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WHY EAT LOCAL?
Read the tale of 2 carrots - The Intervale staff put
together this great introductory example of the benefits
of eating local.
Read Speaker of House
Gaye
Symington's Op-Ed piece from the Burlington Free
Press on her reason's for taking the Eat Local
Challenge.
And of course... we have our own
reasons.........
Local Food tastes better, supports
your local community, and decreases your environmental
footprint. Much of our imported food is food that could
be grown in our very own Champlain Valley. Would you
help us raise awareness of global and local food issues?
According to an economic study in
London, for every $10 you spend at a local farmer’s
market, the community receives $25, whereas for every
$10 you spend at a chain supermarket the community
receives $14.
•Substituting
Vermont food for 10% of food imports would
create $376 million in output and 3,616 jobs in
the state (Peace & Justice Center Study).
According to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture,
with the•Buy
Local Campaign if each Vermonter
shifted 10% of food purchases to be
local, we will add $100 million to the Vermont
economy.
According to the Worldwatch
Institute in 2002, the average food item now travels
between 1500 and 2500 miles before we eat it. The
average fruit and vegetable travels 2500 – 4000 miles by
refrigerated truck or plane before we consume these
perishables. The impact of transporting food from farm
to table is significant. In 2001 London research
showed that forty percent of all truck freight in the UK
was dedicated to transporting food.
You don’t need to never eat
bananas, avocados, and olives again, but rather become
aware of your food choices and the impact they have. If
the food is grown in Vermont, buy it local. If the food
could be grown in Vermont but is not, we want to
encourage farmers to begin planting new crops.
Learn about the Vermont food
production and how it relates to other state's food
production. Vermont can theoretically feed itself.
Read UVM grad student
David Timmon's thesis to learn that there were 56
farmer's markets in 2002, the number of small farms (
less than 50 acres) is increasing, and that
theoretically 91% of the 710,853 acres of total
cropland, pastureland, and pastured woodland in use in
Vermont in 2002 could feed the 2002 population.
Check out the
Worldwatch Paper #163:
Home Grown: The Case For Local Food In A Global Market.
Requires Adobe Acrobat to read.
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