Keeping Food Local Essay examples

In “On Buying Local” Katherine Spriggs shares her views on the buying local products is better than the imported items for positive environment and local industrial impact. The author explains about the benefits of buying local and their advantages on the local economy and other fields. She highlights some views of the products which can be good for small farms and small rural economics. The argument given by the writer is that small farms are totally opposite than the large farms as they grow crops according to the seasons. Moreover, local buying has negative effects also as it hurts the poor workers like if everyone buying locally then people avoid the global market and the workers work in global markets can lose their jobs also. On the

Besides the environmental factors, another point would be that small farms benefit greatly when consumers buy locally grown foods. Small, locally owned farms

America’s vast food supply has increased. Foods that were once hard to come by can be found in almost all the grocery stores across the nation. In the article “What’s Eating America”, by Michael Pollan, who is a professor of journalism, explains how the bounty of food came about. He writes about the creation of synthetic fertilizer and how it was used to fertilize crops and essentially make all the foods today. He writes about the harmful effects that are occurring as a result of the chemically made fertilizer. In another article called written by Katherine Spriggs, a student from Stanford University, she writes about the benefits of buying local versus becoming dependent on the import of food. She feels that buying from local farms

The growing locavore movement suggests that local food is key for healthy eating and community growth. One would imagine that the closer the source of one’s food is from, the healthier and more sustainable it is, right? However, this is not the case. In the set of locavore articles, the authors provide information to show that the locavore movement brings about issues involving inefficiency, energy use, and impracticality.

The local sustainable food chain has little to no impact on the environment. The animals, animal feed, fertilizer and vegetables grown and produced there are from the farm itself, so therefor it isn’t impacting wild animal populations like the hunter gatherer food chain or polluting the environment like the industrial food chains. Pollan writes about ways the industrial food chains affect the environment for example ”...Lettuce contains 80 calories of food energy… transporting that box of organic salad to a plate on the East Coast takes more than 4,600 calories of fossil fuel energy.”(125) The local sustainable food chain products are not transported miles upon miles like the industrial and industrial organic food chains. Pollan wrote “But if you ask joel salatin what he does for

Buying local is the new slogan of producers and sellers selling their foods in the food market. There are a few stances that can be taken such as not bothering to care about where the food came from, getting what can be purchased within reason, and the extreme locavore. Although eating local and organic is desirable, it is improbable to create a sustainable lifestyle with the given difficulties.

The customers that buy from local sustainable farms know how their food is grown and harvested. At the Polyface farm Joel does not have walls on his slaughter house, this way people can come and see how their next meal is killed in a humane way. The people “don’t need USDA to ensure that the meat they’re buying has been humanely and cleanly processed,”(208) because they can watch with their own eyes how the meat is slaughtered. Industrial industries protest that selling produce locally can not get food to everyone around the US. Shipping produce across the country effects the foods taste. Also when customers go to the far, to pick out their own food they get the produce fresh and local. Local farmers on sustainable farms will make a bigger profit out of their produce because they do not have to put all their money into buying chemicals and fertilizers, this is good for the produce and farmers.

To conclude, our current way of agricultural life is not sustainable. The article “What’s for supper” has made me realize that if I hope for a better future for generations to come I should support a locally sourced lifestyle. This article is an eye opener to me and proved to me the importance of supporting locally grown produce. Locally grown produce supports the environment as well as jobs for people in the community. The current system takes a toll on every species on the planet. Humans are overproducing on a massive scale and are wasting close to half of our supplies and

The first reason why the local sustainable food chain has the potential to feed all the people of America because it’s healthier for the consumer. “Consumer’s get anything from fresh fruit

One tactic that Spriggs effectively utilizes in her essay is her recognition and counter arguments to these opposing views. For example, one of the arguments Spriggs addresses is the the claim from Alex Avery, the director of research and education at the Center for Global Food Issues, who states that we should “buy food from the world region where it grows best” (qtd. in MacDonald). To this quote, spriggs states that “His implication is that it would be more wasteful to try to grow pineapples in the Northeast than to have them shipped from the Caribbean”. Spriggs then acknowledges this claim, agreeing that he makes a good point. However, she then quickly follows up by stating “buying local should instead focus on buying as much as possible from nearby farmers”. This is an effective rebuttal to Avery’s clam, because buying local is about eliminating unnecessary shipping by focusing on buying products that were grown close to home and which are in season, and not about growing everything in one place year round, just so we can have strawberries in Ohio in the month of

 Local farming is healthier than eating processed foods.  Organic foods have more nutrients in the food than processed foods. The author says, "A regular trip to a farmer's market is one of the best ways to connect with where your food comes from. Meeting and talking to farmers and food artisans is a great opportunity to learn more about how and where food is produced." The author also says, "Buying from the local farmer helps safeguard your health. Knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown enables you to choose safe food. Buy food from local farmers you trust. The farmer then circulates his profits throughout the community with local merchants creating a cycle that helps to build a strong local economy." This means that local farming is better than processed foods and people just care about their health and how they can stay healthy.

Local farmers markets give back to the community from the income that is made from selling produce which helps boost the community’s economy. “ Eating local means more for the local economy. “ ( Source A ) Purchasing local foods from the community are a spectacular way to provide for a community’s economy. “ According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy. “ ( Source A ) Local food markets are better for the economy because the income would go to the community unlike a big chain supermarket where the income made in that establishment would go to a corporate office, none of the income would be put towards the

Before beginning their journey Catacalos and Janzen asked themselves questions such as, “Was choosing to consume foods locally a scam or was it worth their time?” along with “Is eating locally better for the environment?” as well as “Is choosing to eat locally more expensive than not?” Within a month’s time, both Catacalos and Janzen hoped to have their questions answered (117).

You know who your food is coming from rather than having no idea. Local farmers markets are an example of that. An article written by Prerna Gupta states that for a nominal fee, local farmers can sell their produce directly to the customers at a farmers market. Farmers market’s help the community to get fresh produce and the customer knows who their food comes from, and also where it comes from. Now, locally grown food is better for the community because it doesn’t travel as far, so there is less of a possibility of contamination. As stated in an article written by Prerna Gupta, “The local food movement aims at doing away with these humongous distances and with the complex supply chain between the producer and the consumer in our global food system. Instead, it tries to bring farmers and end consumers closer so as to benefit the entire community,” because locally grown food doesn’t travel as far, there is less of a chance to have it contaminated or tarnished because of too many people touching it, or bugs eating away at it. Also, locally grown food doesn’t travel hundreds of miles to reach us, and in those hundred miles, the consumers don’t know what went on with that food, or if it was contaminated. Finally, locally grown food has more nutrients packed in them. Since locally grown food has a shorter time between harvest and your table, it is less likely that the nutrient value has decreased. Food imported from far-away states and countries is often older, has traveled farther and sits in distribution centers before it gets to your store, rather than harvesting it and then selling the next day at a farmers market. Regardless of the fact that conventionally grown food is convenient for the community because they are sold in supermarkets, when you buy locally, you know who your food is coming from, there is less of a chance of contamination, and it is packed full of

If we all took the time to do the easy research to buy local and support our community, we can visualize a healthy community both economically and physically. Less traffic and allergies and more fresh produce! According to greenupgrader.com one of the top reasons to buy local is because small local businesses are the largest employers nationally. Plus the more jobs you have in your local community the less people are going to have to commute which means more time and less traffic and pollution. Another benefit of buying local is Competition and