3 Killer Reasons to Support Local Food
Here at Mac’s Local Buys, our goal is to source as locally as possible, always. But why do we do this? What’s so important about local food anyways? In a nutshell, we support local food because it’s great for the local economy and community, it’s fresh-as-can-be (and fresher is better!), and it’s killer for the environment. In each of those three categories, there are lots of demonstrated benefits to sourcing locally. Here are some of our favorites.
#1: Local food is better for the local economy and community
Wandering the pastures at Lavy Dairy Farm (Silex MO)
Every dollar spent on local food has a much greater impact on the local economy than one spent on non-local food. The American Independent Business Association (AMIBA) calls it The Multiplier Effect. They report that “Civic Economics studies show local retailers return more than three times as much money per dollar spent into the local economy than chain retailers do.” Basically, when we buy local it helps support the livelihoods of our neighbors, which in turn supports the vibrancy of our collective economy.
This in turn helps build community resilience. When we support local food, we support other homegrown industries by extension like farm-to-table restaurants, local composting or charcuterie systems, or co-ops and food hubs (like us!). Supporting local food also builds social community because we get to know our neighbors – the farmers. All of this adds up to improved food security for our neighborhoods. By supporting local farms today, we help ensure that there will be local farms around producing high-quality, fresh food for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the future.
Here’s another benefit you probably didn’t know: supporting local farms helps to keep taxes down. Farms generally contribute more in taxes than they require in services – chickens don’t need to go to school and vegetables never make 911 calls so keeping small farms around helps reduce the local tax burden compared to other ways of using the land.
Talking with Farmer Chuck at Nutty Pig Farm
#2: Local food is fresher (and fresher is way better)
When food is harvested close to where it’s consumed, it’s much more fresh than food that has to be shipped hundreds or thousands of miles to be eaten. This makes a huge difference in the quality of the product. Fresh, local food is healthier because it’s picked at peak ripeness rather than peak “shippability” and hasn’t lost its nutrient content by sitting around in a truck. This has the added benefit of being astronomically more delicious. If you’ve ever had a fresh tomato or a fresh strawberry off the vine, you know what we’re talking about. It’s like a little pocket of concentrated fresh flavor and makes grocery store produce taste like water in comparison. By harvesting food when it’s at maximum ripeness and deliciousness, we are able to engage in a more seasonal diet. Variety is one of the keys to healthy food habits and seasonal diets have more variety than those based on annually-uniform grocery store products. This allows us to connect more closely to our local environment, to enjoy the terroir* of our homes.
*terrior (tayr-WAHR) is a French term that basically means “taste of place”; it refers to the differences in flavor that occur based on the soil type, climate and weather, farming practices, and other temporal and environmental factors that affect food as it is grown
Besides allowing us to experience the “taste of place” of our own home, the homegrown nature of local food adds a layer of transparency to our food system. Being able to look your farmer in the eye and shake their hand… Being able to drive past or even walk around where your food is grown… this adds a level of transparency, security and peace of mind to us as eaters. Local food is less likely to be tampered with than food from far-away places.
Local food (like this treasure-trove of tomatoes) is fresher, tastier, and healthier than conventional industrially-grown produce. Image (c) Green Door Farm
#3: Local food is generally more sustainable
In addition to tasting better, being healthier, and bolstering our economy, local food is also a win for the environment. Local food has a MUCH smaller carbon footprint than conventionally produced food. This means less fossil fuel consumption, less pollution, and cleaner air for everyone. In fact, Rich Pirog from the University of Iowa found that conventionally produced food generates 5 to 17 times more CO2 emissions than locally produced food – just for transportation!
Overall sustainability involves more factors than just transit but local food still generally comes out on top. Small farmers are more likely to grow a diverse array of species (plant and animal) which adds biological diversity to the environment, fertility to the soil and resilience to our ecosystems. Local producers who utilize organic practices are taking it a step further by reducing the amount of chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers in our watershed and community. Local food also protects genetic diversity by growing local varieties specifically adapted to the region. In conventional industrial-scale farming, there’s usually only one or two varieties grown in mass quantities for traits like even ripening and maximum shippability. Since local varieties don’t need to prioritize these traits, farmers can instead focus on breeding for better flavors, local environmental adaptations, higher nutritional value, longer harvest seasons, and more.
Finally, supporting our local farmers helps to ensure that areas of our local landscape are not swallowed up by urban sprawl and development, protecting ecosystem services and food security for future generations.
Young organic farmer Matthew Gal of Green Door Farms (St. Louis MO) at market with his local, seasonal produce
We’ve got a lot of killer reasons why we source locally. In the end it’s really about making better decisions for ourselves, our community, our environment and our collective future. It all starts with the individual though and everybody’s reasons are uniquely personal. Why do you choose to source locally? We’d love to hear! Let us know on Facebook and Twitter.
Sources:
American Farmland Trust. 2018. “Areas of Focus: Food.” American Farmland Trust. Accessed 22 Feb. 2018. Available at https://www.farmland.org/our-work/areas-of-focus/food.
American Independent Business Alliance. 2018. “The Multiplier Effect of Local Independent Businesses.” American Independent Business Alliance. Accessed 23 Feb. 2018. Available from https://www.amiba.net/resources/multiplier-effect/.
Grubinger, V. 2010. Ten Reasons to Buy Local Food. University of Vermont Extension. Accessed 22 Feb. 2018. Available at https://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsheets/buylocal.html.
Ozark Natural Foods. 2018. “Why is buying local so important?” Ozark Natural Foods. Accessed 23 Feb. 2018. Available at http://onf.coop/go-local/why-buy-local/.
Pirog, R. 2001. Food, Fuel and Freeways: An Iowa perspective on how far food travels, fuel usage, and greenhouse gas emissions. University of Iowa Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Accessed 23 Feb. 2018. Available from http://ngfn.org/resources/ngfn-database/knowledge/food_mil.pdf.