The Importance of Supporting Local Farmers (2024)

FAQs

Why is it important to support local farmers? ›

Supporting your local farmers strengthens your community and local economy. On average, only 10 cents of each food dollar returns to the farmer. The other 90 cents goes to corporations for packaging, marketing and transportation.

Farmers and ranchers are the backbone of America, working from sun-up to sundown, taking care of the land and livestock and providing food for their fellow citizens and the rest of the world.

Like biodiversity, agriculture benefits from fertile soils, fresh water and natural predators, and farmers can also play a role in maintaining natural habitats and other ecosystem services. Farmers around the world are facing competing pressures to grow more food while preserving the world's biodiversity.

Local food doesn't have to travel as far to arrive on your plate, so it helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to improving our carbon footprint. It benefits the local economy, including supporting local farmers and other producers.

By eating locally grown food you support your local farmers and help grow your local economy. Buying locally also cuts transport energy costs and reduces food waste. Farm markets also are great places to find new foods to try.

This criteria for what makes up what local farming means is less than 400 miles from the origin or the state where it was produced. But the more common definition of local food is that it was grown within 100 miles or within the state.

Family farms are often teeming with diversity of life. They are managed in a way that insects, pollinators, birds, small wildlife can find sources of food and shelter on their grounds. For example, in hedgerows along the boundaries, in cover crops, or more abundant trees.

Good soil is perhaps the most essential element in farming since it determines not only what can be grown but whether yields will be high or low.

Crop farmers and managers are responsible for all stages of plant growth, including planting, fertilizing, watering, and harvesting crops. These farmers may grow grain, fruits, vegetables, and other crops. After a harvest, they make sure that the crops are properly packaged and stored.

What do farmers provide for us? ›

Everyday they provide food, water and shelter to their animals. They also protect them from disease, injury and predators. Because, they conserve and protect our environment! More than half of America's agricultural producers intentionally provide habitat for wildlife.

Pasture and cropland occupy around 50 percent of the Earth's habitable land and provide habitat and food for a multitude of species. When agricultural operations are sustainably managed, they can preserve and restore critical habitats, help protect watersheds, and improve soil health and water quality.

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.

Tell your farmers what you want. Convey your values and what you are willing to pay in exchange for food that is in alignment. Ask them how you can support them. Farmers are innovative, eager and extremely hard working.

Teodoro said the government should help in developing smart agriculture as well as research and development to increase farmers' productivity and improve agricultural produce. He also supports building more farm-to-market roads to lower logistics costs in delivering farm produce to markets.

Locally grown produce means a shorter time between harvest and your table, making it less likely that the nutrient value has decreased. 2. Local food has a less environmental impact – locally sourced food doesn't have to travel thousands of miles by plane, train and automobile!

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.

The quality of food is higher

Most of the local produce you'll find at farmers' markets has been picked within 24 hours. In addition to the advantage in freshness, growers who cater to local customers aren't constrained by harvesting, packing, transport, and shelf life quality issues.

Why do local farms matter? ›

Local food benefits the environment and wildlife.

Well-managed farms conserve fertile soil and clean water in our communities. The farm environment is a patchwork of fields, meadows, woods, ponds, and buildings that provide habitat for wildlife.

Yes, farmers do care about the environment, and they go to great lengths to protect it from harm. The USDA outlines four major principles farmers take part in to improve soil health. Here is an example of crop residue left on a field, protecting it from erosion caused by wind, water, and ice.

Farmers are struggling to keep pace with inflation. Production costs for seed, fertilizer, equipment and other farming essentials are the highest we've seen in decades, subjecting farmers to higher cost of capital required to operate their business.

- Local farming tend to use less carbon-intensive transportation methods to get their products to market. - Local farming also tend to use fewer pesticides and herbicides, as well as less water overall. - Buying from local farms help to support the farmers and the community alike.

Farming is the act or process of working the ground, planting seeds, and growing edible plants. You can also describe raising animals for milk or meat as farming. Farming is a great way to describe the lifestyle and work of people whose jobs are in the agriculture industry.

They love growing things.

As caretakers of the land, farmers enjoy watching crops and animals grow. Whether it's seed to stalk or chick to hen, much care is needed. From planting and watering to harvesting, farmers put time and effort into their crops to ensure a plentiful harvest.

For thousands of years, farmers have always been the heroes we look to in times of feast and famine, all but enchanting the soil to deliver new life and stewarding the land to sustain lives into the future. Since the dawn of agricultural revolution, farming has shaped the way we live.

farm·​er·​ette ˌfär-mə-ˈret. : a woman who is a farmer or farmhand.

Each American farmer produces food and fiber for 165 people annually, both in the U.S. and abroad. Eight percent of U.S. farms market foods locally through farmers' markets and food hubs. One day's production for a high-producing dairy cow yields 10.5 pounds of cheese. Women make up 30 percent of today's farmers.

– You all the very farmers are actually so very amazing as well as so very wonderful that you all actually work so very selflessly as well as so very compassionately so that we all you can actually provide us with all that very food which is very much a basic necessity for our very survival.

How do farmers protect the environment for the future? ›

Sustainable farming practices include: using compost, cover crops, and rotational grazing to build healthy living soil; rotating crops and using companion planting to attract beneficial organisms to fight pests; integrating crops and livestock; planting trees and shrubs to increase biodiversity; working with land ...

Some of them include crop rotation, planting disease-resistant crops, quarantining affected plants, and deep plowing. Through modern technology, farmers can protect their crops by analyzing temperatures, humidity, and soil conditions. As such, they can forecast any issues that might affect crops negatively.

More abundant food supplies could support denser populations, and farming tied people to their land. Small settlements grew into towns, and towns grew into cities. Agriculture produced enough food that people became free to pursue interests other than worrying about what they were going to eat that day.

Farming meant that people did not need to travel to find food. Instead, they began to live in settled communities, and grew crops or raised animals on nearby land. They built stronger, more permanent homes and surrounded their settlements with walls to protect themselves.

Cover crops – plants grown primarily to benefit the successful growth of other future crops – help with soil erosion, improve soil health, crowd out weeds, control pests and diseases, increase biodiversity, and can bring a host of other benefits to your farm or garden, including increased profitability.

Agriculture destroys biodiversity by converting natural habitats to intensely managed systems and by releasing pollutants, including greenhouses gases. Food value chains further amplify impacts including through energy use, transport and waste. Reducing the food system's toll on biodiversity is a critical challenge.

1. Local Foods Are Fresher (and Tastes Better!) When it comes to the freshness and quality of produce, locally grown options are hard to beat. Compared to produce that has been shipped in from far away, locally grown options are generally much fresher, which can translate to superior taste and nutritional value.

Farmers are among our greatest conservation allies. They produce the crops that help to feed, fuel and clothe a growing world, while caring for the lands and waters on which their livelihoods depend.