(FSS) Locally Grown Foods Lesson
Locally Grown Foods
Local food tastes better, supports the local economy, helps to build community and protects agricultural land and open space. Fresh food, picked when ripe just tastes better. Food from the garden or purchased from the farmer has probably been picked within 24 hours of eating it. Local food from locally owned grocery stores is likely on the shelves sooner than food shipped from a great distance.
Locally organically grown food that is eaten soon after being harvested is higher in nutrients and does not contain pesticides and added hormones found in industrially produced food. Fresh produce loses nutrients quickly. In the week or longer delay between harvest and the dinner table, sugars turn to starches, plant cells shrink and produce loses its vitality. Most local farmers use organic farming methods. These methods build soil and soil fertility.
Buying local food helps build our economy and our community. When money is spent locally, more of it stays within the community. Every dollar spent in a locally owned store has three times the effect of a dollar spent at a store owned by a distant corporation. When we make the conscious decision to buy locally produced food instead of food produced outside the area, we are reducing the leakage of income out of the local economy. In addition to putting money back into the local economy, buying locally creates a greater level of charitable giving. On average, local businesses contribute four times more money as a percent of revenue than distance corporations.
Eating locally produced food avoids many problems caused by the industrial food system. These problems include contributing to climate change through carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions, poisoning of our waterways, our food and our bodies, spreading of pathogens, contributing to poor health through processed foods high in fat, sugar and salt; and practicing farming techniques that strip land of top soil and soil nutrients. Many of these problems contribute to food insecurity and all are damaging our bodies and our planet.
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