Why Should You Support Local Farmers?

What’s the big deal aboutsupporting local farmers anyway?

In today’s “localvore” movement, folks across the country are rallying towards supporting local farmers, buying locally, organically, and in-season. But is there even a point, who are these people anyway and what’s in it for you to support them? Why should you even care about these farmers? Even though many people never actually meet these local farmers that everyone is encouraging support for, there are indeed ample reasons to do just that. Trust us, it goes far beyond doing so just out of the goodness of your heart.

When you support your local farmer and buy organically you are actually helping yourself, your family and your local economy. Nutritionally, you will reap the benefits from these unadulterated, organic fruits and vegetables, not to mention grass feds meats, pastured eggs and dairy from cows and goats who graze freely on green grass. It’s a win win. The farmer’s get paid directly by you, and your fridge gets stocked with some of the freshest stuff near your home.

“But buying locally is so expensive!”

We hear this statement quite often, but before addressing it, let’s take a step back for a minute. Only 1% of ALL food consumed in the ENTIRE United States is direct from farm to consumer, the other 99% ends up in grocery stores, manufacturing and processing plants. Most of these foods have been adulterated with additives to keep them from spoiling. If you buy from this 99% market segment, you are paying more for refined sugars, chemicals you cannot pronounce or process, packaging, shipping, wages, marketing, branding, etc. You’re basically paying a high premium for things you don’t need, don’t know what they are and things that reap havoc on your body.

Take a simple carrot for example (or any other fruit or veggie in grocery stores). A grocery store carrot is really not so simple. Most carrots will spend more time in transit than the average American does while crossing international borders, traveling across many states, until they are held in confinement at the grocery store. Carrots aren’t just picked from the ground and delivered, that would be too complicated. As well, carrots are so good at soaking up toxins and pesticides in the ground, that some farmers will plant an entire crop of carrots just to get rid of all that toxicity they sprayed on the land.

However, if you bought from a farm like Geneva Lakes Producefor example, our friendly neighbor in WI, that carrot is either delivered to you or at a farmers market in about 36 hours of being picked right from the ground. You can even take the short 2 hour drive there and pick the carrot yourself.

So to rebuttal the statement about buying locally is too expensive, the reason many grocery stores tend to be so cheap is because they carry products that are not fresh, or even real for that matter. The current food model the US has adopted over the years is really causing many issues and it’s time to take a stand and go back to the way nature intended!

Buy local, eat fresh; it’s simple. Why complicate things when there are easier way? Support your local farmers; know where your food is coming from.