According to the text, what are three benefits of buying local fruits and vegetables? answer

The buy local movement has grown tremendously in recent years and with good reason, the benefits of eating local food are plenty. From nutrition to environmental and community reasons, now more than ever it is important to support your local farmer. Here are 8 benefits of eating local food.

If you follow me on Instagram, follow me on Facebook, or have ever seen me at my local farmer’s market, you know how important shopping and eating local are to me. As a nutritionist, I get a ton of questions on different topics, be it supplements, post-workout snacks, nutrient timing, or the latest fad diet, and although all of this might be informative, when it comes to eating well nothing is more important than the quality of the food we eat. The foundation of any good diet, no matter what the goal is, is determined by the food you eat. Whether you are trying to lose weight, increase energy, train for a marathon, or simply looking to eat a little better, nothing will have more impact on your goal than the quality of the food you consume.

Although I wasn’t always one for shopping local and visiting the farmers market, the more I learned about nutrition and the more I understood how the food I eat impacts my body, the more I truly cared about where it came from and how it got to my plate. Eating whole foods is wonderful, and I will never knock anyone for doing so, but there is a big difference between the apple grown down the street and the orange flown in from across the world. To me, the benefits of eating local food will trump any powder, supplement, or organic ingredient you will ever use, and here are the reasons why.

The Benefits of Eating Local

Here are 8 reasons why eating local benefits you, your health, and your community.

1. Local food is fresher.

Local food is fresher, tastes better, and is likely more nutritious. At a farmer’s market, most local produce has been picked within the last 24 hours, ensuring it is ripe and at its peak nutrient density. In contrast, most supermarket produce was picked days or weeks prior to reaching the grocery store shelf. As soon as a food is harvested its nutrient content begins to deteriorate, specifically vitamins C, E, A, and some B. Of course, produce that has traveled still has nutritional value, but the fresher the fruit or vegetable the more nutrient-dense it will be. So although the apples flown in from Argentina might look great on the grocery store shelf, the ones from the local farm are far fresher and better for you.

2. Supports your seasonal needs.

When you eat locally, you eat with the seasons, and the cycle of seasonal produce is perfectly designed to support your health. If you get back to basics and consider how we ate before the modern grocery store, we simply ate what was available to us at that time of year. Eating seasonally is the most natural way to eat, and one of the most beneficial to our bodies. In the peak of summer, our bodies require cooling foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, and berries to help us handle the elements, while in the dark and cold days of winter we need rich and warming high-fat foods, root vegetables, and fermented foods. Eating seasonally also helps to avoid eating the same thing all year round, which is less than ideal for your health. Our local seasons provide the ideal foods for our body’s natural needs based on our geographic location.

3. Helps you discover new foods.

Eating well can get boring if you stick to the basics; there are only so many times you can eat oatmeal for breakfast and chicken with broccoli for dinner. For instance, how many varieties of tomatoes can you find at your local grocery store? Maybe 3? Local farmers are keeping nearly 300 varieties of tomatoes alive every single year, leaving little room for boredom. How often do you eat garlic scapes, kohlrabi or kabocha squash? Whether you chose to visit your local farmers market or join a CSA, eating seasonally forces you to try to foods and be more creative in the kitchen.

4. Helps you eat mindfully.

It’s easy to scarf down a microwavable meal when you know nothing about where it came from, who produced it, and how it got to your plate. However, when you shop locally you are more connected to the food you eat; knowing who produced it, what farm it came from, and exactly how it got from farm to fork. It’s the same way mom’s homemade tomato sauce evokes a very different feeling and connection than the stuff you grab at the drug store while buying your toothpaste. When it comes to eating mindfully, there are many more components than just what we are eating, the who, where, when, how, and why are just as important, if not more. Shopping and eating locally make you more connected to your food and the impacts it has on your body.

If you choose not to personally grow, harvest, or raise your own food, you vote with your dollar every single time you buy your groceries or shop for food.

 5. Produces less waste.

Because buying local shortens the distribution chain, forcing food directly from the farm to fork, less waste is produced in the process. Not only does buying local mean less packaging via transportation and shipping, but it also means less environmental waste from pollution and less food waste in the process as well. Buying a CSA from a local farm or shopping at the weekly farmer’s market means next to no food packaging at all, ensuring food was moved directly from a local farm to you, minimizing emissions and food waste in the process.

6. Supports local businesses.

When you buy food in the grocery store most of the cost you incur goes to the transportation, processing, packaging, refrigeration, and marketing of that food, and not necessarily to the farmers themselves. When you buy from a local farmer, farmers market, or local shop you are supporting your local community, and your money goes back into producing more local food for you.

7. Supports sustainable agriculture.

Eating locally encourages the diversification of local agriculture and crop variety. This, in turn, reduces the reliance on monoculture; single crops grown over a wide area to the detriment of soils. The reality is that our food is only as nutrient-dense as the soil in which it is grown; although strawberries are known to contain high levels of vitamin C, these levels are heavily dependent on the quality of the soil in which they are grown, and their level of freshness.

8.  Gives power to the consumer.

People have very strong opinions about the state of our food and agriculture systems, be it positive or negative, but the reality is that as a consumer you have a choice. If you choose not to grow, harvest, and raise your own food, you vote with your dollar every single time you buy food. So, if you buy processed foods or imported foods you are creating more demand for these products. In contrast, if you buy local and demand local foods at your local grocery store, you are creating a very different and important demand. Every time you buy from a local farmer you have an opportunity to ask questions, learn about their farming practices and gain a better understanding of your food.

The Bottom Line

The benefits of eating local food are endless, the greatest being the connection it gives you to your food. It’s scary to think how far removed we have become from our food; many of us eat foods never knowing if they grew from a plant, tree, shrub, or bush. The more you eat locally the more you are able to reconnect with food and recognize the importance of real food and how it impacts your body. By supporting local farmers today, you are ensuring that there will be local farms in your community tomorrow, and that is something that we can all agree is important.

As a growing movement across North America, locally grown food has countless benefits to offer. More and more families are making the choice to buy food from local food producers, even if it's just a portion of their weekly grocery supply.

There are many benefits to buying locally grown food, and each person makes their choice for different reasons. Locally grown food creates important economic opportunities, provides health benefits and helps to reduce environmental impact. It also helps bring the community together and gives people the opportunity to make a difference.

Additionally, many people feel local food tastes better and lasts longer. They also find peace of mind knowing exactly where their food came from and how it was grown. For others, supporting community economics and building relationships with local food producers is incredibly important, as is protecting the environment.

Whatever the reason, buying locally grown food is an important movement to support within your community.

What Is Locally Grown Food?

Locally grown food is a broad term that describes food that was grown within a geographical region that could be considered local to your particular area. Whether it's within your county, city, neighborhood or even your own backyard, locally grown food can take many forms.

When buying locally, you may choose to buy food that was grown as locally as possible. Locally grown food can often be found in your regular grocery store, at farmers' markets or within community-supported agriculture programs.

What Kinds of Food Can You Buy Locally?

Locally grown food can be produce like fruits and vegetables, or dairy products and eggs, or even locally raised meats.

Most often, the food you'll purchase from local producers will be food that's in season such as seasonal fruits and vegetables. Other local food producers can grow certain types of foods year round within greenhouses or orchards. This will often depend on your local climate and your community.

Other popular foods to purchase locally include dairy products, like milk and cheese from cows or goats. Local, organic and farm fresh eggs are another popular food that families pick up at the weekend farmers' market. Even specialty foods like honey, nut butters or canned foods can often be purchased from local producers.

As concerns grow over the sustainability of meat production, many families are choosing to purchase their meats from local producers. Whether it's chicken, pork, beef or lamb, locally raised meat is often hormone and preservative free, which is appealing to many health-conscious individuals.

