WHY BUY LOCAL????

Why Buy Local Farm Products?

For Quality Freshness and Taste
Local is usually fresher and tastes better.
Fresher food is more nutritious.
Keep your money local
Local farms mean more local jobs for local people.

• The economic "multiplier effect" (the number of times a single dollar is circulated in a community) is higher for family farms than other business sectors.
• Every dollar is turned over up to 5 times when farmers buy supplies, equipment, fuel.
• When you buy directly from farmers, the farm family receives more of the food dollars spent.
• The more farms, the more economic opportunity for people in rural communities.
• Suppliers, processors, distributors and retailers all benefit from diverse local agriculture.
• Owner-operated farms offer individuals self-employment and business management opportunities.
  
• When you buy local, your money stays local.
• Preserve bio-diversity, open space, rural aesthetics and a cleaner environment
• Diversity of farms and cropping systems contributes to biological diversity.
• Well managed farms contributes to an aesthetically-pleasing rural landscape.
  
• Keeping local farms in business preserves open space and wildlife habitat.
• Farms help maintain high water quality by reducing water run-off.
• Fuel consumption is lowered when food is purchased locally.
• Air quality is higher when fuel usage is reduced.
• Get better value with local food
  
• Local food offers better value for your money. You pay for freshness and taste, not packaging, refrigeration and freight.
• Connections to local farms assure that more people in a community have access to culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate food through local non-emergency sources.
• Sustain heritage, tradition, community and quality of life
• Farms enhance our quality of life.
• Farms often provide recreational opportunities.
  
• Agriculture preserves our heritage and enhances our community experience.
• Farms contribute more in taxes than they cost in services.
• Maintain a diversity of farm size, crops and marketing
• A broad spectrum of farms translates into diversity of ownership, cropping systems, landscapes, biological organization, culture, and traditions.
• Diversity of farms contributes to a healthy, vibrant agricultural economy.
  

(From NYFarms.info)

WHY BUY LOCALLY-

OrganicConsumers.Org. writes:

1. Locally grown or produced food tastes better. In the week long (or more) delay from harvest to dinner table, sugars turn to starches, plant cells shrink and produce loses it vitality.
2. Local food preserves genetic diversity. Local farms grow a huge number of varieties to provide a long season of harvest, an array of eye-catching colors and the best flavors.
3. Local food supports local farm families. Local farmers who sell direct to customers get full price for their food.
4. Local produce is better for you. Recent studies show that fresh produce loses nutrients quickly.
5. Local food builds community. When you buy direct from the farmer, you are re-establishing a timehonored connection between the eater and the grower.
6. Local food preserves open space. When you buy locally grown food, you are doing something proactive about preserving the agricultural landscape.
7. Local food keeps your taxes in check. Local, independent farms contribute more in taxes than they require in services.
8. Keep the money in the neighborhood. For every 100 dollars spent at a locally owned business, $45 goes back into our community—and our tax base. For every $100 spent at a chain store, only $14 comes back.
9. Support community groups. Non-profits receive an average of 350% more support from local businesses than they do from non-locally owned businesses
10. Invest in your community. Local businesses are owned by people who live here, work here, and are more invested in our future.
11. Buy what you want, not what someone else wants you to buy. A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses means fair and sustainable prices over the long-term. Small businesses, choosing products based on what their customers love and need—not a national sales plan—guarantees a more diverse range of product choices.
12. Local Decision-Making. Local ownership ensures that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who feel the impacts of those decisions.
13. Jobs and Wages. Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, [and] provide better wages and benefits than chains do.
14. Environmental Sustainability. Local stores help sustain vibrant, compact, [walk able] town centers- which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.