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Buying locally decreases the distance food must travel. In doing so, it reduces carbon dioxide emissions from trucking and requires less packaging materials.

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Hot Topics - Local Foods

Local food carries a wealth of benefits. It's fresh and tastes great. It keeps money in your region, instead of sending it to distant corporations. It fosters strong communities. Local food also has the potential to empower consumers and farmers, and help improve the landscape and natural environment.

Here you'll find the latest news and information on local foods, foodsheds, and direct farm marketing. You can also find links to useful Web sites, events, and other organizations supporting local foods. If you need more information on why buying local is important, please visit our Why Buy Local section.

What can you do?
  • Buy local whenever possible. Local food tastes good and is good for you, good for your community, good for the farmer, and good for the environment. Check out our Find Good Food map to locate local food near you.
  • Get involved. Check out our listings of food and farming organizations and find one near you.
  • College students: start a Farm to College project at your college or university – get your educational institution to start buying local food.
  • Parents and teachers: start a Farm to School project at your K-12 school.

NEWS
Nourished Nearby
The Sacramento Bee - Jun 16, 2007
One after another, the phone calls came in last week at the Coffee Pot Ranch in Placer County, where Shirley Field and her husband, Bob Sorensen, raise animals and sell frozen pork, beef and lamb to local customers. One caller had heard about a recall of hamburger contaminated with E. coli and wanted to know how soon she could buy beef from the ranch. (more...)

HarvestEating.com Partners with FoodRoutes.org
FoodRoutes - Apr 16, 2007
HarvestEating.com?s and Executive Chef Keith Snow team with FoodRoutes Network to focus on local, fresh, seasonal and healthy foods through its extensive online video library and culinary cooking site. (more...)

Other Articles on Local Foods


Library Documents
Eating up the Earth: How Sustainable Food Systems Shrink our Ecological Footprint
Diana Deumling, Mathis Wackernagel, & Chad Monfreda - Jan 1, 2005
Using the Ecological Footprint concept, this policy brief address three fundamental questions: 1) What does it currently take to feed us? 2) How can we avoid the clash between expanding human demand and limited ecological capacity? 3) What will it take to feed us well for years to come?

Ecolabel Value Assessment Phase 2: Consumer Perceptions of Local Food
Rich Pirog - May 7, 2004
Consumer respondents have a basic understanding that local sourcesā??whether local means grown several miles away in the same county or within oneā??s state of residenceā??are responsible for a minority of the fresh meat and produce available for sale. Their interest in locally grown foods is intertwined with their wish to have more of these products readily available.

Read more on Local Foods

Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA)
Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI)
Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society
American Grassfed Association
Northeast Organic Farming Association, Massachusetts
Community Food Program at Cornell University
California Farm to School Program at the Center for Food and Justice, Occidental College
Community Supported Agriculture Resources at University of Massachusetts Extension

more links...

Women, Food & Agriculture Network
WFAN was founded in 1997 in order to help Iowa farm women become involved in the policy issues affecting their daily lives. Their web site includes membership information, activities, a calendar, a newsletter, and links. (more..)

Clearwater Collective
Clearwater Collective is a worker-owned cooperative with several projects. We have a delivery service of fresh, local organic milk delivered to your home weekly along with food produced on nearby farms including in-season vegetables and fruits, eggs, cheese, butter, ice-cream, and frozen meats. (more..)

more organizations...

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