Eating local means more for the local economy.
When a purchase is made from a local company, statistics say that twice as much income can be placed back into that local economy.
Locally grown produce is fresher.
Rather than being shipped and put in cold store as many supermarkets do, farmers markets tend to have picked their selections in the last 24 hours. This freshness can affect the nutritional value of the foods you’re eating.
Local food just plain tastes better.
The freshness of a food can heighten the taste of it as well. Having foods that have picked in the last 24 hours will taste better than those shipped.
Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen.
The less you handle a piece of produce the longer it has to ripen. With local grown and picked items, you can get one that is falling off the tree and increase the taste and quality of the produce.
Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic.
In order to transport many organic foods the trucks are increasing the pollution around you. When you eat locally there is no extra trucking needed, therefore no extra pollution.
Buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons.
Eating food that is freshly picked means that we are reaching it at its peak of flavor. This also means it less expensive because it is in season and not stored for later use.
Buying locally grown food is fodder for a wonderful story.
Local food can sometimes have a story behind it. This can be a powerful part of the eating process.
Eating local protects us from bio-terrorism.
Without transporting your foods across long distances, you are offering less of a chance for the food to be contaminated in a harmful fashion.
Local food translates to more variety.
Providing foods to supermarkets can limit the ability to try new produce as a farmer. When you know your crop only goes to the local people, you are able to test out various crops to find ones are liked the best, with little fear of brand names bothering you.
Supporting local providers supports responsible land development.
Sometimes farmers get to the point where they don’t know why they are running the farm. This can be stopped with the purchase of local foods, offering the farmers reasons to keep producing.