farmers who live on their land and work hard to preserve it."
  • According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, after peaking at nearly 7 million in 1935, by 1997 only 1.9 million U.S. farms remained. "Over the last decade our country has lost an average of 300 farms a week." "Family farms are going out of business at break-neck speed, causing rural communities to deteriorate. The U.S. loses two acres of farmland each minute as cities and suburbs spread into the surrounding communities. By supporting local farms near suburban areas and around cities, you help keep farmers on the land, and, at the same time, preserve open spaces and counteract urban sprawl."
  • "By buying 10 percent of common fruits and vegetables locally, 300,000 gallons of fossil fuels are saved – preventing 8 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the air."
References:
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