Why Eat Local
You Care About Your Health
- Local food is fresher and tastes better than food shipped long distances from other states or countries.
- Knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown or raised enables you to choose safe food from farmers you trust.
- Buying local food gets you outside, keeping us in touch with our neighbors, the seasons, and the harvest calendar.
You’re Concerned about the Environment
- Local food travels less! The average supermarket vegetable travels1300+ miles from farm to table.
- Local farmers offer crop varieties grown for taste and freshness rather than shipping and long shelf life.
- Local farms help to establish and maintain healthy soils through sustainable farming practices such as crop rotation, diverse crop varieties, pasture raised livestock, and integrated pest management (IPM).
You Care about Supporting your Community and its Economy
- With each local food purchase, you ensure that more of your money spent on food goes to the farmer, and in turn the local economy.
- Getting to know the farmers who grow your food builds relationships based on understanding and trust, the foundation of strong communities.
- By spending just $10 a week you will make a significant contribution to our local farming industry. Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) estimates that by encouraging Maine residents to spend just $10/week on local food, $100,000,000 will be invested back into farmers’ pockets and the Maine economy each growing season. Think how many local communities would benefit if everyone in the U.S. spent just $10 a week on local food!