Because What We Eat Matters.

How our food is grown, processed, and packaged really does matter.  Our food choices influence our health, the quality of our environment, jobs in our community, and the culture and diversity of our society.

Buying Locally Grown Food is Good For

You

Food tastes better and is more nutritious when it’s fresh. And in these times, when obesity and diet related illnesses are on the rise, replacing heavily processed foods with whole fresh produce will improve your health.

Our Community

Keeping our local farmers and producers in business supports our local economy.  Dollars spent close to home tend to stay close to home.  Our local producers understand our community and work to provide nutritious affordable food for all our citizens.  The more we feel connected to the people who produce what we eat, the better we preserve our regional food heritage.  Rural and urban– we’re all connected.

Our Farmers

When farmers sell directly to their neighbors, fewer middlemen cut into their profits.  Farmers can afford to stay on their land producing an abundance and variety of food while being good stewards of the land.

Our Environment

Most of the food we eat travels an average of 1,500 miles from the farm to our table.  By reducing the travel distance our food takes, we save energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions that likely contribute to global warming.  By buying whole local foods, we also reduce packaging, further saving energy and resources. And conservation farming practices protect the quality of our water and soil, while preserving green space for healthy native habitats.

Source: North East Iowa Food & Fitness (www.iowafoodandfitness.org)