Newsletters: July - August 2007

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So…Just How Important is Buying Locally?

By Paul Rutkovsky

Well…what do you think? Are you buying from a national chain store or from an independent local business, a co-op, or directly from a family farm? Buying locally-produced food is good for everyone. It reduces food transportation costs and energy consumption; it promotes community cohesion; and it re-circulates money in the community which benefits businesses, expands the tax base, and offers increased economic security to all. Increasingly, people nationwide are seeking out local options and earning the label, "locavores"" or adherents of the "100-Mile Diet."

If you're motivated, you can find locally-produced organic and conventional foods at the variety of farmers' markets in our area. Pick up the last issue of Natural Times (Vol.18, No.3) for a review of Tallahassee's farmers' markets and their locations. New Leaf Market, of course, provides a growing selection of locally-produced foods including dairy products and honey. Kurtz and Sons Dairy in Live Oak provide fresh organic milk and drinkable yogurt weekly to NLM; Sweet Grass Dairy in Thomasville supplies savory cheeses; and T's Honey offers enzyme-rich, raw, Apalachicola honey.

As gas prices surge, interest in locally-produced food mounts. It no longer makes sense to purchase food that has traveled thousands of miles via an expensive, non-renewable energy source. The global food supply and the overall economy are both heavily dependent on cheap energy which is becoming increasingly "uncheap" and has never been clean.

Whole Foods, with 186 stores nationwide, defines a local product as one that has traveled less than seven hours to retail. Whole Foods sells more than 200 produce and floral items from 60 local growers that span Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas and Missouri. Nationwide, the company does business with more than 2,400 independent farms. That's an amazing statistic that bodes well for smaller family farms.

Bon Appetit Management Company of California, a restaurant supply company, is a national leader in promoting sustainable food practices, purchasing from over 560 individual farms across the nation. The company defines a locally-produced food as one that is grown within 150 miles from where the food is served. Bon Appetit offers full food service management to universities and specialty venues including over 400 cafes in 28 states. In 2006, 30 percent of the company's total food purchasing expenditures were from independent farmers and artisans and totaled over $55 million!

Author Barbara Kingsolver, in her latest book, offers sage advice, "The typical American approach to food is to begin a meal by asking, 'What do I feel like? What do I want?' Instead, we should ask, 'What do we have? Or what is available?' We can learn to begin with the ingredients, rather than going through recipes and setting out on a treasure hunt for ingredients that come from four continents."

This could very well become a mandate if we want to sustain the health of our planet.

All facts came from the Organic Consumers Association's web site. For a more complete understanding of the Buy Local Movement go to: http://www.organicconsumers.org/