Eating local can positively affect the environment, but that’s the only reason to eat local produce! Read on and learn more.
These days, it seems like everyone is interested in finding good ways to decrease their negative environmental impact and with good reason. It’s clear that human communities often have a negative overall effect on the natural world, and any action that we can take to help to protect our planet is a good thing. One strategy is to decrease one’s “carbon footprint” and that means finding ways to decrease the amount of energy, especially fossil fuel consumption, that is needed to enable us to have our lifestyles. An easy way to do that is to eat local: the closer your food is grown to where you use and eat it, the less carbon footprint it has to get to you. But is that the only reason to eat local produce? Of course not! Let’s dive in and learn more.
It Is The Freshest
Local food is the freshest food you can get. Produce that has to be shipped to you from another country, or even just from another state, doesn’t arrive to you in its best form. Often these are picked before they are fully ripe so that they don’t rot on the shelves. Local produce ripens longer on the branch or vine, often picked mere days before you get to enjoy it.
Better Nutrition
It may seem like the same type of produce should have the same nutrition regardless of where it is grown, but that’s not true. Putting aside issues of soil quality and nutrient analysis, produce that is shipped loses some of its nutritional value as it is transported. This is especially true of antioxidants.
Broaden Your Horizons
It seems like everyone is talking about PawPaws these days, which is awesome since they are a native Eastern North American fruit. However, many people still wouldn’t know about them if they were trying to eat more locally grown produce. Head out to your local farmers market and see what you have to try that is new, seasonal, and locally grown..
Support Your Community
Eating local produce also supports the farmers and growers who live in your community. This helps to support your local economy and shows those growers that they are valued.
Less Negative Environmental Impact
Finally, as already pointed out, eating local produce, from non-gmo sweet potatoes to the regionally popular fish pepper is a great way to help the environment, since you’re decreasing the carbon footprint of your meals.
BAYWATER FARMS HAS THE RIGHT PRODUCE FOR YOU
Baywater Farms is a family-owned and operated farm servicing Baltimore, Washington D.C., Maryland, Delaware beaches, and the Eastern Shore. We are capable of meeting the demands of your produce distributor, restaurant produce supplier, CSA produce supplier, or wholesale produce supplier while maintaining the integrity and character of a small farm. When you work with Baywater Farms, you work with an experienced, ethical, and local farm dedicated to providing the highest-quality heirloom produce.