Buy Local

Buy Local

Cow Graphic 'Join the Moovement'Why Buy Local?

When you buy local you are helping to preserve the environment by cutting down on the fossil fuel needed to bring your food to market, investing your food dollar close to home to strengthen your community and getting the benefit of eating fresh healthy food.

Good for the Community

Supporting small local farms and businesses helps to preserve valuable land and protect it from more invasive development options.  It assists in the maintenance of a distinctive local character and integrity –one that is not overwhelmed by an influx of larger, more generic chain business integration. Additionally, local farms and businesses help create and sustain jobs within their communities.

IMG_2223Good for the Environment

Aspects of our current national food system – including production, transportation, processing and packaging – require considerable fossil fuel and energy use, which puts enormous stress on our environment.  Buying locally cuts down significantly on many of these practices greatly mitigating the environmental consequences. In addition, sustainable farming practices are not only environmentally non-invasive, but in can actually be beneficial to local environments.

Good for the Economy

Supporting your local farms and businesses helps to keep money in the local economy.  Local purchasing creates a positive economic ripple effect in communities as local producers and businesses spend a larger percent of their earned money in other area businesses.  This supports a trend of keeping money circulating within a specific community as opposed to exporting it out to larger national or chain corporations.

Good for the Farmer

Committing to the purchasing of locally grown and processed foods allows farmers and producers to receive a higher profit margin as they are able to eliminate many of the transportation and distribution costs associated with more geographically distant sales.  Enabling local sales and distribution of food allows farmers to develop relationships within their communities – whether that be with individual customers or local restaurant/business owners.

Good for You

When you buy local, you are acquiring food products that haven’t traveled far, and subsequently are typically fresher, healthier, and more delicious than foods that are coming from further away. Click here for a guide to harvest times and availability of New York State produce.  Buying food locally also gives you the opportunity to develop a relationship with the farmers who grow their food and helps enable them to learn more about what foods are in season and how these foods are grown.  Conversations with your favorite farmer may also lead to the discovery of a new favorite food or recipe!