The Importance of Local Produce

Sure, eating locally grown fruits and vegetables sounds like a great idea, but is it all really worth it? Does it really make sense for our health and is it financially feasable?

Some points to consider:

Health 

• Most produce is picked unripe, spends a week or two in transit and is gassed to slow down the natural ethylene production that would ripen the produce naturally. While not unhealthy, this has the obvious ramification of not having produce at its peak when all the nutrients have been matured and at their peak. This also gives you produce that has drastically less flavor than something that has been picked less than 24 hours ago (the normal time from picking to purchasing from a local farm).  
• I am sure you have heard of all the massive recalls of produce in the last few years, but when was the last time there was a recall of locally grown vegetables? Small local farms have much tighter control over their crops, they are less likely to use harmful pesticides and tend to grow more closely to what Mother Nature intended. 
• There is something to be said of our problems importing oil and the gasses emitted from transportation vehicles. The less we have to rely on oil and have to pollute our air then the more money we can keep in our country and the less we have to worry about air quality for ourselves and our children.  

Flavor

• As I mentioned previously local food plain tastes better, it goes for anything from a carrot to a tomato to corn. The simple fact that the produce is picked at its peak in freshness and not stored for any length of time gives local food the huge advantage. 
• Local farmers do not grow the same broccoli that that large corporate farms do. When transporting a fruit or vegetable it is important to grow a variety that can withstand all the rigors of travel and stand up to sitting around for up to two weeks. This makes for a less flavorful, less nutrient rich fruit or vegetable. Local farms can use whatever variety they wish, often picking the most flavorful and nutrient rich varieties.

Financial Sense

• Any time we buy within our local communities we help to sustain and grow our quality of life.
• A locally grown carrot generally costs more than a carrot shipped from Mexico. Sure, that statement is true... for now. If we all start to buy locally, then our local farms can grow a little more and with time can lower their prices because of the volume at which they can sell. 

I obviously have a bias towards buying local and stress it in my restaurant. Not only does it make sense for our health, but it makes sense for our community and for our planet. In the end though, after all is said in done, locally grown produce just tastes better, and that is something that we could all appreciate.