Experts: Buying local can help food crisis
Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008
BENTON COUNTY — Around the world, skyrocketing fuel prices and increased production costs have led to higher food prices, food shortages and higher prices on the shelf.
The United Nations reports that global food production costs have risen 41 percent since October 2007. The higher production prices, resulting from increased fuel costs, have resulted in a supply-vs.-demand battle on a global scale.
But local agriculture experts say one way to reduce the global impact is to purchase from a local grower — and with both Bentonville and Rogers farmers markets now open, the time is ripe.
Jim Lukens is with the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, a Fayetteville-based nonprofit organization geared to educate farmers in sustainable agriculture.
Lukens, a supporter of local markets, said the drive to support them is based on different reasons. “ For some people, it has more to do with supporting the local economy and wanting to stay locally. For other people, buying local also means buying more directly, ” he said.
In addition, it’s about the interaction between the grower and the buyer that is so much more beneficial, Lukens said.
“ There are aspects of the community that are involved when you’re buying directly from the person who grew (the produce ), ” he said. “ There isn’t the middleman there in between. ”
Also, the consumer’s environmental footprint is lessened when buying locally.
According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, approximately 80 percent of energy in the U. S. food system goes to processing, packaging, storing and preparing food.
On the average, produce travels 1, 300 to 2, 000 miles from the farm to the consumer. “ It’s sort of troubling when we have a situation where our energy needs are coming in conflict with our food needs, ” Luken said. “ It’s certainly a problem for society. ”
But in addition to cutting down on production costs, buying locally tends to make for a better product for the consumer.
“ Locally grown food tends to be fresher, ” said Mark Bray, Benton County extension agent with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. “ In comparison to vegetables and produce that was shipped a long distance, you tend to have better flavor with something that’s grown locally. A lot of the varieties of food that are grown commercially on a large scale these days are selected because of their post-harvest qualities so that they’ll ship better. That characteristic has taken precedent over flavor. ”
Two aspects of buying locally are appealing to the consumer, Bray said.
“ You get to interact with the person who actually grew the food; you get to ask them questions about how it was grown, ” Bray said. “ But also, buying locally usually means that you’re buying in season, ” he said, noting that it indicates the freshness of the product.
“ If you’re buying tomatoes in January from a grocery store here in Arkansas, those weren’t grown here. ”
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