10 Reasons to Buy Local Food

Reprinted from With an Ear to the Ground by Vern Grubinger, published by Northeast Region SARE, 2004.

1. Local food tastes better. The crops are picked at their peak, 像奶酪这样的农场产品都是手工制作的，以获得最好的味道. Food imported from far away is older, has traveled on trucks or planes, and has sat in warehouses before it finally gets to you.
2. Local produce is better for you. The shorter the time between the farm and your table, 新鲜食物中的营养物质流失的可能性就越小.
3. Local food preserves genetic diversity. In the modern agricultural system, 选择植物品种要看它们能均匀成熟, withstand harvesting, survive packing and last on the shelf, 因此，在大规模生产中存在有限的遗传多样性. Smaller local farms, in constrast, 经常种植许多不同的品种，以提供一个较长的收获季节, in an array of colors and flavors.
4. Local food is safe. 当你在农贸市场看着农夫的眼睛，或者开车经过你的食物产地时，你会有一种独特的自信. 当地农民并不是默默无闻的，他们认真对待自己对消费者的责任.
5. Local food supports local families. 农民的产品批发价格很低，通常接近生产成本. 直接向消费者销售的当地农民跳过了中间商，获得了食品的全额零售价格, which helps farm families stay on the land.
6. Local food builds community. When you buy direct from a farmer, 你是在参与一个历史悠久的食客和种植者之间的联系. 了解农民可以让你了解季节、土地和食物. 它给你提供了一个你的孩子和孙子们可以去学习自然和农业的地方.
7. Local food preserves open space. 当农民通过在当地销售他们的产品获得更多报酬时, 他们不太可能为了发展而出售自己的农田. When you buy locally grown food, 你在积极主动地保护欧洲杯押注的农业景观.
8. Local food keeps taxes down. According to several studies, 农场贡献的税收比他们所需要的服务要多, 然而，大多数其他类型的发展贡献的税收比他们所需的服务成本要少.
9. Local food benefits the environment and wildlife. 管理良好的农场为欧洲杯押注的社区保留了肥沃的土壤和清洁的水. The farm environment is a patchwork of fields, meadows, woods, ponds, and buildings that provide habitat for wildlife.
10. Local food is an investment in the future. By supporting local farmers today, 你们正在帮助确保你们的社区明天会有农场.

Greenmarket is good for farms

• Preserving Farmland. Greenmarket keeps local family farms in business. Over the past 50 years, 近一百万英亩的当地农田被水泥和沥青掩埋. 哈德逊河谷是美国受威胁最严重的农业区之一. 参加绿色市场的农场总共保留了超过30,000英亩的区域开放空间.
• Strengthening Rural Economies. 80%的“绿色市场”农场主表示，如果没有“绿色市场”，他们就会破产.

Greenmarket is good for city neighborhoods

• Food Security. 附近的农场确保在停电、燃料短缺或其他危机时获得食物. Greenmarket与市政机构合作，将健康饮食带到缺乏新鲜食物的社区. Greenmarket参与了纽约农贸市场营养计划, providing food to families at nutritional risk. In 2005, almost 250,000个这样的家庭在纽约农贸市场兑换了价值300万美元的优惠券，购买当地种植的新鲜水果和蔬菜. 许多市场都有接受EBT食品券的技术，欧洲杯押注正在努力扩大这一渠道. Unsold produce feeds the hungry. 2005年，Greenmarket向City Harvest捐赠了超过30万磅的食物.
• Improving Neighborhood Economies. Greenmarket brings money to neighborhood businesses. In peak season, the Union Square Greenmarket draws 60,000 shoppers a day; in a recent survey, 82%的人表示Greenmarket是他们访问的主要原因, and 60% spent up to $50 in area businesses.
• Creating Community & Urban Renewal. 绿色市场提高了生活质量，将邻居聚集在一起，并振兴了公共空间. Markets have revitalized neighborhoods citywide. 联合广场从犯罪猖獗到熙熙攘攘的戏剧性转变只是一个例子.
• Education. 每年都有成千上万的学生和其他团体参观绿色市场，品尝新鲜的食物，并与种植这些食物的人见面.

Greenmarket is good for our environment

• Sustainability. Greenmarket farmers use sustainable practices. Some are certified organic. All are personally invested in the health of the water, soil, 以及他们生活和养育家庭的农场的空气质量.
• Clean Water. 纽约市的水来自城市西北部的水库，那里的可持续农场和开放空间有助于保护欧洲杯押注的供水. More than a dozen Greenmarket farms are in NYC's Watershed.
• Energy Conservation. 长途运输食物需要消耗大量的能源:将一个5卡路里的草莓从加利福尼亚空运到纽约需要消耗435卡路里的化石燃料. 化石燃料导致全球变暖、酸雨和烟雾. 当地的食物运输距离很短，消耗的能源也少得多.
• Biodiversity. 蔬菜市场的农民种植成千上万种水果和蔬菜, including over 100 varieties each of apples and tomatoes. In contrast, 工业化农业综合企业培育出成熟快、皮厚、能承受机械收割和运输的高产杂交种. 与此同时，传家宝产品和传统品种的牲畜正在从田地和盘子里消失, drastically shrinking the gene pool for those foods; the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more than 75% of agricultural genetic diversity was lost in the 20th century. Small, biodiverse farms preserve our food heritage.

Additional information about buying local

• The Pleasures of Eating by Wendell Berry
• Big Apple Circus by Dan Barber
• Food Routes Network communications tools, technical support, 网络和信息资源提供给全国正在重建当地的组织, community-based food systems.
• The True Cost of Food a 15-minute animated movie about the current food system, 由塞拉俱乐部可持续消费委员会制作.
• The Meatrix 由可持续餐桌制作的关于工厂养殖肉类现实的动画短片.
• Food Chain Radio 一个关于食品、农民和市场的每周新闻谈话广播节目.
• The Center for Ecoliteracy为可持续生活提供信息，并为教育机构和学校社区提供资助项目.