LOCAL FOOD – Supporting local farms and creating home gardens

 

Just what is good food and why is local best?

 

pineapple-girlEveryone needs to eat.

Eating good food gives us pleasure and keeps us healthy.

But how do we know what is ‘good’ food?

And just how ‘fresh’ is our food?

 

Flavor is one measure. Buying your family’s food from nearby family farms – or growing your own – provides you with tastier, fresher, and often much more nourishing food.

Fruits and vegetables grown for local consumption are generally allowed to fully mature before harvest, so they taste better. In addition, studies show that food produced organically can be nutritionally superior to those grown conventionally. Fruits and vegetables consumed shortly after harvest retain more nutrition than those stored for days or weeks before reaching grocery store shelves.

 

Do you know who is growing your food – and how?

 

In Hawaii, 85% of our food is imported. This means all but 15% of our foods are not local, can not be truly fresh, and are imported from at least 2,500 miles away – all at a great cost in transportation and increased dependence on foreign oil. Yet Hawaii has the climate and capacity to grow 90% of its food locally! And did so as recently as 1960.

 

Why Buy Local and Grow Your Own Food??

 

  1. Locally farm grown is fresher, more nutritious, and tastes better.
  2. Family farms help protect the environment.
  3. Buying regionally preserves precious resources.
  4. Thriving family farms build rural economies.
  5. Buying local helps you learn how your food was grown.
  6. Family farms help children learn healthy values.
  7. Locally grown protects genetic diversity.
  8. Diverse family farms means increased local food security.
  9. Local farms are a primary key to local sustainable living.
  10. Can you even imagine a future with out local farms and fresh local food?

 

We can make the choice to support local farms right now. With 60% of all US food being sold through just 6 supermarket chains – and over 100,000 US families having lost their farms in recent years – local farmer’s need our support and WE NEED OUR LOCAL FARMS!

 

Click here to visit our FLAVOR of HAWAII  farm-direct resource center.

This page’s content is adapted from an Institute for Rural Innovation and Stewardship publication.

Click Below to Connect with Local Rural Farms and Farmers

rambutanKona Coffee Farmers Association

Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers

Hawaii Organic Farmers Association

cacao4Hawaii Cacao Growers

South Kona Green Market

Amy B Greenwell Ethnobotanic Garden

Know Your Farmer Alliance

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