Why buy local?
The taste! Local food is fresh food. The quality of food found at a farmers' market or a C.S.A. is incomparable. Your produce was harvested within a day of arriving at your table. Your meat, eggs, and dairy are from animals carefully looked after by the person you bought them from. True artisans made your cheese and bread. When you buy local, your food is fresh, safe, and delicious.
Putting local food on your plate keeps small farmers on the land. With soaring land costs across the country, local farmers are some of the last true stewards of the rural landscape.
These small, regional farms are also taking a whole lot of carbon out of our atmosphere. By whittling down transportation miles, farming organically or sustainably, and respecting the seasons and climate, these farmers are doing a whole lot more than making good food.
We could go on but we'd rather hear why you eat local. What makes local food important to you? Tell us your ideas on the Why I Eat Local forum and we'll add them to this list.
The following are good sources for further reading:
