THE COSTS OF SAVING MONEY

Economically, local family farms producing and selling regionally is an excellent way to support a community. The Leopold Institute writes, “Annually, Americans consume more than $600 billion in food. In most communities today food is purchased entirely at a grocery store or market, with only about 7% of local food dollars staying in the community. The other 93% of the modern food dollar travels to pay processors, packagers, distributors, wholesalers, truckers and the rest of the infrastructure that a global food system demands, a stark comparison to 40% in 1910 by contrast, 40% of food dollars spend remained in the local economy. When more food dollars stay in the community, through buying local, they are transformed into thriving main streets and local jobs.” The local investment will return within a local community and profits returned to the businesses benefitting the entire community as well as the farmers, and diversified regional economies are less susceptible to outside events (e.g. energy costs). Major farms are often owned by grocery conglomerates and subsidized to NOT grow, by you and your tax dollars. Support your local growers that grow quality products, and maintain small family farms. You can see how they grow their produce, be assured of the passion that lives in a small family farm. A small family farm bases their existence on their foods and care about what they produce. They have dedicated a fairly non profitable life to doing what they love. Local farms and food producers are crucial to a healthy and diversified economy. While dollars spent with large corporations almost immediately leave the community, dollars spent on local food products circulate within the community eight to fifteen times, drastically improving the value of your purchase.

The era of inexpensive foods in America and abroad is coming to an end, incomes will never keep up with expenses, and while locally grown foods can be less expensive, their dependence on fossil fuels is significantly less, their carbon footprint for transport will be smaller, and as fuel prices advance beyond $4.00 per gallon, ultimately local and regionally grown foods will become less expensive now and to continuously beneficial to our future. Already fossil fuel dependent foods are going up in price and the lower income families of the United States are less able to buy “fresh” imported foods which force them to buy the cheaper, processed, corporate foods which are high in salt, sugar, trans-fat and high fructose corn syrup (which if you were wondering actually makes your liver look like you drink a 5th of Whiskey a night) and contribute mightily to the current epidemics of obesity, liver disease, heart disease, and diabetes.  In fact we are seeing adult onset diabetes showing up in children as young as seven years of age!