A compilation of Why Buy Local
from several different organizations,
both in Utah and across the United States.
Why Support Locally Owned Businesses? from Local First Utah:
- Local Character and Prosperity – In an increasingly homogenized world, communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character have an economic advantage.
- Community Well-Being – Locally owned businesses build strong communities by sustaining vibrant town centers, linking neighbors in a web of relationships, and contributing to local causes.
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Bagley Cartoon
Local Decision-Making – Local ownership ensures that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of those decisions.
- Keeping Dollars in the Local Economy – Compared to chain stores, locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue back into the local economy, enriching the whole community.
- Job and Wages – Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in most sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.
- Entrepreneurship – Entrepreneurship fuels America’s economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to move out of low-wage jobs and into the middle class.
- Public Benefits and Costs – Local stores in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure and make more efficient use of public services relative to big box stores and strip shopping malls.
- Environmental Sustainability – Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centers — which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.
- Competition – A marketplace of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long term.
- Product Diversity – A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based, not on a national sales plan, but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.
The Buy Local Movement from LocalHarvest:
The Buy Local movement is quickly taking us beyond the promise of environmental responsibility that the organic movement delivered, and awakening the US to the importance of community, variety, humane treatment of farm animals, and social and environmental responsibility in regards to our food economy.
Why Buy Local? from LocalHarvest:
Most produce in the US is picked 4 to 7 days before being placed on supermarket shelves, and is shipped for an average of 1500 miles before being sold. And this is when taking into account only US grown products! Those distances are substantially longer when we take into consideration produce imported from Mexico, Asia, Canada, South America, and other places.
We can only afford to do this now because of the artificially low energy prices that we currently enjoy, and by externalizing the environmental costs of such a wasteful food system. We do this also to the detriment of small farmers by subsidizing large scale, agribusiness-oriented agriculture with government handouts and artificially cheap energy.
Cheap oil will not last forever though. World oil production has already peaked, according to some estimates, and while demand for energy continues to grow, supply will soon start dwindling, sending the price of energy through the roof. We'll be forced then to reevaluate our food systems and place more emphasis on energy efficient agricultural methods, like smaller-scale organic agriculture, and on local production wherever possible.
Cheap energy and agricultural subsidies facilitate a type of agriculture that is destroying and polluting our soils and water, weakening our communities, and concentrating wealth and power into a few hands. It is also threatening the security of our food systems, as demonstrated by the continued e-Coli, GMO-contamination, and other health scares that are often seen nowadays on the news.
These large-scale, agribusiness-oriented food systems are bound to fail on the long term, sunk by their own unsustainability. But why wait until we're forced by circumstance to abandon our destructive patterns of consumption? We can start now by buying locally grown food whenever possible. By doing so you'll be helping preserve the environment, and you'll be strengthening your community by investing your food dollar close to home. Only 18 cents of every dollar, when buying at a large supermarket, go to the grower. 82 cents go to various unnecessary middlemen. Cut them out of the picture and buy your food directly from your local farmer.
Why Buy Local? from Sustainable Table:
There are countless reasons why buying local food is both rewarding and delicious, including enjoying the taste of fresh food, improved health and nutrition, environmental stewardship, support for family farms and rural communities, and ensuring animal welfare.
There is also significant peace of mind in knowing where our food comes from. One of the biggest benefits to buying food locally is having someone to answer questions about how it was grown and raised. What goes into that loaf of bread? Can we be certain that the hog that is now bacon lived a life without suffering? How do we know those jalapeños are salmonella free?
Developing a relationship with local farmers gives us an "in" with our local food system. At farmers' markets we can get answers to questions like: When do tomatoes come into season? How might I use celeriac? Often, we can take a tour of the farm our food comes from. Some farmers are thrilled to share their knowledge and experience with their customers. Ask about the challenges your local farmers face and what they are doing to address them. It doesn't have to be complicated. Ask about the weather! Any farmer will be pleased to talk about how the growing season is going and how that affects the food they grow. Knowing local farmers can go a long way to simplifying buying local.
Another significant reason to buy local is to keep food miles to a minimum. "Food miles" refer to the distance a food item travels from the farm to your home. The food miles for items in the grocery store are, on average, 27 times higher than the food miles for goods bought from local sources.
