BETTER TASTE
Studies have shown that the average distance food travels from farm to plate is 1,500 miles. From harvest to your table sometimes takes over a week which allows sugars to turn to starches, plant cells to wither and shrink as well as bruising and damage that occurs in transport. Produce is often picked green, gassed to hasten ripening while transported, sprayed with water to re-hydrate over and over just to keep it presentable for your grocer's shelf. Some large chain markets that tout "Local Produce" consider anything within 500 miles as "local".

IT'S BETTER FOR YOU
Studies have shown that fresh produce loses its nutrients and its vitality quickly. Food that is frozen or canned immediately after harvest is generally more nutritious than some "fresh" produce that has been on the supermarket shelf for a week (or longer). Generally, local produce has been picked within 24 to 48 hours of sale and has been transported less than 50 miles before it reaches customers.

SUPPORT YOUR NEIGHBORS - The Local farm family
Family farmers are a vanishing breed. The average farmer now gets less than 10 cents of the retail food dollar if he sells his crops through a broker. Local farmers can sell direct to consumers, cutting out the middleman, therefore getting a better price for their food - which means farm families are better able to afford to stay on the farm, doing the work they love.

BUILDING COMMUNITY
When you buy directly from a local farmer, you are helping to reconnect with a time-honored tradition. Knowing the farmer who grows your food gives you insight into the seasons, the weather, and the miracle of raising food. For those of you in urban settings, you may be granted access to a working farm where you and your family can go to learn about nature, agriculture and good ecology. Meaningful relationships translate into an atmosphere of trust and cooperation that are missing in many areas of modern daily life.

LOCAL TAXES
On average, for every $1 in revenue raised by residential development, local government must spend $1.17 on services, thus requiring higher taxes of all taxpayers. For each dollar of revenue raised by farm, forest, or open space, only 34 cents is spent on services.

PRESERVATION OF GENETIC DIVERSITY
Modern "factory farming" chooses varieties for their ability to all ripen at once, so that they may be harvested mechanically. This requires a very firm texture and a tough skin to be able to survive harvesting, packing and shipping. They are also chosen for their ability to have a long shelf life in the store. Taste and nutrition are the least concern, if they enter into the picture at all. Of the many modern hybrid varieties only a handful meet these rigorous demands, so there is little genetic diversity in the fruit and vegetables grown for mass production.

On the flip side, small farmers generally grow a huge number of varieties because they need to provide a long season of harvest to make their operation viable. Many small farmers grow open pollinated or heirloom varieties, passed down from generation to generation, because they taste wonderful and look beautiful, providing a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. They have a character missing in their modernized offspring. These tried and true old-time varieties contain genetic material from hundreds or even thousands of years of human selection and may someday provide the genes needed to create varieties that will thrive in our changing climate.

GMO-FREE
The production of bio-engineered seed is a multi-billion dollar industry. The bio-tech giants have been trying to commercialize genetically modified fruits and vegetables and they are currently licensing them only to the large factory-style farms. Small, local farmers generally don't have access to genetically modified seed, and most of them wouldn't use it even if they could. In June 2001 a survey by ABC News showed that 93% of Americans want labels on genetically modified food - most so that they can avoid it. There has not been enough research to determine any possible detrimental effects these plants may have on the humans who consume them, but there is already significant evidence that some of these plants are capable of destroying native plants by crossing with them and rendering them incapable of reproducing the parent plant. If you are opposed to eating bioengineered food, you can rest assured that locally grown produce was bred as nature intended.

PRESERVING OPEN SPACES
Driving in the countryside inspires an appreciation for the green fields, the meadows filled with grazing cows and roadside wildflowers. By supporting local farmers, you are helping to make farming a viable enterprise which allows farmland to remain out of the hands of developers. These open spaces are disappearing all too quickly and you can be proactive in helping to curb this trend with your support.

A CLEAN ENVIRONMENT AND HABITAT PRESERVATION FOR WILDLIFE
While industrial farms often contribute to water pollution and land erosion, the small farmer places a high value on fertile, healthy soil and clean water. Their stewardship of the land includes the growing of cover crops for use as "green manure" as a way replenish soil nutrients, to combat erosion and for weed control. These cover crops also help to trap carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming and air pollution. By planting cover crops, such as clover, habitat for beneficial insects like bees and butterflies is maintained. Open fields, meadows, wooded areas, ponds and creeks, as well as some structures, provide food and shelter for many species of wildlife who otherwise have lost their habitat due to development.

IT'S ABOUT THE FUTURE
Your support of local farmers today helps to assure that there is a supply of local food in the future. With your support, you are also contributing to the continuance of those small family farms and so, to the preservation of open rural spaces that might otherwise fall to development.

Adapted from Growing for Market