Health Benefits of Locally Grown Food

When we look at the countless benefits of buying locally grown food, it's easy to see why individuals and families are making it a staple part of their diet.

Locally grown food provides several benefits:

• It's Often Pesticide Free: Many local food producers choose to use organic and natural pest repellants to preserve the health of the food they distribute. Foods produced by large-scale agricultural operations are often mass sprayed with pesticides.
• It's Preservative Free: Locally grown food doesn't require long trips to be transported across the country until they reach their final destination. For this reason, food doesn't need to have any preservatives and other chemicals added to it in order to keep it fresh during transit.
• It Offers Improved Nutrition: Eating locally grown food can help deliver a high-nutrient content. This is for a number of reasons, which includes the lack of chemicals as well as greater freshness. Local food is also a better way to ensure you eat seasonally. When you eat food that is grown within its natural season, the flavors are much fuller and it tastes better.
• It Supports Diet-Related Conditions: For people with food sensitivities to preservatives, hormones or other food chemicals, locally grown food is a great option. Locally grown food can help support any possible digestion issues that people with food allergies may experience with other types of food.
• It Encourages Eating a Well-Balanced Diet: When you choose to buy locally grown food, you can incorporate more healthy proteins, fruits, vegetables and whole grains into your diet, as opposed to choosing processed and packaged foods that don't provide a balanced diet.
• It Improves Food Safety: Food safety is another growing concern, especially for families with young children and seniors. Food safety refers to a food's level of contamination risk. With imported food, it can pass through several different hands before it reaches your kitchen, increasing the chance of contamination.

The more steps between you and your food supply, the greater the risk of food contamination. Buying directly from local producers reduces the risk of eating unsafe food.

Environmental Benefits of Locally Grown Food

Purchasing more local food provides environmental benefits, as well:

• It Preserves Small Farm Land: When local farms are established, eating local protects farmland. Without small scale farms, the land might otherwise be developed for industrial or commercial use. Additionally, farmland attracts other types of biodiversity and gives animals, insects and birds a place to live and thrive.
• It Reduces Food Miles: When we compare local farm grown food to imported food, the differences can be numerous. Imported food is shipped sometimes hundreds or thousands of miles to arrive at the supermarket. "Food miles" is a term used to describe the distance that food has traveled, from the place it was produced to the place where it will be sold to the consumer. The more food miles accumulated during food transportation, the more fossil fuels that are consumed. This transportation causes greater carbon emissions. Reducing food miles helps alleviate our dependence on fossil fuels, reduce air pollution and cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.
• It Promotes Accountability: When food is raised and grown locally, the consumer better understands how and where their food is being produced. This awareness encourages local farmers to use sustainable agriculture practices and be more accountable to safe ecological practices, which may include not using pesticides or implementing systems that are less resource intensive than commercial agriculture. Many local food producers will actively pursue an organic certification as a means of further improving the nutritional value of their food and reducing their environmental impact.
• It Preserves Genetic Diversity: Many types of farmed produce use modern commercial technologies from certain genetic strands. In small-scale farming, farmers can use a variety of produce types with lots of different colors, helping to preserve the genetic diversity of produce. Similarly, a variety of animals can be raised on a small-scale farm, which helps to enhance biodiversity and provide more options to the consumer.

Economic Benefits of Locally Grown Food

Buying locally grown food can help support your local economy in the following ways:

• It Keeps Money in Your Community: When you choose to spend money on locally grown food, it keeps your money in your community. Instead of supporting large supermarket chains, you can support individuals in your own community and help them prosper.
• Local Farmers Keep More Profit: Because local farmers don't have the same transportation and distribution costs as large agricultural businesses, they can retain more of the profits from their sales. This helps small farming businesses become more successful as more people purchase from them.
• It Creates Jobs: Small local farms are also excellent for the economy because they create jobs. By supporting local food producers, you directly contribute to helping your friends, neighbors and other community members find sustainable employment.
• It Supplies Other Local Businesses: Local food producers can supply their meat and produce to other local businesses, such as restaurants, schools and hospitals. Many people today choose to eat at particular restaurants because they use local food. In turn, restaurants become more successful and further grow the local farming economy.
• It Keeps Taxes Down: Local farm operations can typically contribute more to the economy in tax revenue than they will ever use in services. Most local farm businesses aren't dependent on social services like schools and emergency services.

