Shopping at a grocery store is convenient. Many of us live relatively near one that’s open for several hours a day — perhaps 24 hours — and has a wide selection. But it’s worth making the effort to shop directly from local farmers during the growing season.
Here’s why…
- Local foods take less energy to get to market than foods shipped from around the world.
- You’ll support your local economy.
- You may contribute less to slavery when you shop locally, although there are no guarantees. Until recently, buying a tomato in a grocery store meant that there was a strong chance you were buying a tomato picked by a victim of human trafficking, so it was particularly important to me to buy tomatoes from the farmer’s market. But slavery is everywhere, and buying from a local farmer doesn’t always mean that you aren’t paying for slave labor.
- On a completely selfish level, the food you purchase may be fresher and taste better. The difference between fresh, in-season fruits and vegetables and produce from your grocery store can be shocking.
There are three ways you can shop from farmers: at farmers markets, through community-supported agriculture, and at pick-your-own, or U-pick, farms. Each has its pluses and minuses.
Farmers Markets
Farmers markets will require you to get to the market. If your area is like mine, they are probably popping up all over the place, so you may not have far to travel. I’ll make a confession, though: because I prefer a bigger market with a wider selection, I go to a market further from home rather than shopping at the ones closest to me. That means more energy-usage on my part, although I do carpool with another person.
One of the greatest benefits of a good farmers market is the selection. During the height of growing season, I have far more fruits and vegetables to choose from than I could cook in a week. And for most items, I can choose from several different vendors, allowing me to choose the quantity, quality, and price that best fit my needs.
However, at most of the markets I’ve attended, you can get far more than healthy foods. My favorite market sells jams and jellies, candy, baked goods, and even stuffed animals. In other words, you can walk out of a farmers market with things you never intended to purchase and do not need — just like at the grocery store. And worse, you may even feel a little righteous when you do this, because you purchased these things at a farmers market.
Community-supported Agriculture (CSAs)
Depending on the options in your area, it’s possible to use even less energy getting your produce if you use a CSA. When you belong to a CSA, your farmer will drop off your “share” of food at a set delivery point once a week. If you live or work near a delivery point, it’s easy to pick up your produce. In many cases, you have the option to purchase a full share or a half share.
A CSA may provide opportunities for you to get to know the farmer. That also can happen at a farmer’s market, but you don’t want to distract the vendors from other customers. A CSA might offer opportunities, ranging from work days to harvest festivals, to visit the farm from which you get your food.
The major downside to CSAs is the lack of selection. You get what you get. If the farmer has a bumper crop of fennel, and you hate fennel, you are going to have an awful lot of fennel to get rid of. And you’ll need to cook around whatever you’re given. I found that, even splitting a share with my mother, I was throwing away produce far too often; I just wasn’t good at keeping up and working with whatever I got for the week.
Pick-Your-Own Farms
Similar to farmer’s markets, pick-your-own farms give you control over what you get and how much you purchase. The downside is that, unless you live near such a farm, you will probably be driving further than you would for either a CSA drop-off site or a farmer’s market. And depending on the farm, your selection may be even more limited than using a CSA. Where I live, pick-your-own farms tend to be limited to just a few crops: one farm I go to sold only strawberries and pumpkins until recently. However, it is sometimes possible to discover farms with a larger selection of crops.
I find it’s very hard to purchase all of my food from local farmers; other people may be more successful than I am. But I still try to purchase more locally grown food from late spring through the fall, because I know it’s better for me, better for the farmers, and better for the environment. If you haven’t made a point of buying from local farmers in the past, try one of these options this year and see how you like it!