Read More » The economics of local – If you can't buy local – What you can do
Why Buy Local? From the "Buy Fresh Buy Local Campaign"
A partnership project launched in October 2002, by the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), in partnership with FoodRoutes Network.
- YOU WILL GET EXCEPTIONAL TASTE AND FRESHNESS.
Local food is fresher and tastes better than food shipped long distances from other states or countries. Local farmers can offer produce varieties bred for taste and freshness rather than for shipping and long shelf life.
- YOU'LL STRENGTHEN YOUR LOCAL ECONOMY.
Buying local food keeps your dollars circulating in your community. Getting to know the farmers who grow your food builds relationships based on understanding and trust, the foundation of strong communities.
- YOU'LL SUPPORT ENDANGERED FAMILY FARMS.
There's never been a more critical time to support your farming neighbors. With each local food purchase, you ensure that more of your money spent on food goes to the farmer.
- YOU'LL SAFEGUARD YOUR FAMILY'S HEALTH.
Knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown or raised enables you to choose safe food from farmers who avoid or reduce their use of chemicals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, or genetically modified seed in their operations. Buy food from local farmers you trust.
- YOU'LL PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT.
Local food doesn't have to travel far. This reduces carbon dioxide emissions and packing materials. Buying local food also helps to make farming more profitable and selling farmland for development less attractive. When you buy local food, you vote with your food dollar. This ensures that family farms in your community will continue to thrive and that healthy, flavorful, plentiful food will be available for future generations.
- FOOD TRAVELS ON AVERAGE 1500-2500 MILES FROM FARM TO TABLE.
Fruits and vegetables shipped from distant states and countries can spend as many as seven to fourteen days in transit before they arrive in the supermarket. [2] Most fruit and vegetable varieties sold in supermarkets are chosen for their ability to withstand industrial harvesting equipment and extended travel, not taste. This results in little variety in the plants grown.
- TASTE THE DIFFERENCE!
Premium Taste. Produce picked and eaten at the height of ripeness has exceptional flavor and, when handled properly, is packed with nutrients.
Maximum Freshness. Buying locally means you pay for taste, not transportation and packaging.
Unique Varieties. Local farmers often grow a large assortment of unique varieties of products to provide the most flavorful choices throughout the season.
- FAMILY FARMS ARE AN AMERICAN TRADITION IN DANGER OF FADING AWAY.
Family farms are an important part of the American tradition of self-sufficiency, forming the bedrock for communities across the U.S. Since 1935, the U.S. has lost 4.7 million farms. Fewer than one million Americans now claim farming as a primary occupation. Meanwhile, large corporations increasingly dominate U.S. food production. Four large firms control over 80% of beef slaughter, 59% of pork packing, and 50% of broiler chicken production.
- FAMILY FARMERS ARE THE HEART OF AMERICA'S RURAL COMMUNITIES.
Local family farmers spend their money with local merchants. The money stays in town where it benefits everyone and builds a stronger local economy. Independent, family-owned farms supply more local jobs and contribute to the local economy at higher rates than do large, corporate-owned farms. Eating locally grown, healthy food strengthens your family and community. Local farmers who sell direct to consumers receive a larger share of the profit for their food.
- BUYING LOCAL IS THIS EASY:
Find a farmer, farmers' market, farm stand, CSA, restaurant, retailer, or other local food outlet near you: click here to search the guide. Shop at your local farmers' market or farm stand for the freshest, best tasting food available. It's easy to find local food. There are over 4,285 farmers' markets in the U.S. Encourage your local grocery stores and area restaurants to purchase more of their products from local farmers.
Why Buy Locally from FamilyFarmed.org.
Your food is fresher and more nutritious.
Top chefs choose locally grown food when it is available because of its superior quality. Reducing the time from farm to table ensures that food flavors are at their peak. Locally grown food can be 3-10 days fresher than food shipped in from far away. When you eat locally grown foods soon after harvest, it is fresher and riper because it is picked closer to peak. Studies have shown that the nutrient levels of food are highest closer to the time they are harvested.
You can reduce your carbon footprint.
Growing more food locally can reduce the need for long-distance trucking, thus reducing greenhouse gas contributions. If grown efficiently, local food can also minimize the emissions of pollutants that dirty the air and cause global warming.
