Acting: Local food

One of the quickest and easiest ways to live more sustainably is to eat more local produce, whether locally bought and grown or even better, home grown. The benefits are numerous, extending beyond benefits linked only to increased sustainability.

Sustainability

Locally grown and bought produce have less food miles (transportation miles from farm to plate). Therefore, the carbon footprint of local food is considerably less, and so too is the pollutant footprint. To illustrate this, when buying apples grown on a local farm orchard he only food miles are those miles you travel in your car to the farm shop (say three miles), and if you walk or bike to the shop the food miles are zero, even better! Compare this to buying apples from a supermarket which may come from a different continent, thus travelling thousands of miles.

Locally produced food can be grown organically/sustainably. If growing food in your garden or on your windowsill, you can make the decision to grow the food organically by using no pesticides and using only natural fertilisers. Therefore, your gardens biodiversity will benefit and so too will pollinators. Furthermore, more small-scale farms tend to be organic/ run in a wildlife friendly manner. look out for Leaf marque on British food, which shows that the farm producing the food is managed in a sustainable and wildlife friendly manner.

Local food produced by small farms often harbours greater genetic diversity. 

The loss of crop varieties is a serious and under reported problem. Future climatic changes such as increased temperatures, drought and rainfall pattern changes may be intolerable form some of our standard crop varieties. However, up to half the world’s crop varieties have already been lost and this trend is continuing.

Small-scale local farmers tend to use more heirloom varieties on their farms thus safeguarding genetic diversity. Also, heirloom varieties tend to taste better and are often more nutritious, defiantly worth paying that little bit extra for!

Other reasons to buy eat more local produce

• Gardening (for those who want to grow their own) can be good for you, getting you exercise and out in the fresh air.
• Locally produced food often tastes better and is more nutritious, as supermarket produce is often selected for longevity not flavour.
• Buy buying locally you are helping local businesses and investing in the local economy.
• Buying from local shops is a great way to meet new people in the community as it is often the same people you will see in the shops week-on-week-out. For Christians there may be Gospel opportunities here.
• The food you buy is helping farmers make a living as they can sell their food at a premium price. This means they can actually make a profit, rather than selling it at cost to a middle man.

Ideas

• Grow your own food, in your garden, on an allotment, or even on your window sill.
• Buy from farmers markets more often.
• Buy from your local butchers, grocers or farm shop more often.
• If shopping at a supermarket check some of the labels (probably not wise to check every label!) to see where the food is grown.
• Petition supermarkets to sell more food varieties and to buy from local farmers more often, at a fair price of course.

A final piece of advice: some foods can’t be bought locally (e.g. out of season or its not able to grow in your country), and it is easy to go over the top in local buying. In other words, don’t deprive yourself of food items just because they can’t be bought locally.  However, making a few food purchasing changes can cumulatively make a positive difference to the environment and future generations, as well as supporting local economies.

The more local the better.