When it comes to supporting local farmers and businesses, there are both environmental and economic benefits:
1. Fuel local economies
When farmers sell their harvest to big corporations, most of the profit goes to packaging, marketing, and transportation, not the produce or food itself.
By buying from your local farmers at markets or even right from their farms, you eliminate the middleman and help grow your local economy.
2. Enjoy more nutritious and pesticide-free food
Another great benefit of supporting local farming is the tremendous nutritional benefits. “Farm to table” is a common saying in health and nutrition.
Many food items found in large grocery chains and corporations include pesticides. By shopping at local farmers’ markets instead, you’ll reap numerous nutritional benefits and live a healthier lifestyle.
3. Lower our carbon footprint
Aside from the personal benefits we see from shopping locally for fresh food, we can also see environmental benefits. For food sold to corporations, the packaging and transportation processes lead to high carbon emissions.
Often, food travels thousands of kilometers before it ends up on a shelf at a store. Although Canada often produces food domestically, there is still a lot of transportation that negatively impacts our carbon footprint.
By buying from local farmers, we can help reduce fossil fuel consumption.
4. Reduce single-use plastic packaging and bags
To protect and preserve food, grocery chains and corporations often use single-use plastic packaging. It piles up in landfills and also pollute our oceans.
By shopping locally, you can use reusable bags instead of plastic bags to carry your fresh fruits and vegetables back home.
5. Support ethical livestock practices
Unlike many corporations, local farmers often do not use antibiotics, hormones, or unethical practices when raising livestock. These farmers give farm animals ample space, quality feed, and other resources to ensure they are healthy and stress-free.
6. Preserve natural land
By buying from local farmers, you help them continue their work and increase the value of their land for years to come.
As we see happening in many farm areas today, businesses and developers purchase farm land to build homes and buildings. If farmers are not profiting from their harvests, they are more likely to sell the land. If this trend continues, we will continue to see new neighborhoods and plazas instead of the open fields of green hills.
Conclusion
From economic to health to environmental benefits, there are many reasons why you should support local farmers. Shop at your local farmers’ market and taste the difference!
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