7 Fantastic Benefits of Eating Local?
1. Save money:
When buying locally, the items are often less expensive than buying imported goods because they haven’t traveled as far, and no middle man is needed to sell the products.
2. Support your community:
Buying from a local farm or grocery store helps your town and neighborhood economy by keeping profits and tax dollars in town instead of being shipped out of state or country to corporate headquarters.
If every American spent just 10 percent more on locally grown food, we could create 200,000 new jobs in this country; that’s three times as many jobs per dollar spent than when giving to charity!
3. Eat healthier:
Many studies have shown that our bodies need nutrients in foods eaten by earlier generations to maintain optimum health. Locally grown foods are likely to have more nutrients because they are picked at the peak of ripeness when nutrients are plentiful and have intense flavor.
4. Preserve heirloom varieties:
Many local growers are committed to preserving rare or heirloom varieties that may be in danger of extinction due to modern agricultural methods emphasizing yield over quality disease resistance over taste. You’re helping fight against monocultures and the fast-food era by buying these varieties.
5. Protect the environment:
Studies show buying locally reduces pollution by cutting out all those trucks needed to haul imported goods across the country or an ocean. Buying locally also decreases the number of packaging materials used to protect food during transit-it’s still picked, packed, and shipped by hand.
6. Connect with your food supply:
When you buy locally, the farmer or vendor is usually happy to discuss growing practices, explain how berries are grown in winter, or store apples for later use. You might even be lucky enough to visit a farm and see where your food comes from!
7. Reduce global warming :
The average meal travels 1,500 miles before it reaches your table; that’s more than ten times farther than our great-grandparents’ food traveled in 1930! Growing practices reinforce monocultures that deplete soils of nutrients and produce high levels of greenhouse gases that contribute directly to global warming. Plus, that gas-guzzling truck has made many trips hauling your food to market.