Why eat locally grown food?

Eating locally is a super easy green step you can take. Why bother? Well…

• Local food supports local economy and smaller markets who produce sustainable foods.
• Local food can cost less. When you buy products close to home, you knock off obnoxious shipping costs that are factored into food prices. This is especially important when you purchase organic foods which are already more costly to begin with in most cases.
• Local food uses less energy to ship. If you buy apples from Washington state and you live across the country that apple costs you some emissions due to all the shipping by plane, truck or boat. See the video below for a visual on the energy used up by food production – even not counting shipping it’s pretty bleak so you may as well cut out the middle man (shipping).

The best places to find local food items include the following:

• Local Farmer’s Markets.
• Local u-pick food farms.
• Local farm stands.
• Organic grocers and grocery co-ops.
• Community supported agriculture (CSA) – a CSA is a farm that you pay to belong to and in return you get a farm fresh produce box.
• Some local art fairs and community markets – for example in Portland, Oregon we have what’s called Saturday Market. You can find art and other handmade goods along with locally made food items sometimes like honey or tea. Check around in your area for events like this.

Don’t forget, it’s not just the food you buy either. If you eat at a restaurant, make sure they use local foods when possible.

Bonus link – Take the Eat Local Challenge.