Reason #5 for Eating Local Food

Support Small Farmers and Build Community

For years, we've heard about the plight of the American farmer – that icon of self-reliance and integrity who was no longer capable of making ends meet, and was therefore losing everything in bankruptcy and foreclosure. It was a sad story, but oddly enough, one that still fit into the overall picture of a nation whose values rewarded the largest of producers and savviest of businesses. After all, with thousands of new products being introduced in supermarkets each year, it's not like there's a food shortage, right?

As our spending shifted from supermarkets to farmers' markets, we saw an amazing potential for changing the situation. Each week we buy food items from no less than 10-15 vendors, putting into their hands money that would have otherwise gone to corporations like Whole Foods or H-E-B.

At any grocery store, I can only count on a small portion of each dollar going back to the farmer; a lot of it goes to paying associated costs for a product's marketing, distribution, transportation, shelf space, etc. At a farmers' market, the opposite is true – the farmer will keep most of that dollar, with a small percentage allocated to paying for market booth fees, fuel usage, etc. And unlike corporate earnings, those revenues are more likely to be recirculated locally.

While our family's weekly budget won't be keeping any one farmer in the black, it is the collective spending of our fellow market-goers that is creating a values-driven micro-economy each Saturday morning. Will we be able to fund the prosperity of these small farmers in a way that government subsidies and aid programs have not been able to address? In a period of one year, we've seen several farmers expand their fields, try new crops and develop new products; just as in the corporate world, these are all growth indicators that bode well for business and provide a positive outlook.

We're in. Are you?