Supplied from our friends at http://www.sustainabletable.org

The concept of buying local is simply to buy food (or any good or service) produced, grown, or raised as close to your home as possible. With industrialization, our food is now grown and processed in fewer and fewer locations, meaning it has to travel further to reach the average consumer’s refrigerator. Although this method of production is considered efficient and economically profitable for large agribusiness corporations, it is harmful to the environment, consumers and rural communities.

Supplied from our friends at http://www.sustainabletable.org

The dramatic expansion of industrial agriculture (or factory farming) has made it increasingly difficult for small family farmers in the U.S to stay in business. Instead, the food industry has become dominated by a handful of giant corporations which benefit from government policies that favor large-scale production.

Supplied from our friends at http://www.sustainabletable.org

Buying food from local farms means getting food when it’s at its prime. Fresh food from local farms is healthier than industrially-farmed products because the food doesn’t spend days in trucks and on store shelves losing nutrients.