Social Benefits of Buying Locally Grown Food

There are also important social and community benefits of supporting your local food producers:

• It Supports Local Families: Farming is often a family-run business. For many families, farming is more than a business, it's a way of life that they are trying to preserve for future generations. By purchasing locally grown food, you can help your local food producers carry on their family traditions and support family development.
• It Brings the Community Together: Local farmers often develop a close network between themselves, as well as among their local buyers. As a consumer, you can purchase directly from the farmer through farmers' markets or directly on the farm. This builds relationships among community members, which fosters a sense of belonging and togetherness within your area.
• It Empowers the Consumer: Consumers are growing increasingly concerned with where and how their food is being produced. They now have the choice to purchase food locally and learn more about food production directly from the farmers themselves, it's a great learning experience for children who can develop their knowledge about food systems and agriculture.
• It Encourages Cultural Diversity: Many local farmers are beginning to specialize in producing culturally diverse foods that support a wide variety of diets and cultural food customs. Producing a diverse range of food types from different heritages helps create inclusion within the community. It also encourages consumers to try and enjoy new foods.
• It Improves Overall Well-being: One of the most satisfying parts of buying local farm-grown food is knowing that you're contributing to your community, economy and the environment. The combined benefits lead to an improved sense of wellbeing and fulfillment knowing your purchases make a difference.

Where to Buy Locally Grown Food

There are a number of places to find and purchase locally grown food within your community:

• Farmers' markets. Farmers' markets are one of the most popular places for consumers to find and purchase locally grown foods. Depending on your community, your farmers' markets may take place one to two times per week. It may also depend on the season and your climate, as some markets are open year-round. At farmers' markets, you can find local meats, produce and even preserved and canned foods.
• Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSAs): You can join these programs as a community member by paying for a share of the harvested produce, eggs and meats. Usually, you will be asked to pay for your share up front, then your food will be available after harvest. When you participate in a CSA, you pick up your share of harvested foods from a communal location with other CSA participants.
• Events, Stands and Gleaning: There are other ways to purchase locally grown food as a consumer. Some communities host pick-your-own events where families can pay a fee to enter a farm and pick their own produce. There are also roadside stands and on-site shops for consumers to visit. Gleaning programs are also becoming more popular, whereby participants can pick leftover crops after harvesting.
• Local Grocers: More and more local grocers are opting to carry produce, dairy and meats supplied by local producers. You will often see these items labeled in the store to indicate that they're local foods. Many grocery businesses today are attempting to prioritize local food.
• Local Food Delivery Programs: Some businesses today specialize in working directly with local farmers to deliver their food directly to consumers. You can pay a subscription fee to have fresh local food delivered to you on a regular basis. The food usually arrives in a box and can be delivered to your home or work.
• Grow Your Own: Of course, you can always start growing your own food in your yard or on your balcony. Some municipalities allow chickens and other small animals to be raised on residential properties.

Supporting Your Local Food System

Choosing to purchase locally grown food is an important way to support your local economy, contribute to your community, improve your health and do your part to protect the environment. Getting involved in the local food system helps us to gain back the separation we created between humans and food production.

Many of us today, including children, don't have the same awareness about food that we did before modern agriculture practices. Because of this, people are looking to repair their detachment from food production and actively learn more about their local food economy. If you make small weekly purchases from local food producers, your money and support can go a long way toward strengthening your local food system.