You support family farmers and the regional economy.
Buying locally helps farmers and food producers thrive. This supports the regional economy by building demand for supplies and services from other regional companies, thus contributing tremendously to regional economic development.
You contribute to a healthier environment and community.
The EPA states that agriculture is responsible for a significant amount of the pollution to the country's waterways. Responsible, local farming may be one of the best ways to keep both ecosystems and rural communities healthy and thriving.
Why should I become a Locavore?
from the film Locavore...Local Diet, Healthy Planet:
- Local food tastes better & is better for you.
- Local foods are seasonal & seasonal foods taste best.
- Local foods maintain farmland and green space.
- Local foods lower your carbon footprint.
- Local foods support your local economy.
- Local foods promote food safety.
- Local foods support community.
- Local foods support good health & immunities.
- Local foods contribute to the legacy you leave.
- Local foods support your local growers and neighbors.
Why Eat Local? from 100-Mile Diet:
- Taste the difference.
At a farmers’ market, most local produce has been picked inside of 24 hours. It comes to you ripe, fresh, and with its full flavor, unlike supermarket food that may have been picked weeks or months before. Close-to-home foods can also be bred for taste, rather than withstanding the abuse of shipping or industrial harvesting. Many of the foods we ate on the 100-Mile Diet were the best we’d ever had.
- Know what you’re eating.
Buying food today is complicated. What pesticides were used? Is that corn genetically modified? Was that chicken free range or did it grow up in a box? People who eat locally find it easier to get answers. Many build relationships with farmers whom they trust. And when in doubt, they can drive out to the farms and see for themselves.
- Meet your neighbors.
Local eating is social. Studies show that people shopping at farmers’ markets have 10 times more conversations than their counterparts at the supermarket. Join a community garden and you’ll actually meet the people you pass on the street.
- Get in touch with the seasons.
When you eat locally, you eat what’s in season. You’ll remember that cherries are the taste of summer. Even in winter, comfort foods like squash soup and pancakes just make sense–a lot more sense than flavorless cherries from the other side of the world.
- Discover new flavors.
Ever tried sunchokes? How about purslane, quail eggs, yerba mora, or tayberries? These are just a few of the new (to us) flavors we sampled over a year of local eating. Our local spot prawns, we learned, are tastier than popular tiger prawns. Even familiar foods were more interesting. Count the types of pear on offer at your supermarket. Maybe three? Small farms are keeping alive nearly 300 other varieties–while more than 2,000 more have been lost in our rush to sameness.
- Explore your home.
Visiting local farms is a way to be a tourist on your own home turf, with plenty of stops for snacks.
- Save the world.
A study in Iowa found that a regional diet consumed 17 times less oil and gas than a typical diet based on food shipped across the country. The ingredients for a typical British meal, sourced locally, traveled 66 times fewer “food miles.” Or we can just keep burning those fossil fuels and learn to live with global climate change, the fiercest hurricane seasons in history, wars over resources…
- Support small farms.
We discovered that many people from all walks of life dream of working the land–maybe you do too. In areas with strong local markets, the family farm is reviving. That’s a whole lot better than the jobs at Wal-Mart and fast-food outlets that the globalized economy offers in North American towns.
- Give back to the local economy.
A British study tracked how much of the money spent at a local food business stayed in the local economy, and how many times it was reinvested. The total value was almost twice the contribution of a dollar spent at a supermarket chain.
- Be healthy.
Everyone wants to know whether the 100-Mile Diet worked as a weight-loss program. Well, yes, we lost a few pounds apiece. More importantly, though, we felt better than ever. We ate more vegetables and fewer processed products, sampled a wider variety of foods, and ate more fresh food at its nutritional peak. Eating from farmers’ markets and cooking from scratch, we never felt a need to count calories.
- Create memories.
A friend of ours has a theory that a night spent making jam–or in his case, perogies–with friends will always be better a time than the latest Hollywood blockbuster. We’re convinced.
- Have more fun while traveling.
Once you’re addicted to local eating, you’ll want to explore it wherever you go. On a trip to Mexico, earth-baked corn and hot-spiced sour oranges led us away from the resorts and into the small towns. Somewhere along the line, a mute magician gave us a free show over bowls of lime soup in a little cantina.
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