Some Good Reasons To Buy Local

I ran across these good reasons to support local agriculture, and I thought I'd share them with you.

- Learn how the animal was raised by meeting the person who raised it.

- Support your local farms and rural economy and help build a more sustainable regional agricultural system.

- Support your local economy by keeping your dollars in your community.

- By knowing the farmers, you can know the practices they employ to raise your food.

- All these things will help you to make an informed decision on your food purchases.

This is not the complete list but I thought these points fit very well into the mission of this blog. I often hear folks talk about supporting local farmers but they still tend to go elsewhere for their food. Many folks enjoy organic, natural foods (and rightly they should), but they purchase these things from folks they don't know. Nor have they met the farmer, or even know where it was grown. In fact, how do we know what practices the farmer used in the growth of these foods? Just because it has the USDA's seal of approval for organic on the label? Frankly, I don't trust a whole lot of what comes from the USDuh.

By shopping local, we can know these things that are important to us. I realize that this isn't always possible, some foods are just not available locally. But, we should make every effort to buy local when we can, don't you think? Just some "food" for thought.